Dell PowerEdge R740 & R740xd — Refurbished & Custom-Built
The Dell PowerEdge R740 is a 2U, two-socket rack server from Dell’s 14th generation (launched 2017) — the most popular 2U of its era and one of the best price-to-performance buys on the refurbished market today. The Dell PowerEdge R740xd is the storage-optimized version of the same platform: identical processors, memory and management, but with mid-chassis and rear drive cages that take it from 16 front bays to as many as 32 drives. PC Server & Parts stocks both, plus the ultra-dense R740xd2, as Build-Your-Own configurations: choose CPUs, RAM and drives, and we assemble and burn-in test the server before shipping with a free 1-year warranty. Browse all Dell servers or read our guide to buying a used server.
Dell R740 Specs at a Glance
| Form factor | 2U rack — 86.8 mm H × 434 mm W × 737.5 mm D |
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| Processors | 2× Intel Xeon Scalable (1st or 2nd Generation), up to 28 cores each |
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| Memory | 24 DDR4 DIMM slots, RDIMM/LRDIMM at up to 2933 MT/s — 3 TB max |
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| Persistent memory | Up to 12 NVDIMM (192 GB) or 12 Intel Optane DC persistent memory modules (6.14 TB) |
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| Drive bays (R740) | Front only: up to 16× 2.5″ SAS/SATA (122.88 TB max) or 8× 3.5″ SAS/SATA (128 TB max) |
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| Drive bays (R740xd) | Front, mid and rear cages: up to 32× 2.5″ or 18× 3.5″ — see the comparison below |
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| Storage controllers | PERC H330, H350, H730P, H740P, H750; HBA330/HBA350i non-RAID; S140 software RAID; external PERC H840 / HBA355e |
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| Boot device | BOSS module — hardware RAID across 2× M.2 SATA SSDs (240 GB or 480 GB) |
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| Expansion | Riser options with up to 8 PCIe Gen 3 slots, maximum of four x16 |
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| GPU / accelerators | Up to three 300 W double-width or six 150 W single-width cards |
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| Power supplies | Hot-plug redundant — Platinum 495 W / 750 W / 1100 W / 1600 W / 2000 W / 2400 W, Titanium 750 W / 1600 W / 2600 W |
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| Networking | Network daughter card: 4× 1GbE, 2× 10GbE + 2× 1GbE, 4× 10GbE or 2× 25GbE |
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| Management | iDRAC9 with Redfish, Lifecycle Controller, optional Quick Sync 2 |
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| Security | TPM 1.2/2.0, cryptographically signed firmware, Secure Boot, System Lockdown, secure erase |
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| Generation / released | Dell 14G, launched 2017 |
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Specifications per the Dell EMC PowerEdge R740 and R740xd Technical Guide (Rev. A12). Individual refurbished configurations vary — each server ships as ordered.
Dell PowerEdge R740 vs R740xd
The R740 and the R740xd are the same 14th-generation 2U server: same two Xeon Scalable sockets, the same 24 DIMM slots and 3 TB memory ceiling, the same iDRAC9 management. The difference is entirely storage. The standard R740 uses front drive bays only. The R740xd adds a mid-chassis drive cage and a rear drive cage, plus backplanes that carry NVMe, which is why it became the default vSAN, Ceph and software-defined-storage node of its generation.
| | PowerEdge R740 | PowerEdge R740xd |
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| Front bays | Up to 16× 2.5″ SAS/SATA (122.88 TB) or 8× 3.5″ SAS/SATA (128 TB) | Up to 24× 2.5″ SAS/SSD/NVMe (184 TB) or 12× 3.5″ SAS/SATA (192 TB) |
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| Mid bay | Front bays only | Up to 4× 2.5″ (30.72 TB) or 4× 3.5″ (64 TB) |
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| Rear bays | Front bays only | Up to 4× 2.5″ (30.72 TB) or 2× 3.5″ (32 TB) |
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| Maximum drives | 16× 2.5″ or 8× 3.5″ | 32× 2.5″ or 18× 3.5″ |
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| NVMe | Not offered — SAS/SATA front backplanes only | Up to 24× NVMe across the front bays — 8×, 12× and all-NVMe backplanes |
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| GPU room | Up to three 300 W double-width cards | Up to three 300 W cards, but only on the 24× 2.5″ chassis — NVMe configurations are limited to two |
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| Weight | 28.6 kg (63 lb) | 33.1 kg (73 lb) |
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Choose the R740 when compute comes first: virtualization hosts, application and database servers, VDI, and GPU-accelerated inference where you want maximum accelerator room and the extra drive cages would only get in the way of airflow.
Choose the R740xd when the drive count decides the build: vSAN and Ceph nodes, backup repositories, video surveillance and media storage, data lakes, and any layout that mixes an NVMe cache tier in front of SAS or SATA capacity drives inside one 2U chassis.
Choose the R740xd2 when the job is pure capacity per rack unit. The xd2 is a different board with a narrower spec — up to two 2nd Generation Xeon Scalable CPUs at up to 22 cores, 16 DDR4 RDIMM slots and a 1 TB memory ceiling — traded for up to 24× 3.5″ front drives (384 TB) plus 2× 3.5″ rear — 26 large-form-factor bays in 2U.
Choose Your Configuration
Dell R740 chassis — compute-first:
Dell R740xd chassis — storage-first:
Dell R740xd2 chassis — maximum capacity:
Every chassis opens a Build-Your-Own configurator — choose CPUs, memory, drives, RAID controller, networking and rails, and we assemble and test the complete server before it ships. You can also browse XD chassis inventory separately. Don’t see the layout you need? Request a quote.
