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

HPE DL380a Gen12 vs Lenovo SR685a V3

A specification-by-specification comparison of the HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3, built from HPE’s and Lenovo’s own documents. 5 headline measures favour the DL380a Gen12 and none favour the SR685a V3, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. DL380a Gen12 leads on virtualisation, databases and in-memory work, storage density, AI and acceleration. Neither vendor publishes benchmarks for these machines, so every call here is made on what their documents state.

HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 4U front with the bezel fitted, NVMe drive cages along the lower edge and the model badge on the right ear
HPE ProLiant
DL380a Gen12
4U Rack2 sockets32 DIMMHPE iLO 7
Configure the DL380a Gen12 →Full data sheet
VS
Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 front, angled: five fans on top, sixteen NVMe drive bays in two groups and eight PCIe slots below
Lenovo ThinkSystem
SR685a V3
8U Rack2 sockets24 DIMMXClarity Controller 2
Configure the SR685a 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
2
288Higher
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
256
8 TBHigher
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
3 TB
16
Drive bays
16
Up to 10Higher
Accelerators
Up to 8
3,200 WHigher
Largest power supply
2,600 W
4U RackHigher
Rack height
8U 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 DL380a Gen12 if…

  • Cores, fully populated: 288 against 256 on the SR685a V3
  • Memory ceiling: 8 TB against 3 TB on the SR685a V3
  • Accelerators: Up to 10 against Up to 8 on the SR685a V3
  • Ten double-wide GPU positions in 4U, with the H200 NVL, RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, RTX PRO 6000D, L40S, L20 and L4 in HPE’s accelerator list.

Choose the SR685a V3 if…

  • One chassis, two GPU ecosystems: eight AMD MI300X OAM GPUs (192 GB HBM3, 5.3 TB/s, 750 W each) or eight NVIDIA H200 SXM5 GPUs (141 GB, listed as HBM3e in the GPU table, 4.8 TB/s, 700 W each).
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.

VirtualisationDL380a Gen12: 288 cores with 8 TB. SR685a V3: 256 cores with 3 TB.DL380a Gen12
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 8 TB against 3 TB, across 32 and 24 DIMM slots.DL380a Gen12
Storage density16 bays in 4U against 16 in 8U.DL380a Gen12
AI & acceleration10 accelerators against 8 in the vendor documents.DL380a Gen12
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.

SpecificationDL380a Gen12SR685a V3
Processors listed3212
Most cores per processor144128
Highest processor TDP350 W400 W
Processor familiesXeon 6 E-core · Xeon 6 P-coreAMD EPYC 9005 · AMD EPYC 9004

Memory

SpecificationDL380a Gen12SR685a V3
DIMM slots3224
Slots per processor1612
Largest module listed256 GB128 GB
Memory typesRDIMM DDR5-6400RDIMM DDR5-6400 (5th Gen, operates 6000) · 10x4 RDIMM / RDIMM DDR5-4800 (4th Gen) · 3DS RDIMM

Storage

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

SpecificationDL380a Gen12SR685a V3
Documented layouts21
Bay sizes2.5-inch · E3.S2.5-inch
Boot devicesHPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe SED Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 480GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device + 1 moreThinkSystem M.2 NVMe 2-Bay RAID Adapter (B8P9) - Marvell 88NR2241 RAID-0/1, PCIe 3.0 x2, no SED; no field upgrade
Storage controllers72

Accelerators & I/O

SpecificationDL380a Gen12SR685a V3
Accelerators supportedUp to 10Up to 8
OCP slots21
PCIe network slots610
Network cards listed3612

Power & platform

SpecificationDL380a Gen12SR685a V3
Power-supply options31
Output range2,400–3,200 W2,600–2,600 W
Input typesAC · 277 VAC / HVDCAC
ManagementHPE iLO 7XClarity Controller 2
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet80.26 cm (31.60 in) deep924 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.

