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Head-to-head · every figure from the vendor documents

Dell XE7740 vs Lenovo SR860 V3

A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge XE7740 and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860 V3, built from Dell’s and Lenovo’s own documents. 3 headline measures favour the XE7740, 4 favour the SR860 V3, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. XE7740 leads on AI and acceleration, network throughput. SR860 V3 leads on virtualisation, databases and in-memory work, storage density. Neither vendor publishes benchmarks for these machines, so every call here is made on what their documents state.

Dell PowerEdge XE7740 front with eight E3.S drive bays and a BOSS-N1 boot module above twelve hot-swap GPU fans
Dell PowerEdge
XE7740
4U Rack2 sockets32 DIMMiDRAC10
VS
Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860 V3 4U front with 48 2.5-inch hot-swap drive bays in six groups of eight, plus front VGA and USB ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem
SR860 V3
4U Rack4 sockets64 DIMMXClarity Controller 2
01 — Scoreboard

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.

2
Processor sockets
Higher4
172
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
Higher240
4 TB
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
Higher16 TB
8
Drive bays
Higher48
Up to 16Higher
Accelerators
Up to 8
3,200 WHigher
Largest power supply
2,700 W
4U Rack
Rack height
4U Rack
400 GbE classHigher
Fastest network option
200 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 XE7740 if…

  • Accelerators: Up to 16 against Up to 8 on the SR860 V3
  • Largest power supply: 3,200 W against 2,700 W on the SR860 V3
  • Fastest network option: 400 GbE class against 200 GbE class on the SR860 V3
  • Eight double-wide slots at up to 600 W accept five different cards — NVIDIA H100 NVL, H200 NVL, L40S and RTX Pro 6000, or Intel Gaudi 3 — or sixteen single-width L4s.

Choose the SR860 V3 if…

  • Processor sockets: 4 against 2 on the XE7740
  • Cores, fully populated: 240 against 172 on the XE7740
  • Memory ceiling: 16 TB against 4 TB on the XE7740
  • Forty-eight front bays in one chassis: all SAS/SATA, or 24 SAS/SATA plus 24 AnyBay with each AnyBay bay on its own Gen5 x4 NVMe link.
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.

VirtualisationXE7740: 172 cores with 4 TB. SR860 V3: 240 cores with 16 TB.SR860 V3
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 4 TB against 16 TB, across 32 and 64 DIMM slots.SR860 V3
Storage density8 bays in 4U against 48 in 4U.SR860 V3
AI & acceleration16 accelerators against 8 in the vendor documents.XE7740
Network throughputFastest card listed: 400 GbE class against 200 GbE class.XE7740
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.

SpecificationXE7740SR860 V3
Processors listed310
Most cores per processor8660
Processor familiesXeon 6 P-core4th Gen Xeon Scalable

Memory

SpecificationXE7740SR860 V3
DIMM slots3264
Fastest rated speed6,400 MT/s5,600 MT/s
Memory typesRDIMM DDR5-6400RDIMM DDR5-4800 · 9x4 RDIMM · 3DS RDIMM

Storage

Bay counts are the maximum each document states, including rear and mid-chassis positions.

SpecificationXE7740SR860 V3
Maximum bays848
Documented layouts12
Bay sizesE3.S2.5-inch
Boot devicesBOSS-N1 DC-MHS (HW RAID 1, 2 x M.2 NVMe SSD)M.2 SATA/NVMe 2-Bay Enablement Kit (4Y37A09738) · M.2 SATA/x4 NVMe 2-Bay Adapter (4Y37A79663) · M.2 NVMe 2-Bay RAID Adapter (4Y37A09750) + 1 more
Storage controllers116

Accelerators & I/O

SpecificationXE7740SR860 V3
Accelerators supportedUp to 16Up to 8
Double-wide cards listed50
OCP slots12
PCIe network slots818
Network cards listed1129

Power & platform

SpecificationXE7740SR860 V3
Power-supply options311
Output range2,400–3,200 W1,100–2,700 W
Input typesAC · 277 VAC / HVDCAC · 277 VAC / HVDC · −48 V DC
ManagementiDRAC10XClarity Controller 2
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet899.56 mm with bezel / 886.73 mm without bezel906 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.