What the Dell R740 Family Is Best At
- Virtualization and private cloud — VMware ESXi, Proxmox, Hyper-V and KVM hosts; 28 cores per socket and a 3 TB memory ceiling consolidate a lot of VMs into 2U.
- Software-defined storage — vSAN, Ceph and Storage Spaces Direct nodes on the R740xd, with NVMe cache in front of SAS or SATA capacity drives.
- Databases — SQL Server, Oracle and PostgreSQL, on the R740xd’s NVMe front bays with a BOSS M.2 boot pair keeping data drives free.
- Backup and surveillance storage — the 12× and 18× 3.5″ R740xd layouts, or the 26-bay R740xd2 for archive tiers.
- GPU and AI inference — up to three 300 W double-width accelerators in the R740, or two on an NVMe R740xd.
- VDI — dense sessions per rack unit with single-width GPUs and high DIMM counts.
Massive parts availability and cheap DDR4 make the R740 family the workhorse refurbished 2U of 2026.
Dell R740 vs Related Models
- Dell R640 — the 1U counterpart: same CPUs and 24 DIMM slots in half the rack space, fewer drive bays.
- Dell R730xd — the 13th-generation predecessor: cheaper, Xeon E5-2600 v3/v4, and limited to four PCIe SSDs where the R740xd takes up to 24 NVMe drives.
- Dell R750 — the 15th-generation successor with 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable and PCIe Gen4 NVMe. Read the full R740 vs R750 comparison.
- Dell R840 — four sockets and 48 DIMMs for in-memory and analytics workloads.
- Dell R7525 — the AMD EPYC alternative with PCIe Gen4 and direct-attached NVMe.
Why Buy a Refurbished Dell R740 or R740xd from PCSP
With 17+ years refurbishing enterprise gear, PCSP ships R740 and R740xd servers that are inspected, firmware-updated, configured to spec, load-tested with your drive set, and covered by a free 1-year warranty extendable to 5 years. Orders before 1:00 pm EST leave the same business day, and shipping is free on orders over $35 in the lower 48. Building a virtualization or vSAN cluster? Ask about multi-unit pricing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the Dell R740 and R740xd?
The difference is storage capacity — everything else is the same server. Both are 2U 14th-generation PowerEdge systems with two Intel Xeon Scalable sockets, 24 DDR4 DIMM slots up to 3 TB, and iDRAC9. The standard R740 has front drive bays only: up to 16× 2.5″ or 8× 3.5″. The R740xd adds a mid-chassis cage and a rear cage on top of a wider front backplane, reaching up to 32× 2.5″ or 18× 3.5″ drives, with up to 24 NVMe devices across the front bays. The trade-off is accelerator room: the R740 takes up to three 300 W double-width GPUs, while on the R740xd that is limited to the 24× 2.5″ chassis and drops to two GPUs on NVMe configurations.
How many drives fit in a Dell R740xd?
Up to 32 drives in 2.5″ form factor, or up to 18 drives in 3.5″. Dell splits that across three zones: the front bays take up to 24× 2.5″ SAS, SSD or NVMe (184 TB maximum) or up to 12× 3.5″ SAS/SATA (192 TB); the mid bay adds up to 4× 2.5″ or 4× 3.5″; and the rear bays add up to 4× 2.5″ or 2× 3.5″. Common shipping layouts are 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 26, 28 and 32 drives depending on which cages are fitted.
What generation is the Dell PowerEdge R740?
The R740 and R740xd are Dell’s 14th generation (14G), launched in 2017. That generation moved PowerEdge from the Xeon E5-2600 v3/v4 of the 13G R730 to the Intel Xeon Scalable family with UPI interconnect, DDR4 at up to 2933 MT/s, native NVMe support and iDRAC9 management. The 15th-generation successor is the R750.
How much RAM does a Dell R740 support?
Up to 3 TB across 24 DDR4 DIMM slots, using RDIMM or LRDIMM modules at speeds up to 2933 MT/s. The 2933 MT/s speed requires 2nd Generation Xeon Scalable processors; 1st Generation chips top out at 2666 MT/s. The platform also supports up to 12 NVDIMMs (192 GB) or up to 12 Intel Optane DC persistent memory modules for 6.14 TB of persistent memory. The R740xd is identical here; note that the separate R740xd2 has only 16 DIMM slots and a 1 TB ceiling.
Does the Dell R740xd support NVMe drives?
Yes, natively — up to 24 NVMe devices across the front bays. Backplane options include 8× NVMe-capable and 12× NVMe mixed layouts as well as an all-NVMe 24-bay version, so you can put an NVMe cache tier in front of SAS or SATA capacity drives in the same chassis. That is the classic vSAN and Ceph node layout, and each of our configurators lists tested U.2 drive options for the chassis you pick.
Is the Dell R740 still worth buying in 2026?
Yes — it remains the price-performance leader on the refurbished market. A dual 28-core R740 with 512 GB of RAM costs a fraction of an equivalent 15th- or 16th-generation build, DDR4 and drive upgrades are cheap and plentiful, and VMware, Proxmox and Windows Server support is intact. For storage-heavy or hyperconverged clusters, three refurbished R740xd nodes typically cost less than one comparable new server.
Can I customize my Dell R740 or R740xd configuration?
Yes. Pick any chassis above and use the Build-Your-Own configurator to choose processors, memory, drives, RAID controller, NICs and rails — we assemble and burn-in test the exact build in our Michigan facility before it ships, backed by a free 1-year warranty extendable to 5 years. If the configuration you need isn’t listed — specific drives, a GPU, an OS pre-install or a bulk cluster order — request a quote and our team will spec and source it.
