Dell R740 vs Lenovo SR650i V4
A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge R740 and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650i V4, built from Dell’s and Lenovo’s own documents. 3 headline measures favour the R740, 2 favour the SR650i V4, and they share no processors.
Bottom line. R740 leads on virtualisation, databases and in-memory work, storage density, AI and acceleration. Neither vendor publishes benchmarks for these machines, so every call here is made on what their documents state.
The measures that decide it
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.
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…
- Memory ceiling: 3 TB against 0.5 TB on the SR650i V4
- Drive bays: 16 against 8 on the SR650i V4
- Accelerators: Up to 6 against Up to 2 on the SR650i V4
- 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 SR650i V4 if…
- Cores, fully populated: 64 against 56 on the R740
- Largest power supply: 3,200 W against 2,600 W on the R740
- 192 GB of GPU memory from a pair of RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition cards from NVIDIA, each running in Lenovo’s full 600 W configuration.
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.
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.
| Specification | R740 | SR650i V4 |
|---|---|---|
| Processors listed | 111 | 1 |
| Most cores per processor | 28 | 32 |
| Highest processor TDP | 205 W | 225 W |
| Processor families | Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family | Xeon 6 P-core |
| Single-processor option | Yes | No |
Memory
| Specification | R740 | SR650i V4 |
|---|---|---|
| DIMM slots | 24 | 32 |
| Slots per processor | 12 | 16 |
| Largest module listed | 512 GB | 64 GB |
| Fastest rated speed | 2,933 MT/s | 6,400 MT/s |
| Memory types | RDIMM DDR4-2666 · RDIMM DDR4-2933 · LRDIMM DDR4-2666 · NVDIMM-N DDR4-2666 + 1 more | RDIMM DDR5-6400 |
Storage
Bay counts are the maximum each document states, including rear and mid-chassis positions.
| Specification | R740 | SR650i V4 |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum bays | 16 | 8 |
| Documented layouts | 3 | 1 |
| Bay sizes | 2.5-inch · 3.5-inch | 2.5-inch |
| Boot devices | BOSS - HW RAID, 2 x M.2 SATA SSD, 240 GB or 480 GB (Table 3) · IDSDM (2 x microSD, 16/32/64 GB) and/or vFlash (1 x 16 GB microSD) | ThinkSystem M.2 RAID B550i-2i SATA/NVMe Enablement Kit (internal, 2x M.2 NVMe, integrated Broadcom RAID) |
| Storage controllers | 12 | 2 |
Accelerators & I/O
| Specification | R740 | SR650i V4 |
|---|---|---|
| Accelerators supported | Up to 6 | Up to 2 |
| Double-wide cards listed | 2 | 1 |
| OCP slots | 0 | 2 |
| PCIe network slots | 8 | 14 |
| Network cards listed | 4 | 1 |
Power & platform
| Specification | R740 | SR650i V4 |
|---|---|---|
| Power-supply options | 12 | 1 |
| Output range | 495–2,600 W | 3,200–3,200 W |
| Input types | AC · −48 V DC | AC |
| Management | iDRAC9 | XClarity Controller 3 |
| Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet | Tables 3/17: height 86.8 mm | 924 mm (36.4 in.) |
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
SR650i V4: processors by cores and TDP
R740: memory with every slot filled
SR650i V4: memory with every slot filled
R740: drive bays
Front panel
16 × 2.5" SAS/SATA at the front — 16 bays in total.
SR650i V4: drive bays
Front panel
8 × 2.5" NVMe at the front — 8 bays in total.
R740: power supplies
SR650i V4: power supplies
R740 vs SR650i V4, answered
Is the R740 or the SR650i V4 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 SR650i V4 lists 1 up to 32 cores at 225 W. Fully populated that is 56 cores against 64.
Which holds more memory?
The R740 has 24 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 3 TB with RDIMM/LRDIMM. The SR650i V4 has 32 and 512 GB as configured.
Which takes more drives?
R740: 16 bays across 3 documented layouts. SR650i V4: 8 across 1. 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. SR650i V4: up to 2, 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). SR650i V4: Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650a V4 and SR650i V4 Servers (August 27, 2026) (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.
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