Dell XE9780 vs HPE XD685
A specification-by-specification comparison of the Dell PowerEdge XE9780 and the HPE ProLiant Compute XD685, built from Dell’s and HPE’s own documents. 3 headline measures favour the XE9780, 2 favour the XD685, and they share no processors.
Bottom line. XE9780 leads on virtualisation, databases and in-memory work. XD685 leads on storage density. Neither vendor publishes benchmarks for these machines, so every call here is made on what their documents state.
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.
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 XE9780 if…
- Memory ceiling: 4 TB against 3 TB on the XD685
- Drive bays: 16 against 12 on the XD685
- Largest power supply: 3,200 W against 3,000 W on the XD685
- A choice of two eight-GPU HGX boards: B300 NVL8 with 270 GB per GPU at 1100 W, or B200 with 180 GB at 1000 W, all eight GPUs joined by NVLink.
Choose the XD685 if…
- Cores, fully populated: 192 against 172 on the XE9780
- Rack height: 5U Rack against 10U Rack on the XE9780
- 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.
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.
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.
| Specification | XE9780 | XD685 |
|---|---|---|
| Processors listed | 4 | 9 |
| Most cores per processor | 86 | 96 |
| Highest processor TDP | 350 W | 400 W |
| Processor families | Xeon 6 P-core | AMD EPYC 9005 |
Memory
| Specification | XE9780 | XD685 |
|---|---|---|
| DIMM slots | 32 | 24 |
| Slots per processor | 16 | 12 |
| Memory types | RDIMM DDR5-6400 (1DPC) / 5200 (2DPC) | RDIMM DDR5-6400 |
Storage
Bay counts are the maximum each document states, including rear and mid-chassis positions.
| Specification | XE9780 | XD685 |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum bays | 16 | 12 |
| Bay sizes | E3.S · 2.5-inch | E3.S |
| Boot devices | BOSS-N1 DC-MHS (2 x M.2 SSDs) | 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 controllers | 2 | 3 |
Accelerators & I/O
| Specification | XE9780 | XD685 |
|---|---|---|
| OCP slots | 1 | 0 |
| Network cards listed | 27 | 20 |
Power & platform
| Specification | XE9780 | XD685 |
|---|---|---|
| Output range | 3,200–3,200 W | 3,000–3,000 W |
| Input types | AC | −48 V DC |
| Management | iDRAC10 | HPE iLO 6 |
| Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet | 1023 mm (40.27 in) without bezel / 1044.7 mm (41.12 in) with bezel | 1049 mm (L) deep |
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.
XE9780: processors by cores and TDP
XD685: processors by cores and TDP
XE9780: memory with every slot filled
XD685: memory with every slot filled
XE9780: drive bays
Front panel
16 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 16 bays in total.
XD685: drive bays
Front panel
8 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 8 bays in total.
XE9780: power supplies
XD685: power supplies
XE9780 vs XD685, answered
Is the XE9780 or the XD685 the faster server?
Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The XE9780 lists 4 processors up to 86 cores at 350 W; the XD685 lists 9 up to 96 cores at 400 W. Fully populated that is 172 cores against 192.
Which holds more memory?
The XE9780 has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 4 TB. The XD685 has 24 and 3.0 TB.
Which takes more drives?
XE9780: 16 bays across 2 documented layouts. XD685: 12 across 2. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.
Can either take GPUs?
XE9780: 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. XE9780: Dell PowerEdge XE9780 Technical Guide (Rev. A03, August 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.
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