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

Dell XE9680L vs Lenovo SR680a V4

A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge XE9680L and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR680a V4, built from Dell’s and Lenovo’s own documents. 1 headline measure favours the XE9680L, 3 favour the SR680a V4, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. XE9680L leads on storage density. SR680a V4 leads on virtualisation, network throughput. 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
Lenovo ThinkSystem SR680a V4 front, angled: six fans on top, OCP card, eight NVMe bays, four PCIe slots, two M.2 bays and eight OSFP cages
Lenovo ThinkSystem
SR680a V4
8U Rack2 sockets32 DIMMXClarity Controller 3
Configure the SR680a V4 →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
Higher172
4 TB
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
4 TB
8
Drive bays
8
Up to 8
Accelerators
Up to 8
3,000 W
Largest power supply
Higher3,800 W
4U Rack, Direct Liquid CooledHigher
Rack height
8U Rack
400 GbE class
Fastest network option
Higher800 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…

  • Rack height: 4U Rack, Direct Liquid Cooled against 8U Rack on the SR680a V4
  • 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 SR680a V4 if…

  • Cores, fully populated: 172 against 128 on the XE9680L
  • Largest power supply: 3,800 W against 3,000 W on the XE9680L
  • Fastest network option: 800 GbE class against 400 GbE class on the XE9680L
  • The HGX B300 NVL8 board carries eight SXM6 B300 GPUs, each with 288 GB of HBM3e at 7.7 TB/s and 1100 W, linked to one another over a 1.8 TB/s NVLink full mesh.
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. SR680a V4: 172 cores with 4 TB.SR680a V4
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 4 TB against 4 TB, across 32 and 32 DIMM slots.Line ball
Storage density8 bays in 4U against 8 in 8U.XE9680L
AI & acceleration8 accelerators against 8 in the vendor documents.Line ball
Network throughputFastest card listed: 400 GbE class against 800 GbE class.SR680a V4
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.

SpecificationXE9680LSR680a V4
Processors listed56
Most cores per processor6486
Processor families5th Gen Xeon ScalableXeon 6 P-core

Memory

SpecificationXE9680LSR680a V4
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.

SpecificationXE9680LSR680a V4
Boot devicesBOSS-N1 (2 x M.2 NVMe SSD, hardware RAID 1)ThinkSystem M.2 RAID B550p-2HS SATA/NVMe Enablement Kit (2 x M.2 NVMe, front hot-swap, integrated Broadcom RAID) · ThinkSystem M.2 RAID B540p-2HS SATA/NVMe Adapter (2 x M.2 SATA/NVMe, front hot-swap, integrated Broadcom RAID)
Storage controllers13

Accelerators & I/O

SpecificationXE9680LSR680a V4
PCIe network slots124
Network cards listed811

Power & platform

SpecificationXE9680LSR680a V4
Output range2,800–3,000 W3,200–3,800 W
Input typesACAC · 277 VAC / HVDC
ManagementiDRAC9XClarity Controller 3
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 without924 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.

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

SR680a V4: processors by cores and TDP

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR680a V4 processors0816243240485664728088250 W300 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 6776P — 64 cores / 128 threads · 350 W · 2.3 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6 6760P — 64 cores / 128 threads · 330 W · 2.2 GHz base · 320 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6 6747P — 48 cores / 96 threads · 330 W · 2.7 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6 6740P — 48 cores / 96 threads · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-64006 6787P86 cores · 4.1 W/core — top SKU and most efficient
Xeon 6 P-core 6Bubble 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

SR680a V4: memory with every slot filled

64 GB2 TB96 GB3 TB128 GB4 TB32 slots · 16 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

SR680a V4: drive bays

Front panel

8 × 2.5" 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

SR680a V4: power supplies

050010001500200025003000350040003200 W Titanium — ThinkSystem 3200W 230V/115V Titanium CRPS Premium Hot-Swap Power Supply (4P57A89417 / CBAF); C19 connector; qty 6 or 8; N+1; 230V AC only (no 115V, no HVDC)3200Titanium3800 W Titanium — ThinkSystem 3800W HVAC/HVDC Titanium CRPS Premium Hot-Swap Power Supply (4P57B06189 / CBAE); Anderson 2007G connector; qty 6 or 8; N+1, or N+N with 8 PSUs and input above 249V AC / 260V DC3800TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC277 VAC / HVDC
07 — Questions

XE9680L vs SR680a V4, answered

Is the XE9680L or the SR680a V4 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 SR680a V4 lists 6 up to 86 cores at 350 W. Fully populated that is 128 cores against 172.

Which holds more memory?

The XE9680L has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 4 TB. The SR680a V4 has 32 and 4 TB.

Which takes more drives?

XE9680L: 8 bays across 1 documented layouts. SR680a V4: 8 across 1. 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. SR680a V4: 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). SR680a V4: Lenovo ThinkSystem SR680a V4 Server (August 28, 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.

Other comparisons in this class

XE7740 vs SR680a V4Dell vs LenovoXE9680L vs Compute XD690Dell vs HPEXE9680L vs XD685Dell vs HPEXE9680L vs SR680a V3Dell vs LenovoXE9680L vs SR780a V3Dell vs LenovoXE9780 vs SR680a V4Dell vs LenovoXD685 vs SR680a V4HPE vs LenovoCompute XD690 vs SR680a V4HPE vs Lenovo

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