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

HPE DL380 Gen12 vs HPE DL380a Gen11

A specification-by-specification comparison of the HPE ProLiant Compute DL380 Gen12 and the HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11, built from HPE’s own documents. 3 headline measures favour the DL380 Gen12 and none favour the DL380a Gen11, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. DL380 Gen12 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.

HPE ProLiant Compute DL380 Gen12 2U server, front view: 24 SFF bays in three 8-bay boxes, USB-C iLO port, USB port and health LEDs
HPE ProLiant
DL380 Gen12
2U Rack2 sockets32 DIMMHPE iLO 7
Configure the DL380 Gen12 →Full data sheet
VS
HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11 front: eight 2.5-inch NVMe bays in the centre between two perforated GPU cage grilles, with the model badge on the right ear
HPE ProLiant
DL380a Gen11
2U Rack2 sockets24 DIMMHPE iLO 6
Configure the DL380a Gen11 →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
288Higher
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
128
8 TBHigher
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
3 TB
36Higher
Drive bays
8
Up to 8
Accelerators
Up to 8
2,200 W
Largest power supply
2,200 W
2U Rack
Rack height
2U 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 DL380 Gen12 if…

  • Cores, fully populated: 288 against 128 on the DL380a Gen11
  • Memory ceiling: 8 TB against 3 TB on the DL380a Gen11
  • Drive bays: 36 against 8 on the DL380a Gen11
  • Two Xeon 6 core types in one chassis: seven E-core parts of 64 to 144 cores for dense throughput, and 27 P-core parts of 8 to 86 cores for per-core speed.

Choose the DL380a Gen11 if…

  • Four double-wide or eight single-wide accelerators in a 2U chassis, with six NVIDIA and Intel cards in HPE’s GPU table spanning the 72 W L4 to the 400 W H100 NVL.
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.

VirtualisationDL380 Gen12: 288 cores with 8 TB. DL380a Gen11: 128 cores with 3 TB.DL380 Gen12
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 8 TB against 3 TB, across 32 and 24 DIMM slots.DL380 Gen12
Storage density36 bays in 2U against 8 in 2U.DL380 Gen12
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.

SpecificationDL380 Gen12DL380a Gen11
Processors listed3441
Most cores per processor14464
Processor familiesXeon 6 E-core · Xeon 6 P-core4th Gen Xeon Scalable · 5th Gen Xeon Scalable
Single-processor optionYesNo

Memory

SpecificationDL380 Gen12DL380a Gen11
DIMM slots3224
Slots per processor1612
Largest module listed256 GB128 GB
Fastest rated speed6,400 MT/s5,600 MT/s
Memory typesRDIMM DDR5-6400RDIMM DDR5-4800 (HPE DDR5 Smart Memory, Registered) · RDIMM DDR5-5600 (HPE DDR5 Smart Memory, Registered)

Storage

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

SpecificationDL380 Gen12DL380a Gen11
Maximum bays368
Documented layouts132
Bay sizes2.5-inch · E3.S · 3.5-inch2.5-inch · E3.S
Boot devicesHPE NS204i-u v2 480GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe SED Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device + 3 moreHPE NS204i-u Gen11 NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device
Storage controllers145

Accelerators & I/O

SpecificationDL380 Gen12DL380a Gen11
Double-wide cards listed40
PCIe network slots84
Network cards listed3932

Power & platform

SpecificationDL380 Gen12DL380a Gen11
Power-supply options52
Output range800–2,200 W1,600–2,200 W
Input typesAC · −48 V DCAC
ManagementHPE iLO 7HPE iLO 6
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheetSFF/EDSFF CTO: 72.70 cm (28.62 in)81.6 cm / 32.13 in deep (server)
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.

