HPE XD685 vs Lenovo SR680a V4
A specification-by-specification comparison of the HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR680a V4, built from HPE’s and Lenovo’s own documents. 3 headline measures favour the XD685, 3 favour the SR680a V4, and they share no processors.
Bottom line. XD685 leads on storage density. SR680a V4 leads on virtualisation, databases and in-memory work, network throughput. 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 XD685 if…
- Cores, fully populated: 192 against 172 on the SR680a V4
- Drive bays: 12 against 8 on the SR680a V4
- Rack height: 5U Rack against 8U Rack on the SR680a V4
- 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.
Choose the SR680a V4 if…
- Memory ceiling: 4 TB against 3 TB on the XD685
- Largest power supply: 3,800 W against 3,000 W on the XD685
- Fastest network option: 800 GbE class against 400 GbE class on the XD685
- 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.
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 | XD685 | SR680a V4 |
|---|---|---|
| Processors listed | 9 | 6 |
| Most cores per processor | 96 | 86 |
| Highest processor TDP | 400 W | 350 W |
| Processor families | AMD EPYC 9005 | Xeon 6 P-core |
Memory
| Specification | XD685 | SR680a V4 |
|---|---|---|
| DIMM slots | 24 | 32 |
| Slots per processor | 12 | 16 |
Storage
Bay counts are the maximum each document states, including rear and mid-chassis positions.
| Specification | XD685 | SR680a V4 |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum bays | 12 | 8 |
| Documented layouts | 2 | 1 |
| Bay sizes | E3.S | 2.5-inch |
| Boot devices | 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 | 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) |
Accelerators & I/O
| Specification | XD685 | SR680a V4 |
|---|---|---|
| OCP slots | 0 | 1 |
| PCIe network slots | 12 | 4 |
| Network cards listed | 20 | 11 |
Power & platform
| Specification | XD685 | SR680a V4 |
|---|---|---|
| Power-supply options | 1 | 2 |
| Output range | 3,000–3,000 W | 3,200–3,800 W |
| Input types | −48 V DC | AC · 277 VAC / HVDC |
| Management | HPE iLO 6 | XClarity Controller 3 |
| Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet | 1049 mm (L) deep | 924 mm |
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.
XD685: processors by cores and TDP
SR680a V4: processors by cores and TDP
XD685: memory with every slot filled
SR680a V4: memory with every slot filled
XD685: drive bays
Front panel
8 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 8 bays in total.
SR680a V4: drive bays
Front panel
8 × 2.5" NVMe at the front — 8 bays in total.
XD685: power supplies
SR680a V4: power supplies
XD685 vs SR680a V4, answered
Is the XD685 or the SR680a V4 the faster server?
Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The XD685 lists 9 processors up to 96 cores at 400 W; the SR680a V4 lists 6 up to 86 cores at 350 W. Fully populated that is 192 cores against 172.
Which holds more memory?
The XD685 has 24 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 3.0 TB. The SR680a V4 has 32 and 4 TB.
Which takes more drives?
XD685: 12 bays across 2 documented layouts. SR680a V4: 8 across 1. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.
Can either take GPUs?
XD685: 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. XD685: HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 QuickSpecs (V15 - 03-August-2026) (HPE 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.
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