Head-to-head · every figure from the vendor documents
Dell R770 vs HPE DL380 Gen11
A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge R770 and the HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen11, built from Dell’s and HPE’s own documents. 3 headline measures favour the R770, 1 favours the DL380 Gen11, and they share no processors.
Bottom line. R770 leads on virtualisation, storage density. DL380 Gen11 leads on AI and acceleration. 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.
2
Processor sockets
2
288Higher
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
128
8 TB
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
8 TB
44Higher
Drive bays
36
Up to 6
Accelerators
HigherUp to 8
3,200 WHigher
Largest power supply
2,200 W
2U Rack
Rack height
2U Rack
400 GbE class
Fastest network option
400 GbE class
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 R770 if…
Cores, fully populated: 288 against 128 on the DL380 Gen11
Drive bays: 44 against 36 on the DL380 Gen11
Largest power supply: 3,200 W against 2,200 W on the DL380 Gen11
Forty front E3.S Gen5 bays plus four at the rear; Dell puts the front alone at 2457.6 TB raw.
Choose the DL380 Gen11 if…
Accelerators: Up to 8 against Up to 6 on the R770
Five factory chassis — 8SFF, 24SFF, 8LFF, 12LFF and 12EDSFF — plus mid-tray and rear cages, so one model spans small SFF builds, 16 LFF bays and 36 EDSFF NVMe drives.
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.
VirtualisationR770: 288 cores with 8 TB. DL380 Gen11: 128 cores with 8 TB.R770
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 8 TB against 8 TB, across 32 and 32 DIMM slots.Line ball
Storage density44 bays in 2U against 36 in 2U.R770
AI & acceleration6 accelerators against 8 in the vendor documents.DL380 Gen11
Network throughputFastest card listed: 400 GbE class against 400 GbE class.Line ball
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.
Bay counts are the maximum each document states, including rear and mid-chassis positions.
Specification
R770
DL380 Gen11
Maximum bays
44
36
Documented layouts
11
13
Bay sizes
E3.S · 2.5-inch
2.5-inch · 3.5-inch · E3.S
Boot devices
BOSS-N1 DC-MHS (HW RAID 1, 2 x M.2 NVMe SSD 480 GB or 960 GB) · M.2 Interposer board (DC-MHS): 2 x M.2 NVMe SSDs · Internal USB
HPE NS204i-u Gen11 NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe SED Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device + 2 more
Storage controllers
5
13
Accelerators & I/O
Specification
R770
DL380 Gen11
Accelerators supported
Up to 6
Up to 8
Double-wide cards listed
5
3
Network cards listed
14
39
Power & platform
Specification
R770
DL380 Gen11
Power-supply options
11
5
Output range
800–3,200 W
800–2,200 W
Input types
AC · 277 VAC / HVDC
AC · −48 V DC
Management
iDRAC10
HPE iLO 6
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet
801.51 mm without bezel (rear I/O) / 814.52 mm without bezel (front I/O)
SFF CTO: 72.7 cm (28.62 in)
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.
R770: processors by cores and TDP
Xeon 6 E-core 6Xeon 6 P-core 17Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU
DL380 Gen11: processors by cores and TDP
5th Gen Xeon Scalable 294th Gen Xeon Scalable 37Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU
R770: memory with every slot filled
DL380 Gen11: memory with every slot filled
R770: drive bays
Front panel
40 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 40 bays in total.
SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe
DL380 Gen11: drive bays
Front panel
12 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 12 bays in total.
SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe
R770: power supplies
AC277 VAC / HVDC
DL380 Gen11: power supplies
AC−48 V DC
07 — Questions
R770 vs DL380 Gen11, answered
Is the R770 or the DL380 Gen11 the faster server?
Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The R770 lists 23 processors up to 144 cores at 350 W; the DL380 Gen11 lists 66 up to 64 cores at 385 W. Fully populated that is 288 cores against 128.
Which holds more memory?
The R770 has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 8 TB. The DL380 Gen11 has 32 and 8.0 TB.
Which takes more drives?
R770: 44 bays across 11 documented layouts. DL380 Gen11: 36 across 13. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.
Can either take GPUs?
R770: up to 6 accelerators, 5 double-wide cards listed. DL380 Gen11: up to 8, 3 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. R770: Dell PowerEdge R770 Technical Guide (May 2026) (Dell document). DL380 Gen11: HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen11 QuickSpecs (Version 47 - 08-Sep-2026) (HPE document). Each claim on this page is derived from those documents, checked page by page on the two data sheets, and carries no pricing.