Dell PowerEdge R740xd Rack Server

Dell PowerEdge R740xd — 2U Storage-Dense Xeon Scalable Rack Server in India

The Dell PowerEdge R740xd is the storage-dense member of Dell's 14th generation: two Intel Xeon Scalable processors giving up to 56 cores and 112 threads, 24 DDR4 DIMM slots (up to 3TB), and — the whole point of the “xd” — room for up to 24 × 2.5" or 12 × 3.5" drives, plus rear bays. It is the server you buy when the drive count is the requirement, not an afterthought.

It is also, in our experience, the single most-asked-for refurbished Dell in India — because one box covers virtualisation, storage and backup at the same time. Serverwale supplies tested, warranty-backed R740xd configurations nationwide, built to the cores, memory and drive layout you actually need.

Dell PowerEdge R740xd — key specifications

What the R740xd is actually bought for in India

• Virtualisation host with local storage. 56 cores, 384GB–768GB and 24 drives in one chassis — a VMware or Proxmox host that does not need a separate SAN behind it. This is the most common reason people buy one.
• Backup and Veeam repositories. Twelve 3.5" drives with an HBA330 makes a large, cheap, reliable backup target. Add rear bays for the OS and you keep every front bay for data.
• Software-defined storage. TrueNAS, Ceph and Storage Spaces all want many drives and a plain HBA rather than a RAID card — the R740xd does exactly that.
• Databases with NVMe. The NVMe-capable backplane gives you fast tiers where they matter, with bulk SAS behind them.

R740xd vs R740 vs R730 — buy the right one

These three get confused constantly. The difference is simple:

• R740 (2U) — same CPUs and memory, fewer drives, but more room for GPUs. If you want accelerators, this is the sibling to buy, not the xd.
• R740xd (2U) — same CPUs and memory, far more drives. Buy it when the drive count or capacity is the requirement.
• R730 (2U, previous gen) — Xeon E5 v3/v4 and DDR4, a generation older. Cheapest cost-per-core, but no NVMe and lower single-thread speed. The value pick if you do not need what the 14th gen adds.
• Need density instead? The R640 puts the same compute in 1U — fewer drives, no GPUs, but half the rack space.

If GPU compute is genuinely the goal, do not force it into an xd chassis — buy a GPU server built for it. And if you need capacity beyond what any single box holds, look at SAN storage instead of stacking servers.

Condition, testing and warranty

Every R740xd is bench-tested before dispatch: CPU and memory burn-in, SMART health checks on every drive, PERC controller and battery verification, backplane and iDRAC checks, and a full firmware/BIOS update. Chassis are cleaned, fans and thermal paste inspected, and the exact configuration — CPU SKU, DIMM population, drive models, backplane type, PERC and PSU count — is documented on the invoice. On a storage-dense box the backplane and caddy count matter, so we spell them out rather than leaving you to discover them.

Units ship with a Serverwale warranty of 90 days to 1 year depending on the configuration; the exact term for this unit is shown on the Warranty tab above. Pan-India delivery from our Burari, Delhi facility. For longer cover or guaranteed on-site response, add a server AMC.

Pricing

R740xd pricing is driven by the build — the Xeon pair, how much DDR4 you populate, the backplane (2.5" versus 3.5", NVMe or not), the RAID controller, and how many drives and caddies you need. Two R740xd quotes can differ by a factor of three for exactly this reason. Tell us the workload and drive requirement and you will get a written quote with the exact part numbers. For indicative refurbished hardware ranges in India, see our refurbished server price index. Prefer not to buy outright? We also rent Dell servers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the Dell R740 and the R740xd?
Same platform, same CPUs, same memory. The R740xd trades GPU and expansion room for drive capacity — up to 24 × 2.5" or 12 × 3.5" plus rear bays. Buy the R740 if you want GPUs; buy the R740xd if you want drives.

How many drives does the Dell R740xd support?
Up to 24 × 2.5-inch or 12 × 3.5-inch hot-plug drives at the front, plus rear bays, depending on the backplane fitted. The backplane is not interchangeable on a whim, so tell us the drive count you need before ordering — it determines which chassis you should be buying.

How many cores and how much RAM does the R740xd support?
Up to 28 cores per socket with 2nd-generation Xeon Scalable, so 56 cores and 112 threads across two sockets, and up to 3TB of DDR4 across 24 DIMM slots. Most business builds land at 20–40 cores with 256–768GB.

Is the R740xd good for TrueNAS or Ceph?
Yes — it is one of the most common choices for both in India. Ask for the HBA330 rather than a PERC RAID card: ZFS and Ceph want direct disk access, and a RAID controller in the way causes more problems than it solves.

Can the Dell R740xd take a GPU?
It depends on the drive configuration — drives and GPUs compete for the same space and power in an xd chassis. If accelerators are the point, buy the R740 or a purpose-built GPU server instead of compromising both.

Does a refurbished R740xd come with a warranty?
Yes — 90 days to 1 year depending on the configuration, with optional AMC for longer cover and on-site response. Every unit is bench-tested and the exact spec is documented on the invoice.

Get a configured quote

Tell us the workload and the drive count you need, and we will spec the R740xd around it — or say plainly when an R740, R640 or R730 is the better buy.

Serverwale — Burari, Delhi 110084
Call +91-87962-44410 · WhatsApp us · Request pricing