Dell PowerEdge R720 upgrades
Released 2012 · support ended
2U rack server, 755.8 mm deep - deep rack required. Dual 130 W CPUs plus 24 DIMMs draw significant idle power and fan noise. Storage chassis is a permanent purchase decision; buy the bay count needed. Optional Internal Dual SD Module (IDSDM) for hypervisor boot. Third-party NVMe only via PCIe add-in card (boot support undocumented).
Upgrade guide → What fits, step by step, and official documents.
- 24x DDR3/DDR3L ECC DIMM (12 per CPU): 24 × DDR3 DIMM · up to 768 GB total · 1866 MT/s · registered (RDIMM) · ECC
- 2.5"/3.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA bays (chassis-dependent): 16 × SSD / HDD 3.5" / 2.5" (SAS / SATA) · up to 4.096 TB
- Dual LGA2011 (Socket R) Xeon E5-2600 / v2: 2 × LGA3647 · Xeon E-2100/2200, Xeon E-2300 · max 130 W · install matching CPUs
Slot map
24x DDR3/DDR3L ECC DIMM (12 per CPU) 24 × DDR3 DIMM · up to 768 GB total · 1866 MT/s · registered (RDIMM) · ECC
All 24 slots are socketed (12 per CPU, 4 channels each); no soldered RAM. ECC is mandatory - non-ECC desktop DIMMs are not supported. ECC UDIMM, RDIMM and LRDIMM are supported but cannot be mixed; registered parts are the practical choice for high capacity. 1866 MT/s needs 1.5 V RDIMM/LRDIMM and an E5-2600 v2 CPU. R720xd with 3.5-inch drives drops LRDIMM support (thermal), limiting that variant to RDIMM. Populate the socket farthest from the CPU in each channel first. Max 768 GB (24x32 GB LRDIMM).
No compatible offers right now.
2.5"/3.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA bays (chassis-dependent) 16 × SSD / HDD 3.5" / 2.5" (SAS / SATA) · up to 4.096 TB
Bay count/size is fixed at purchase (R720: 8x2.5", 16x2.5", 8x3.5", 8x2.5"+4 Express Flash; R720xd: 24x2.5"+2 rear, 12x3.5"+2 rear). Hot-swap SAS/SATA 6 Gb/s; no M.2 and no native NVMe. Express Flash PCIe SSD bays (175 GB-1.4 TB) exist only on the R720. Dell's validated drives top out at 4 TB (3.5"), 1.2 TB (2.5" HDD), 800 GB SSD; larger drives fit but are unvalidated. Drive caddies/trays needed for most used drives.
| $/TB | Price | Capacity | Product | Condition | Store | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $14.00 | $14.00 | 1 TB | WD Blue Desktop 1 TB 3.5" SATA HDD 3.5" HDD · SATA · 7200 rpm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $16.60 | $8.30 | 500 GB | HGST Travelstar Z7K500 500GB 2.5" 7200 RPM HDD (7 mm) 2.5" HDD · SATA · 7200 rpm · 7 mm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $18.00 | $18.00 | 1 TB | BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" HDD · SATA · 7200 rpm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $19.72 | $9.86 | 500 GB | Seagate Laptop Thin 500GB 2.5" 7200 RPM HDD (7 mm) 2.5" HDD · SATA · 7200 rpm · 7 mm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $19.99 | $19.99 | 1 TB | MQ01ABD100 1 TB 2.5" SATA HDD (5400 RPM) 2.5" HDD · SATA · 5400 rpm · 9.5 mm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $19.99 | $19.99 | 1 TB | Travelstar 5K1000 1 TB 2.5" HDD · SATA · 5400 rpm · 9.5 mm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $20.00 | $10.00 | 500 GB | Toshiba 500GB 2.5" 5400 RPM HDD (7 mm) 2.5" HDD · SATA · 5400 rpm · 7 mm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $22.95 | $22.95 | 1 TB | Samsung Spinpoint M8 1 TB 2.5" SATA HDD (now Seagate) 2.5" HDD · SATA · 5400 rpm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $24.00 | $24.00 | 1 TB | MQ04ABF100 1 TB 2.5" HDD · SATA · 5400 rpm · 7 mm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
| $25.00 | $25.00 | 1 TB | Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E662 1 TB 2.5" SATA HDD (5400 RPM) 2.5" HDD · SATA · 5400 rpm · 9.5 mm | Used | eBay US +2 | View deal Amazon Price alert |
All compatible storage with filters → · Compare prices: 2.5" SATA SSD, 2.5" laptop hard drive, 3.5" hard drive
Dual LGA2011 (Socket R) Xeon E5-2600 / v2 2 × LGA3647 · Xeon E-2100/2200, Xeon E-2300 · max 130 W · install matching CPUs
Two socketed Intel LGA2011 (Socket R) CPUs: Xeon E5-2600 (Sandy Bridge-EP) and E5-2600 v2 (Ivy Bridge-EP), up to 12 cores each. v2 chips need a BIOS/firmware update; old boards may not POST with them until updated. Dell active heatsinks matched to the CPU TDP class (up to 130 W) are required.
No compatible offers right now.