Dell PowerEdge R840 CTO Rack Server

The R840 delivers consistent, high performance results for data-intensive applications and data analytic workloads. With powerful 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors and up to 112 cores, the R840 can quickly turn analytics into insights to drive your business forward faster. Create an optimal configuration of NVMe, SSD, HDD and GPU resources to address your most demanding workloads - all in a 2U chassis.

• Scale capacity and performance with up to 26 2.5” HDDs and SSDs, 62% more than the previous generation.
• Accelerate applications with up to 2 double-width GPUs or up to 2 FPGAs.
• Speed data transfers with a fully integrated ultra path interconnect across all four sockets.
• Eliminate bottlenecks with up to 48 DIMMs, including up to 24 DCPMMs or 12 NVDIMMs.

The Dell EMC OpenManage portfolio helps deliver peak efficiency for PowerEdge server customers, delivering intelligent, automated management of routine tasks. Combined with unique agent-free management capabilities, the R840 is easy to manage, and by doing routine work automatically, you can free up time for higher-value projects.

• Unify monitoring and management of your IT infrastructure with OpenManage Enterprise.
• Utilize a variety of OpenManage integrations and connections to take advantage of your existing IT management platform.
• Take advantage of QuickSync 2 capabilities and gain access to your servers easily through your phone or tablet.

Every PowerEdge server is made with a cyber-resilient architecture, delivering security into all parts of a server’s life cycle. The R840 uses these new security features so you can reliably and securely deliver the right data to where your customers are, no matter where they are. Dell EMC considers each part of system security, from design to end of life, to ensure trust and deliver worry-free systems.

• Rely on a secure component supply chain to ensure protection from factory to the data center.
• Maintain data safety with cryptographically signed firmware packages and Secure Boot.
• Protect your server from malicious malware with iDRAC9 Server Lockdown mode (requires Enterprise or Datacenter license)
• Wipe all data from storage media including hard drives, SSDs and system memory quickly and securely with System Erase.

The PowerEdge R840 accelerates business insights and delivers unprecedented performance density for your in-database analytics. Deliver consistent results for demanding applications with powerful, four-socket performance and large memory. Even as your workloads become more complex, OpenManage Enterprise simplifies management of your IT infrastructure so you can focus on your business objectives. Integrated security and proven reliability helps ensure maximum uptime in your enterprise data center.

The R840 offers versatile resources that allow you to meet changing business demands. Maximize performance and minimize latency with direct-attached NVMe drives.

• Boost performance with up to four 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors and up to 112 processing cores
• Address large data sets with up to 48 DIMMs (24 of which can be DCPMMs) and up to 15.36TB of memory
• Scale capacity and performance with up to 26 2.5” HDDs/SSDs (up to 24 NVME drives)
• Accelerate applications with two doublewide GPUs or two FPGAs
• Speed data transfers with fully integrated ultra path interconnects (UPIs)

The Dell PowerEdge R840 has three backplane options with a few configurations possible. The system can support an 8 Bay configuration and a 24 Bay Configuration. In the 24 Bay, you have two different backplanes. One Backplane is a Universal SAS/SATA/NVMe with SAS/SATA Expander attached. The second option is an NVMe backplane that supports 24 NVMe Drives. Below are the configurations supported.

Heat Sinks

The heat sink absorbs the heat generated by the processor, and helps the processor to maintain its optimal temperature level. The heat sinks will change if you choose a GPU or not. With a GPU you must install the Low-Profile 1U Heat Sink. Otherwise, the Standard 2U Heat Sink will be installed in the R840 Rack Server by Dell.

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Fans

The cooling fan assembly ensures that the components of the server like the processors, drives, and memory get adequate air circulation to keep them cool. The system comes with 6 Hot-Swap Fans in a Fan Cage that gets installed onto the system board. If you install a GPU you will need high-performance fans for cooling.

Please view the "Expansion card installation guidelines" on the Tech Manual below to know what slots support each card.

BOSS

The Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem (BOSS) is offered as a means of booting PowerEdge systems to a full operating system mode when:

• Target operating system is a full operating system and not hypervisor that may be supported best by IDSDM
• You do not want to trade off standard hot plug drive slots for operating system install

The RAID controller on the BOSS card has limited set of features. This RAID controller presents the M.2 SATA SSDs as either a non-RAID volume or as a single RAID volume.

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IDSDM

The PowerEdge R840 system supports optional Internal Dual SD module (IDSDM) or vFlash module. In the latest generation of PowerEdge servers, IDSDM or vFlash module is combined into a single card module, and are available in these configurations:

• vFlash or
• vFlash and IDSDM
• Installed in Riser 1 x8

The IDSDM or vFlash module is located in a slot on the back of the system. The module supports three microSD cards;
two cards for IDSDM and one card for vFlash. One IDSDM card slot is dedicated for redundancy

An optional USB memory key installed inside your system can be used as a boot device, security key, or mass storage device. To boot from the USB memory key, configure the USB memory key with a boot image and then specify the USB memory key in the boot sequence in System Setup.

Riser 1 - 2 PCIe x8

Riser 1 - 1 PCIe x16

Riser 2 - 2 PCIe x8

Riser 2 - 1 PCIe x16

The Dell PowerEdge R840 can support up to 2x 300W DW GPUs or 2x FPGA's On x16 Risers. If you install the x8 Risers a GPU will not be supported. There are a good amount of rules for installing a GPU, please read them below.