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

Dell XE9680L vs HPE XD685

A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge XE9680L and the HPE ProLiant Compute XD685, built from Dell’s and HPE’s own documents. 2 headline measures favour the XE9680L, 2 favour the XD685, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. XE9680L leads on databases and in-memory work. XD685 leads on virtualisation, storage density. Neither vendor publishes benchmarks for these machines, so every call here is made on what their documents state.

Dell PowerEdge XE9680L front: bezel with LCD panel across the drive bays, control panels either side, twelve PCIe slot brackets below
Dell PowerEdge
XE9680L
4U Rack, Direct Liquid Cooled2 sockets32 DIMMiDRAC9
Configure the XE9680L →Full data sheet
VS
HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 front: twelve E3.S NVMe bays, NS204 boot module, iLO, VGA and USB 3.0 ports, PCIe bays at each side, badge on the ear
HPE ProLiant
XD685
5U Rack2 sockets24 DIMMHPE iLO 6
Configure the XD685 →Full data sheet
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
2
128
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
Higher192
4 TBHigher
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
3 TB
8
Drive bays
Higher12
Up to 8
Accelerators
Up to 8
3,000 W
Largest power supply
3,000 W
4U Rack, Direct Liquid CooledHigher
Rack height
5U 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 XE9680L if…

  • Memory ceiling: 4 TB against 3 TB on the XD685
  • Rack height: 4U Rack, Direct Liquid Cooled against 5U Rack on the XD685
  • Cold plates sit on the eight GPUs, the NVLink switches and both processors, and the chassis carries the 1000 W-per-GPU B200 board in 4U.

Choose the XD685 if…

  • Cores, fully populated: 192 against 128 on the XE9680L
  • Drive bays: 12 against 8 on the XE9680L
  • Four eight-GPU boards on one platform — NVIDIA HGX H200, B200 and HGX B300, or AMD Instinct MI355X — with B200, B300 and MI355X each tied to its own DLC or power kit.
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.

VirtualisationXE9680L: 128 cores with 4 TB. XD685: 192 cores with 3 TB.XD685
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 4 TB against 3 TB, across 32 and 24 DIMM slots.XE9680L
Storage density8 bays in 4U against 12 in 5U.XD685
AI & acceleration8 accelerators against 8 in the vendor documents.Line ball
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.

SpecificationXE9680LXD685
Processors listed59
Most cores per processor6496
Highest processor TDP350 W400 W
Processor families5th Gen Xeon ScalableAMD EPYC 9005

Memory

SpecificationXE9680LXD685
DIMM slots3224
Slots per processor1612
Fastest rated speed5,600 MT/s6,400 MT/s
Memory typesRDIMM DDR5-5600 (1DPC) / 4400 MT/s (2DPC)RDIMM DDR5-6400

Storage

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

SpecificationXE9680LXD685
Maximum bays812
Documented layouts12
Bay sizes2.5-inchE3.S
Boot devicesBOSS-N1 (2 x M.2 NVMe SSD, hardware RAID 1)HPE ProLiant Compute XD NS204i-u 960GB Boot Device (S4R99A) - 2x 480 GB M.2 NVMe RAID 1 · HPE ProLiant Compute XD NS204i-u 2x 960GB Boot Device (S6A36A) - 2x 960 GB M.2 NVMe RAID 1
Storage controllers13

Accelerators & I/O

SpecificationXE9680LXD685
OCP slots10
Network cards listed820

Power & platform

SpecificationXE9680LXD685
Power-supply options21
Output range2,800–3,000 W3,000–3,000 W
Input typesAC−48 V DC
ManagementiDRAC9HPE iLO 6
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet174.3 mm H x 482 mm W (upper 2U 447 mm / lower 2U 434 mm) x 1037.57 mm D with bezel (1025.62 mm without1049 mm (L) deep
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.

