Head-to-head · every figure from the vendor documents
Dell R740 vs Lenovo SR650 V3
A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge R740 and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3, built from Dell’s and Lenovo’s own documents. None of the headline measures favour the R740; 5 favour the SR650 V3, and they share no processors.
Bottom line. SR650 V3 leads on virtualisation, databases and in-memory work, storage density, AI and acceleration, network throughput. Neither vendor publishes benchmarks for these machines, so every call here is made on what their documents state.
Each row is a figure both vendors publish. Bars show the split between the two; a badge marks the larger figure, which is not always the better buy — a shallower chassis or a lower power ceiling can matter more.
R7402
Processor sockets
SR650 V32
R74056
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
SR650 V3128Higher
R7403 TB
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
SR650 V38 TBHigher
R74016
Drive bays
SR650 V340Higher
R740Up to 6
Accelerators
SR650 V3Up to 8Higher
R7402,600 W
Largest power supply
SR650 V32,600 W
R7402U Rack
Rack height
SR650 V32U Rack
R74025 GbE class
Fastest network option
SR650 V3200 GbE classHigher
02 — Verdict
Which one, and why
Drawn from the measures above and each model’s own data sheet. Neither vendor publishes benchmark results for these servers, so nothing here claims one is “faster”.
Choose the R740 if…
Keeping every drive at the front is the trade that buys room inside: Dell allows this model three double-width 300 W accelerators or six single-width 150 W ones, plus three double-width or four single-width FPGAs, with no drive-chassis condition attached. The R740xd’s equivalent row stops at two cards and ties them to its 24-bay build.
Choose the SR650 V3 if…
Cores, fully populated: 128 against 56 on the R740
Memory ceiling: 8 TB against 3 TB on the R740
Drive bays: 40 against 16 on the R740
Three drive zones — front, mid-chassis and rear — take the 2U chassis to 40 × 2.5-inch or 20 × 3.5-inch bays, and up to 36 NVMe drives can each run on a dedicated x4 link with no oversubscription.
03 — By workload
Where each one pulls ahead
Calls made on documented capacity only — cores, memory, bays, accelerators and network options — with the figures behind each one shown.
VirtualisationR740: 56 cores with 3 TB. SR650 V3: 128 cores with 8 TB.SR650 V3
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 3 TB against 8 TB, across 24 and 32 DIMM slots.SR650 V3
Storage density16 bays in 2U against 40 in 2U.SR650 V3
AI & acceleration6 accelerators against 8 in the vendor documents.SR650 V3
Network throughputFastest card listed: 25 GbE class against 200 GbE class.SR650 V3
04 — Specifications
Side by side, differences first
Everything both documents state, grouped. The default view hides rows where the two machines are identical.
Processors
Every processor each vendor lists for the model, from its own document.
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet
Tables 3/17: height 86.8 mm
766 mm
05 — The data
Processors, memory, bays and power
The same charts each data sheet carries, drawn to the same scale so the two ranges can be read against each other.
R740: processors by cores and TDP
Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family 111Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU
SR650 V3: processors by cores and TDP
5th Gen Xeon Scalable 324th Gen Xeon Scalable 52Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU
R740: memory with every slot filled
SR650 V3: memory with every slot filled
R740: drive bays
Front panel
16 × 2.5" SAS/SATA at the front — 16 bays in total.
SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe
SR650 V3: drive bays
Front panel
24 × 2.5" SAS/SATA at the front — 24 bays in total.
SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe
R740: power supplies
AC−48 V DC
SR650 V3: power supplies
AC−48 V DC
07 — Questions
R740 vs SR650 V3, answered
Is the R740 or the SR650 V3 the faster server?
Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The R740 lists 111 processors up to 28 cores at 205 W; the SR650 V3 lists 84 up to 64 cores at 385 W. Fully populated that is 56 cores against 128.
Which holds more memory?
The R740 has 24 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 3 TB with RDIMM/LRDIMM. The SR650 V3 has 32 and 8 TB.
Which takes more drives?
R740: 16 bays across 3 documented layouts. SR650 V3: 40 across 20. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.
Can either take GPUs?
R740: up to 6 accelerators, 2 double-wide cards listed. SR650 V3: up to 8, 1 double-wide listed.
Do they share any processors?
No. The two documents list different processors, so a like-for-like processor build is not possible across these two.
Where these figures come from. R740: Dell EMC PowerEdge R740 and R740xd Technical Guide (Rev. A12, August 2022) (Dell document). SR650 V3: Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3 Server Product Guide (publication date is not printed in the text export) (Lenovo document). Each claim on this page is derived from those documents, checked page by page on the two data sheets, and carries no pricing.