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

Dell XE9680L vs Lenovo SR860 V3

A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge XE9680L and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860 V3, built from Dell’s and Lenovo’s own documents. 2 headline measures favour the XE9680L, 4 favour the SR860 V3, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. XE9680L leads on 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 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 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
Configure the SR860 V3 →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
Higher4
128
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 8
Accelerators
Up to 8
3,000 WHigher
Largest power supply
2,700 W
4U Rack, Direct Liquid Cooled
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 XE9680L if…

  • Largest power supply: 3,000 W against 2,700 W on the SR860 V3
  • Fastest network option: 400 GbE class against 200 GbE class on the SR860 V3
  • 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 SR860 V3 if…

  • Processor sockets: 4 against 2 on the XE9680L
  • Cores, fully populated: 240 against 128 on the XE9680L
  • Memory ceiling: 16 TB against 4 TB on the XE9680L
  • 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.

VirtualisationXE9680L: 128 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 & acceleration8 accelerators against 8 in the vendor documents.Line ball
Network throughputFastest card listed: 400 GbE class against 200 GbE class.XE9680L
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.

SpecificationXE9680LSR860 V3
Processors listed510
Most cores per processor6460
Processor families5th Gen Xeon Scalable4th Gen Xeon Scalable

Memory

SpecificationXE9680LSR860 V3
DIMM slots3264
Memory typesRDIMM DDR5-5600 (1DPC) / 4400 MT/s (2DPC)RDIMM DDR5-4800 · 9x4 RDIMM · 3DS RDIMM

Storage

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

SpecificationXE9680LSR860 V3
Maximum bays848
Documented layouts12
Boot devicesBOSS-N1 (2 x M.2 NVMe SSD, hardware RAID 1)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

SpecificationXE9680LSR860 V3
OCP slots12
PCIe network slots1218
Network cards listed829

Power & platform

SpecificationXE9680LSR860 V3
Power-supply options211
Output range2,800–3,000 W1,100–2,700 W
Input typesACAC · 277 VAC / HVDC · −48 V DC
ManagementiDRAC9XClarity Controller 2
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 without906 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

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

XE9680L: memory with every slot filled

64 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

XE9680L: drive bays

Front panel

8 × 2.5" 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

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

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

XE9680L vs SR860 V3, answered

Is the XE9680L or the SR860 V3 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 SR860 V3 lists 10 up to 60 cores at 350 W. Fully populated that is 128 cores against 240.

Which holds more memory?

The XE9680L has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 4 TB. The SR860 V3 has 64 and 16 TB.

Which takes more drives?

XE9680L: 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?

XE9680L: up to 8 accelerators, 0 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. XE9680L: Dell PowerEdge XE9680L Technical Guide (Rev. A04, June 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.

Other comparisons in this class

R960 vs SR860 V3Dell vs LenovoXE9680L vs Compute XD690Dell vs HPEXE9680L vs XD685Dell vs HPEXE9680L vs SR680a V3Dell vs LenovoXE9680L vs SR780a V3Dell vs LenovoXE9680L vs SR680a V4Dell vs LenovoXE7740 vs SR860 V3Dell vs LenovoXD685 vs SR860 V3HPE vs Lenovo

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