amazon Dell PowerEdge R830 reviews
The Dell PowerEdge R830 is the latest addition to Dell’s 13th Generation PowerEdge servers, using Intel’s 14nm Broadwell processor. In terms of technology, it is not uncommon for many models to use Broadwell chips, notably here the Dell R830 can use the four sockets of the latest Xeon E5-4600 v4 processors based on this technology, with a maximum of 22 cores (44 threads) on each socket and cache more than the previous generation Xeon. Combined with faster DDR4 RAM and the end result is a server that can be significantly faster than its predecessor (12G PowerEdge R820) and is ideal for applications that require high computing as the basis. Heavy storage data, virtual computer infrastructure (VDI) and other virtualized consolidation projects and large-scale servers.
Similar to Dell R820, but there are many other points
At first glance the Dell R830 seems to have changed a bit compared to the R820 it replaced. There’s a new logo on the front, but with the same location with 16 2.5-inch drives – either an SSD or a magnetic disc. Dell offers the required SATA, SAS or nearline SAS settings.
The same robust and well-designed chassis is used as before, with the fully removable cover to access hot-swap and cold-swap components clearly marked inside. You also have standard backup power, now with a stronger 1,600W supply, if needed, to meet the needs of new silicon.
Backup power now has a capacity of 750W and 1600W.
Fully configured, the Dell R830 chassis is a heavy, requiring two people to slide it into a rack, and when you remove the cover there is no free space inside. That’s mainly because squeezing four large Xeon processors plus radiators and 48 memory into a 2U chassis, is also a real challenge. Dell decided to solve this problem by dividing the load between the motherboard and the processor expansion module (called PEM) – effectively, a badger card mounted on the head. There are two processor slots and 24 DIMM slots on the motherboard and a similar arrangement on PEM.
The R830 motherboard has two processor slots and 24 DIMM drives.
Used on the R820, it should be noted that PEM is completely optional, but with many alternatives for 2-way servers dedicated to customers.
Two other processors and 24 DIMM memories are arranged on a processor expansion module (PEM) plugged into a special socket on the Dell PowerEdge R830 main board.
Our evaluation system is equipped with this option, and is fully equipped with Xeon E5-4650 v4 processor (14 cores / 28 strands) at 2.2GHz with a capacity of 105W TDP (Thermal Design Power). However, there are many choices here, ranging from 8 to 22 cores per processor and different TDP ratings of up to 135 W for 22- E5-4669 v4.
DDR4 memory support is available on all members of the E5-4600 v4 family, although the speed is 2.4GHz only available on high-end processors, starting from E5-4640 v4. In theory, memory up to 6TB can be processed in total, but until 128GB DIMM memory becomes available, the R830 is limited to half (3TB), just like on the R820. Our evaluation unit comes with 512GB of more modest RAM memory using ECC 32GB modules.
Power and cooling system
On the front of the cooling, the Dell R830 holds the same range of 6 hot-swap fans as its predecessor. They are placed in a pull-out module between the memory in the front and the electronic device on the back of the server. Although noisy, they proved to be not much bigger. Similarly, the average power consumption of a 4 socket server, is determined by both the processor and the level they are working on.
6 hot-swap fans keep the server cool.
where can you get a Dell PowerEdge R830 online
Dell PowerEdge R830 12-Core 2.1GHz 32GB RAM 120GB HDD (Renewed): Buy it now
Storage capacity
With 16 hot-plug locations, the R830 is not the ideal platform for those looking for great storage capabilities. That said, it’s not too bad and you can always add external drives or connect servers up to a SAN to overcome this limit.
Our evaluation system comes with a few 400GB SSD drives to handle server software along with 6 SAS 1.2TB magnetic drives for data. All are connected to the Dell PERC H730P controller and are configured as a RAID 5 array. Other controllers from the PERC range can be specified if preferred, while customers are looking for performance. Optimized storage towards Dell’s NVMe add-on card.
The internal drive sockets of the R830 may contain a combined amount of SSD and HDD.
Connect, manage and more
Network attachments are managed by the onboard and associated card controllers with options including Gigabit and QuadGlE settings for Quad-Port. Our evaluation system has a combination of 2 10GbE ports, with 2 Gigabit ports on the side. Support for TOE and iSCSI offload is also available on some configurations.
The network card on the review server is equipped with 2 10bE ports and 2 Gigabit ports. IDRAC management controller has a separate, dedicated Gigabit interface.
Meanwhile, a separate Gigabit port provides connectivity to Dell’s management controller, on the R830, which is upgraded to iDRAC8 to work with the latest Dell OpenManage platform.
Benefits of the R830 from the latest Dell iDRAC 8 remote access controller.
Other options include Dell’s embedded Hypervisor option with redundant SD Card modules and seven PCIe 3.0 slots for expansion. One of them is a RAID adapter on a rating system, with a QLogic-based Fiber Channel card on another device.
A workhorse of a server that can store a bunch of workloads, the Xeon E5-4600 v4 processor and DDR4 RAM in Dell’s PowerEdge R830 creates a significant performance over the previous generation R820. Moreover, being able to do this without adding core and related license costs – can be significant on this type of platform. Of course, other vendors have similar products, but there are many in the Dell R830 to compliment Dell’s solution, which needs to be checked by anyone looking for a powerful 4-socket server. in a compact 2U format.