DL380 Gen12: processors by cores and TDP

HPE ProLiant Compute DL380 Gen12 processors081624324048566472808896104112120128136144100 W150 W200 W250 W300 W350 WCores per processorIntel Xeon 6780E — 144 cores · 330 W · 2.2 GHz base · 108 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6766E — 144 cores · 250 W · 1.9 GHz base · 108 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6756E — 128 cores · 225 W · 1.8 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6746E — 112 cores · 250 W · 2 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon 6731E — 96 cores · 250 W · 2.2 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon 6740E — 96 cores · 250 W · 2.4 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6710E — 64 cores · 205 W · 2.4 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon 6787P — 86 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6788P — 86 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6762P — 64 cores · 350 W · 2.9 GHz base · 320 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6767P — 64 cores · 350 W · 2.4 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6760P — 64 cores · 330 W · 2.2 GHz base · 320 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6768P — 64 cores · 330 W · 2.4 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6747P — 48 cores · 330 W · 2.7 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6748P — 48 cores · 300 W · 2.5 GHz base · 192 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6740P — 48 cores · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6736P — 36 cores · 205 W · 2 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6732P — 32 cores · 350 W · 3.8 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6745P — 32 cores · 300 W · 3.1 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6737P — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.9 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6738P — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.9 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6730P — 32 cores · 250 W · 2.5 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6530P — 32 cores · 225 W · 2.3 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6527P — 24 cores · 255 W · 3 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6520P — 24 cores · 210 W · 2.4 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6728P — 24 cores · 210 W · 2.7 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6725P — 16 cores · 235 W · 3.7 GHz base · 192 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6724P — 16 cores · 210 W · 3.6 GHz base · 72 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6517P — 16 cores · 190 W · 3.2 GHz base · 72 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6515P — 16 cores · 150 W · 2.3 GHz base · 72 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6505P — 12 cores · 150 W · 2.2 GHz base · 48 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6714P — 8 cores · 165 W · 4 GHz base · 48 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6507P — 8 cores · 150 W · 3.5 GHz base · 48 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6503P — 8 cores · 135 W · 2.8 GHz base · 48 MB cache · DDR5-64006780E144 cores — the top SKU6766E1.7 W/core — most efficient
Xeon 6 E-core 7Xeon 6 P-core 27Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

DL380a Gen11: processors by cores and TDP

HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11 processors0816243240485664100 W150 W200 W250 W300 W350 WCores per processorIntel Xeon-Platinum 8480+ — 56 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8470 — 52 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8468 — 48 cores · 350 W · 2.1 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8468V — 48 cores · 330 W · 2.4 GHz base · 97.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8458P — 44 cores · 350 W · 2.7 GHz base · 82.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8460Y+ — 40 cores · 300 W · 2 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8452Y — 36 cores · 300 W · 2 GHz base · 67.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 9462 — 32 cores · 350 W · 2.7 GHz base · 75 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8462Y+ — 32 cores · 300 W · 2.8 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6454S — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6430 — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6448H — 32 cores · 250 W · 2.4 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6448Y — 32 cores · 225 W · 2.1 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6438Y+ — 32 cores · 205 W · 2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6438M — 32 cores · 205 W · 2.2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 5420+ — 28 cores · 205 W · 2 GHz base · 52.5 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6442Y — 24 cores · 225 W · 2.6 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 5418Y — 24 cores · 185 W · 2 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6418H — 24 cores · 185 W · 2.1 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Silver 4416+ — 20 cores · 165 W · 2 GHz base · 37.5 MB cache · DDR5-4000Intel Xeon-Gold 6444Y — 16 cores · 270 W · 3.6 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6426Y — 16 cores · 185 W · 2.5 GHz base · 37.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6434 — 8 cores · 195 W · 3.7 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8592+ — 64 cores · 350 W · 1.9 GHz base · 320 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8580 — 60 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8570 — 56 cores · 350 W · 2.1 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8568Y+ — 48 cores · 350 W · 2.3 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8558 — 48 cores · 330 W · 2.1 GHz base · 260 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Platinum 8562Y+ — 32 cores · 300 W · 2.8 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Gold 6530 — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 160 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6548Y+ — 32 cores · 250 W · 2.5 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Gold 6538Y+ — 32 cores · 225 W · 2.2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Gold 5520+ — 28 cores · 205 W · 2.2 GHz base · 52.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6542Y — 24 cores · 250 W · 2.9 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Silver 4516Y+ — 24 cores · 185 W · 2.2 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6544Y — 16 cores · 270 W · 3.6 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Gold 6526Y — 16 cores · 195 W · 2.8 GHz base · 37.5 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Silver 4514Y — 16 cores · 150 W · 2 GHz base · 30 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6534 — 8 cores · 195 W · 3.9 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 5515+ — 8 cores · 165 W · 3.2 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Silver 4509Y — 8 cores · 125 W · 2.6 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Platinum 8592+64 cores · 5.5 W/core — top SKU and most efficient
4th Gen Xeon Scalable 235th Gen Xeon Scalable 18Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