XE9680L: processors by cores and TDP

Dell PowerEdge XE9680L processors0816243240485664300 W350 WCores per processorIntel Xeon Platinum 8592+ — 64 cores / 128 threads · 350 W · 1.9 GHz base · 320 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon Platinum 8580 — 60 cores / 120 threads · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon Platinum 8570 — 56 cores / 112 threads · 350 W · 2.1 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon Platinum 8568Y+ — 48 cores / 96 threads · 350 W · 2.3 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon Platinum 8562Y+ — 32 cores / 64 threads · 300 W · 2.8 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-56008592+64 cores · 5.5 W/core — top SKU and most efficient
5th Gen Xeon Scalable 5Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

XD685: processors by cores and TDP

HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 processors081624324048566472808896250 W300 W350 W400 WCores per processorAMD EPYC 9655 — 96 cores · 400 W · 2.6 GHz base · 384 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9645 — 96 cores · 320 W · 2.3 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9565 — 72 cores · 400 W · 3.15 GHz base · 384 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9575F — 64 cores · 400 W · 3 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9555 — 64 cores · 360 W · 3.2 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9535 — 64 cores · 300 W · 2.4 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9455 — 48 cores · 300 W · 3.15 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9365 — 36 cores · 300 W · 3.4 GHz base · 192 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9355 — 32 cores · 280 W · 3.6 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400EPYC 965596 cores — the top SKUEPYC 96453.3 W/core — most efficient
AMD EPYC 9005 9Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

XE9680L: memory with every slot filled

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

XD685: memory with every slot filled

64 GB1.5 TB96 GB2.3 TB128 GB3 TB24 slots · 12 per processor · each tick = one DIMM

XE9680L: drive bays

Front panel

8 × 2.5" NVMe at the front — 8 bays in total.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

XD685: drive bays

Front panel

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

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

XE9680L: power supplies

0500100015002000250030002800 W Titanium — For NVIDIA H200 GPU configuration. Mixed mode: 200-240 V AC 15.6 A / 240 V DC 13.6 A; 86 mm 54 VDC form factor, C21 cord; 6 PSUs with 3+3 FTR or 5+1 redundancy; peak 4760 W2800Titanium3000 W Titanium — For NVIDIA B200 GPU configuration. Multi-rated mixed mode: 3000 W at 209.1-240 V AC 16 A / 240 V DC 14.6 A, derates to 2800 W at 200-209 V AC; 86 mm, C21 cord; 6 PSUs with 3+3 FTR or 5+1 redundancy; peak 5100 W3000TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC

XD685: power supplies

0500100015002000250030003000 W Titanium — Option name 'HPE ProLiant Compute XD 3000W 54VDC Power Supply' (54VDC = output); Standard Features name 'HPE 3000 W CRPS Titanium Hot Plug Power Supply Kit'. Family: CRPS as printed (not HPE Flex Slot; the doc does not say M-CRPS). Rated input 200-277 VAC; PMAX 2900 W at 200 VAC, 3000 W at 207-277 VAC. Max BTU 6497 BTU/hr @200 VAC, 7230 @220 VAC, 7962 @240 VAC. No -48 VDC or HVDC unit listed. 'The PSU model will differ based on the total number of PSUs in the system.' B200/B300/MI355X configs default to 12 PSUs; 10 PSUs can be deployed where PDUs/manifolds do not allow 12; B200 base 6-PSU (S4X40A) with S6V19A for 12-PSU N+3.3000TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
−48 V DC
07 — Questions

XE9680L vs XD685, answered

Is the XE9680L or the XD685 the faster server?

Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The XE9680L lists 5 processors up to 64 cores at 350 W; the XD685 lists 9 up to 96 cores at 400 W. Fully populated that is 128 cores against 192.

Which holds more memory?

The XE9680L has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 4 TB. The XD685 has 24 and 3.0 TB.

Which takes more drives?

XE9680L: 8 bays across 1 documented layouts. XD685: 12 across 2. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.

Can either take GPUs?

XE9680L: up to 8 accelerators, 0 double-wide cards listed. XD685: 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. XE9680L: Dell PowerEdge XE9680L Technical Guide (Rev. A04, June 2026) (Dell document). XD685: HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 QuickSpecs (V15 - 03-August-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.

Other comparisons in this class

R760xa vs XD685Dell vs HPEXE7740 vs XD685Dell vs HPEXE7745 vs XD685Dell vs HPEXE8640 vs XD685Dell vs HPEXE9680 vs XD685Dell vs HPEXE9680L vs Compute XD690Dell vs HPEXE9680L vs SR680a V3Dell vs LenovoXE9680L vs SR780a V3Dell vs Lenovo

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