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

HPE XD685 vs Lenovo SR860 V3

A specification-by-specification comparison of the HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 and the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860 V3, built from HPE’s and Lenovo’s own documents. 2 headline measures favour the XD685, 5 favour the SR860 V3, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. XD685 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.

HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 front: twelve E3.S NVMe bays, NS204 boot module, iLO, VGA and USB 3.0 ports, PCIe bays at each side, badge on the ear
HPE ProLiant
XD685
5U Rack2 sockets24 DIMMHPE iLO 6
Configure the XD685 →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
192
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
Higher240
3 TB
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
Higher16 TB
12
Drive bays
Higher48
Up to 8
Accelerators
Up to 8
3,000 WHigher
Largest power supply
2,700 W
5U Rack
Rack height
Higher4U 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 XD685 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
  • 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 SR860 V3 if…

  • Processor sockets: 4 against 2 on the XD685
  • Cores, fully populated: 240 against 192 on the XD685
  • Memory ceiling: 16 TB against 3 TB on the XD685
  • 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.

VirtualisationXD685: 192 cores with 3 TB. SR860 V3: 240 cores with 16 TB.SR860 V3
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 3 TB against 16 TB, across 24 and 64 DIMM slots.SR860 V3
Storage density12 bays in 5U 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.XD685
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.

SpecificationXD685SR860 V3
Processors listed910
Most cores per processor9660
Highest processor TDP400 W350 W
Processor familiesAMD EPYC 90054th Gen Xeon Scalable

Memory

SpecificationXD685SR860 V3
DIMM slots2464
Slots per processor1216
Fastest rated speed6,400 MT/s5,600 MT/s
Memory typesRDIMM DDR5-6400RDIMM DDR5-4800 · 9x4 RDIMM · 3DS RDIMM

Storage

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

SpecificationXD685SR860 V3
Maximum bays1248
Bay sizesE3.S2.5-inch
Boot devicesHPE 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 1M.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 controllers316

Accelerators & I/O

SpecificationXD685SR860 V3
OCP slots02
PCIe network slots1218
Network cards listed2029

Power & platform

SpecificationXD685SR860 V3
Power-supply options111
Output range3,000–3,000 W1,100–2,700 W
Input types−48 V DCAC · 277 VAC / HVDC · −48 V DC
ManagementHPE iLO 6XClarity Controller 2
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet1049 mm (L) deep906 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.

XD685: processors by cores and TDP

HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 processors081624324048566472808896250 W300 W350 W400 WCores per processorAMD EPYC 9655 — 96 cores · 400 W · 2.6 GHz base · 384 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9645 — 96 cores · 320 W · 2.3 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9565 — 72 cores · 400 W · 3.15 GHz base · 384 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9575F — 64 cores · 400 W · 3 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9555 — 64 cores · 360 W · 3.2 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9535 — 64 cores · 300 W · 2.4 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9455 — 48 cores · 300 W · 3.15 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9365 — 36 cores · 300 W · 3.4 GHz base · 192 MB cache · DDR5-6400AMD EPYC 9355 — 32 cores · 280 W · 3.6 GHz base · 256 MB cache · DDR5-6400EPYC 965596 cores — the top SKUEPYC 96453.3 W/core — most efficient
AMD EPYC 9005 9Bubble 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

XD685: memory with every slot filled

64 GB1.5 TB96 GB2.3 TB128 GB3 TB24 slots · 12 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

XD685: drive bays

Front panel

8 × EDSFF 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

XD685: power supplies

0500100015002000250030003000 W Titanium — Option name 'HPE ProLiant Compute XD 3000W 54VDC Power Supply' (54VDC = output); Standard Features name 'HPE 3000 W CRPS Titanium Hot Plug Power Supply Kit'. Family: CRPS as printed (not HPE Flex Slot; the doc does not say M-CRPS). Rated input 200-277 VAC; PMAX 2900 W at 200 VAC, 3000 W at 207-277 VAC. Max BTU 6497 BTU/hr @200 VAC, 7230 @220 VAC, 7962 @240 VAC. No -48 VDC or HVDC unit listed. 'The PSU model will differ based on the total number of PSUs in the system.' B200/B300/MI355X configs default to 12 PSUs; 10 PSUs can be deployed where PDUs/manifolds do not allow 12; B200 base 6-PSU (S4X40A) with S6V19A for 12-PSU N+3.3000TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
−48 V DC

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

XD685 vs SR860 V3, answered

Is the XD685 or the SR860 V3 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 SR860 V3 lists 10 up to 60 cores at 350 W. Fully populated that is 192 cores against 240.

Which holds more memory?

The XD685 has 24 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 3.0 TB. The SR860 V3 has 64 and 16 TB.

Which takes more drives?

XD685: 12 bays across 2 documented layouts. SR860 V3: 48 across 2. 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. 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. XD685: HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 QuickSpecs (V15 - 03-August-2026) (HPE 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.

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