XE7740: processors by cores and TDP

Dell PowerEdge XE7740 processors0816243240485664728088300 W350 WCores per processorIntel Xeon 6 6787P — 86 cores / 172 threads · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6 6767P — 64 cores / 128 threads · 350 W · 2.4 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6 6747P — 48 cores / 96 threads · 330 W · 2.7 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-64006 6787P86 cores · 4.1 W/core — top SKU and most efficient
Xeon 6 P-core 3Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

SR860 V3: processors by cores and TDP

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860 V3 processors0816243240485664150 W200 W250 W300 W350 WCores per processorIntel Xeon Platinum 8490H — 60 cores / 120 threads · 350 W · 1.9 GHz base · 112.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Platinum 8468H — 48 cores / 96 threads · 330 W · 2.1 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Platinum 8460H — 40 cores / 80 threads · 330 W · 2.2 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Platinum 8454H — 32 cores / 64 threads · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 82.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Gold 6448H — 32 cores / 64 threads · 250 W · 2.4 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Platinum 8450H — 28 cores / 56 threads · 250 W · 2 GHz base · 75 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Gold 6418H — 24 cores / 48 threads · 185 W · 2.1 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Gold 6416H — 18 cores / 36 threads · 165 W · 2.2 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Platinum 8444H — 16 cores / 32 threads · 270 W · 2.9 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon Gold 6434H — 8 cores / 16 threads · 195 W · 3.7 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-48008490H60 cores · 5.8 W/core — top SKU and most efficient
4th Gen Xeon Scalable 10Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

XE7740: memory with every slot filled

32 GB1 TB64 GB2 TB96 GB3 TB128 GB4 TB32 slots · 16 per processor · each tick = one DIMM

SR860 V3: memory with every slot filled

16 GB1 TB32 GB2 TB64 GB4 TB96 GB6 TB128 GB8 TB64 slots · 16 per processor · each tick = one DIMM

XE7740: drive bays

Front panel

8 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 8 bays in total.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

SR860 V3: drive bays

Front panel

8 × 2.5" SAS/SATA at the front — 8 bays in total.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

XE7740: power supplies

05001000150020002500300035002400 W Titanium — Mixed mode multi-capacity: 2400 W at 200-240 V AC, 1400 W at 100-120 V AC; 240 V DC (10.9 A). C19 cord. 8x 600 W DW GPUs not supported on 2400 W in 4+0/3+1 or 3+3 A/B-grid configurations (Table 27)2400Titanium3200 W Titanium — Mixed mode multi-capacity: 3200 W at 220.1-240 V AC (16 A), 2900 W at 200-220 V AC; 240 V DC (14.5 A). C19 cord. 73.5 mm form factor3200Titanium3200 W Titanium — 277 V AC (12.9 A) and 336 V DC HVDC (10.47 A); APP/Saf-D-Grid cable3200TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC277 VAC / HVDC

SR860 V3: power supplies

0500100015002000250030001100 W Platinum — Platinum power supplies (available in all markets); input 230V/115V; max quantity 41100Platinum1100 W Titanium — Titanium power supplies (available in all markets); input 230V; max quantity 41100Titanium1300 W Platinum — Power supplies for customers in China only; input 230V/115V; CRPS; China only; max quantity 41300Platinum1300 W Platinum — Power supplies for customers in China only; input 230V/115V; CRPS; China only; max quantity 41300Platinum1600 W n/a (DC input) — Power supplies for customers in China only; input 336V HVDC; CRPS; China only; max quantity 41600DC1600 W n/a (DC input) — Power supplies for customers in China only; input -48V DC; CRPS; China only; max quantity 41600DC1800 W Platinum — Platinum power supplies (available in all markets); input 230V; max quantity 2 or 41800Platinum1800 W Titanium — Titanium power supplies (available in all markets); input 230V; max quantity 2 or 41800Titanium2400 W Platinum — Platinum power supplies (available in all markets); input 230V; max quantity 2 or 42400Platinum2600 W Titanium — Titanium power supplies (available in all markets); input 230V; max quantity 2 or 42600Titanium2700 W Platinum — Power supplies for customers in China only; input 230V; CRPS; China only; max quantity 42700PlatinumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC277 VAC / HVDC−48 V DC
07 — Questions

XE7740 vs SR860 V3, answered

Is the XE7740 or the SR860 V3 the faster server?

Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The XE7740 lists 3 processors up to 86 cores at 350 W; the SR860 V3 lists 10 up to 60 cores at 350 W. Fully populated that is 172 cores against 240.

Which holds more memory?

The XE7740 has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 4 TB. The SR860 V3 has 64 and 16 TB.

Which takes more drives?

XE7740: 8 bays across 1 documented layouts. SR860 V3: 48 across 2. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.

Can either take GPUs?

XE7740: up to 16 accelerators, 5 double-wide cards listed. SR860 V3: up to 8, 0 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. XE7740: Dell PowerEdge XE7740 Technical Guide (Rev. A04, April 2026) (Dell document). SR860 V3: Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860 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.

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