DL380 Gen12: memory with every slot filled

16 GB512 GB32 GB1 TB64 GB2 TB96 GB3 TB128 GB4 TB256 GB8 TB32 slots · 16 per processor · each tick = one DIMM

DL380a Gen11: memory with every slot filled

16 GB384 GB32 GB768 GB64 GB1.5 TB96 GB2.3 TB128 GB3 TB24 slots · 12 per processor · each tick = one DIMM

DL380 Gen12: drive bays

Front panel

12 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 12 bays in total.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

DL380a Gen11: drive bays

Front panel

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

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

DL380 Gen12: power supplies

05001000150020002500800 W Platinum — HPE 800W Flex Slot Platinum Hot Plug Low Halogen Power Supply Kit. Input voltage not printed. Not compatible with Energy Star 4.0 compliance (doc: 'Platinum Power Supply 800W & 1600W are not compatible').800Platinum1000 W Titanium — HPE 1000W Flex Slot Titanium Hot Plug Power Supply Kit. Named in the ErP Lot 9 section as 96% efficient. Input voltage not printed.1000Titanium1600 W null — HPE 1600W Flex Slot -48VDC Hot Plug Power Supply Kit; no efficiency rating printed. Requires HPE 1600W -48VDC Power Cable Lug Kit (P36877-B21) OR the 1600W DC PSU Power Cable Kit.1600DC1600 W Platinum — HPE 1600W Flex Slot Platinum Hot Plug Low Halogen Power Supply Kit. '1600W Power supplies only support high line voltage (200 VAC to 240 VAC).' Not compatible with Energy Star 4.0 compliance.1600Platinum2200 W Titanium — Printed as 'HPE 1800W-2200W Flex Slot Titanium Hot Plug Power Supply Kit' (watts recorded as upper figure; per-voltage ratings not printed). Named in the ErP Lot 9 section as 96% efficient.2200TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC−48 V DC

DL380a Gen11: power supplies

050010001500200025001600 W Platinum — HPE 1600W Flex Slot Platinum Hot Plug Low Halogen Power Supply Kit. Standard Features prose: '1 available in 94% efficiency'. Rated line voltage 200-240 VAC only. Rated steady-state and peak power 1600W at 240 VAC (and 240 VDC China only). Max BTU 5918 BTU/hr at 200 VAC. Not one of the part numbers cited as meeting the 96% single-output EU ErP Lot 9 requirement.1600Platinum2200 W Titanium — HPE 1800W-2200W Flex Slot Titanium Hot Plug Power Supply Kit - printed as a 1800W-2200W range part, output depends on input voltage (1800W-2200W at 200-240 VAC; 2200W at 240 VDC China only). Standard Features prose: '1 available in 96% efficiency'. Rated line voltage 200-240 VAC. Max BTU 6497 BTU/hr at 200 VAC, 7962 BTU/hr at 240 VAC. Cited as EU ErP Lot 9 compliant (96% single output). watts recorded as the 2200W top of the printed range.2200TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC
07 — Questions

DL380 Gen12 vs DL380a Gen11, answered

Is the DL380 Gen12 or the DL380a Gen11 the faster server?

Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The DL380 Gen12 lists 34 processors up to 144 cores at 350 W; the DL380a Gen11 lists 41 up to 64 cores at 350 W. Fully populated that is 288 cores against 128.

Which holds more memory?

The DL380 Gen12 has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 8.0 TB. The DL380a Gen11 has 24 and 3.0 TB.

Which takes more drives?

DL380 Gen12: 36 bays across 13 documented layouts. DL380a Gen11: 8 across 2. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.

Can either take GPUs?

DL380 Gen12: up to 8 accelerators, 4 double-wide cards listed. DL380a Gen11: 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. DL380 Gen12: HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen12 QuickSpecs (Version 19 - 08-Sep-2026) (HPE document). DL380a Gen11: HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11 QuickSpecs (Version 34 - August 3, 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

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