DL380a Gen12: processors by cores and TDP

HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 processors081624324048566472808896104112120128136144150 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 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 6767P — 64 cores · 350 W · 2.4 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6776P — 64 cores · 350 W · 2.3 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 · DDR5-64006780E144 cores — the top SKU6766E1.7 W/core — most efficient
Xeon 6 E-core 6Xeon 6 P-core 26Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

SR685a V3: processors by cores and TDP

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 processors081624324048566472808896104112120128250 W300 W350 W400 WCores per processorAMD EPYC 9745 — 128 cores / 256 threads · 400 W · 2.4 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9655 — 96 cores / 192 threads · 400 W · 2.6 GHz base · 384 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9575F — 64 cores / 128 threads · 400 W · 3.3 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9555 — 64 cores / 128 threads · 360 W · 3.2 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9535 — 64 cores / 128 threads · 300 W · 2.4 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9475F — 48 cores / 96 threads · 400 W · 3.65 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9455 — 48 cores / 96 threads · 300 W · 3.15 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9654 — 96 cores / 192 threads · 360 W · 2.4 GHz base · 384 MB cache · DDR5-4800AMD EPYC 9554 — 64 cores / 128 threads · 360 W · 3.1 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-4800AMD EPYC 9534 — 64 cores / 128 threads · 280 W · 2.45 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-4800AMD EPYC 9474F — 48 cores / 96 threads · 360 W · 3.6 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-4800AMD EPYC 9454 — 48 cores / 96 threads · 290 W · 2.75 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-4800EPYC 9745128 cores · 3.1 W/core — top SKU and most efficient
AMD EPYC 9005 7AMD EPYC 9004 5Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

DL380a 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

SR685a V3: memory with every slot filled

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

DL380a Gen12: drive bays

Front panel

4 × 2.5" NVMe at the front — 4 bays in total.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

SR685a V3: drive bays

Front panel

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

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

DL380a Gen12: power supplies

05001000150020002500300035002400 W Titanium — HPE M-CRPS family (Modular Common Redundant Power Supply); P67252-B21 named in the EU ErP Lot 9 section as 96% efficient; C19/C19-C20 power cords only; 2400W or 3200W required for H100 NVL / H200 NVL / RTX Pro 6000 GPUs2400Titanium2800 W Titanium — HPE M-CRPS family; 277VAC input unit (added in Version 16, 04-May-2026); no efficiency percentage or BTU figure printed for this unit2800Titanium3200 W Titanium — HPE M-CRPS family; P67248-B21 named in the EU ErP Lot 9 section as 96% efficient; C19/C19-C20 power cords only; 2400W or 3200W required for H100 NVL / H200 NVL / RTX Pro 6000 GPUs3200TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC277 VAC / HVDC

SR685a V3: power supplies

0500100015002000250030002600 W Titanium — ThinkSystem 2600W 230V Titanium Gen2 v4 (C4HK); 8 standard, N+N; C19; 220V only2600TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC
07 — Questions

DL380a Gen12 vs SR685a V3, answered

Is the DL380a Gen12 or the SR685a V3 the faster server?

Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The DL380a Gen12 lists 32 processors up to 144 cores at 350 W; the SR685a V3 lists 12 up to 128 cores at 400 W. Fully populated that is 288 cores against 256.

Which holds more memory?

The DL380a Gen12 has 32 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 8.0 TB. The SR685a V3 has 24 and 3 TB.

Which takes more drives?

DL380a Gen12: 16 bays across 2 documented layouts. SR685a V3: 16 across 1. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.

Can either take GPUs?

DL380a Gen12: up to 10 accelerators, 0 double-wide cards listed. SR685a 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. DL380a Gen12: HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 QuickSpecs (Version 20 - 08-Sep-2026) (HPE document). SR685a V3: Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 Server Product Guide (July 15, 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

XE7745 vs DL380a Gen12Dell vs HPEXE7745 vs SR685a V3Dell vs LenovoXE9685L vs DL380a Gen12Dell vs HPEXE9685L vs SR685a V3Dell vs LenovoXE9785 vs DL380a Gen12Dell vs HPEXE9785 vs SR685a V3Dell vs LenovoXE7740 vs DL380a Gen12Dell vs HPEDL380a Gen12 vs SR675 V3HPE vs Lenovo

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