The XR8720t is a half-width 2U compute sled, not a free-standing server: two of them fit a PowerEdge XR8000r chassis, which carries the −48 V DC supplies. Built on an Intel Xeon 6 SoC with vRAN Boost for D-RAN, vRAN and multi-access edge sites, it can start from −20°C with its heater system. This page maps both sled configurations and flags the features Dell marks as not available at initial launch.
Multi-Node1 socketXeon 6 P-coreiDRAC10
72cores, one SoCXCC, not at initial launch · 40-core HCC at launch
8DDR5-6400 slotswith XCC parts · 4 with the HCC part
3M.2 NVMe SSDs1 on the HPM board + 2 on a riser, no RAID
8SFP28 portsnetwork-optimised · or 2 × 100 GbE QSFP
1,400W−48 V DC supplytwo in the XR8000r chassis
−20°Cminimum operatingheater-assisted · 55°C maximum
Our read of Dell’s documentation: where the XR8720t is strong, and the limits worth knowing before you spec one.
Strengths
+A Xeon 6 SoC with vRAN Boost and 32 lanes of PCIe 5.0 in a sled 431.13 mm deep; Dell puts the full XR8000r chassis at 453.4 mm, 30.4 mm of it ahead of the front rack post.
+Network ports built into the sled: eight 10/25 GbE SFP28 ports, or two 100 GbE QSFP ports alongside three PCIe Gen5 slots.
+Timing hardware: two ePPS SMA connectors on the front, an optional GNSS antenna input with a U-blox receiver, and an optional Microchip PLL module for PTP/SyncE with a 4- or 8-hour OCXO (not at initial launch).
+A Heater Manager with up to seven heated zones lets the sled start at −20°C, taking about 5.5 minutes to warm from −20°C to 5°C before power-on.
+Memory rises to DDR5-6400, from 5600 MT/s on the XR8620t, and the fans in each sled are N+1 redundant.
Watch-outs
!The sled needs a PowerEdge XR8000r chassis, which holds the power supplies and mounts on static rails only.
!At launch only the 40-core 6716P-B is available, which means four DIMM slots; Dell marks the 64- and 72-core parts, eight-slot memory and the timing module as not available at initial launch.
!Storage is M.2 only — three NVMe SSDs of up to 1.92 TB, with no RAID controller or BOSS mirror — and the 1.92 TB drive is barred from the network-optimised sled.
!The DSFF OCP card is unsupported in the flexible configuration and in the GR3108 Class 1 category.
!One power option (1400 W −48 V DC) and no GPU or accelerator option; unvalidated PCIe devices void the warranty.
Processors3 SKUs
Cores / CPU40–72
DIMM slots8
PSU options1 · to 1,400 W
02 — Processors
3 supported processors, mapped
One Intel Xeon 6 SoC per sled in an FCBGA package, from three SKUs: the 40-core 6716P-B (HCC) that ships at launch, and the 64-core 6766P-B and 72-core 6776P-B (XCC) that Dell marks as not available at initial launch. All three run memory at 6400 MT/s and carry vRAN Boost.
Processor landscape — cores × TDP
3 SKUs · 1 family
Xeon 6 P-core 3Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU
Processor explorer
filter · sort · compare
Processor
Cores / threads
Base
L3 cache
TDP
W / core
Memory
Intel Xeon 6 6776P-B
72 / 144
2.3 GHz
288 MB
325 W
4.5
DDR5-6400
Intel Xeon 6 6766P-B
64 / 128
2.3 GHz
256 MB
305 W
4.8
DDR5-6400
Intel Xeon 6 6716P-B
40 / 80
2.5 GHz
160 MB
235 W
5.9
DDR5-6400
Dell’s summary table describes the HCC processor as up to 42 cores, but the only HCC SKU listed, the 6716P-B, has 40.
Turbo is marked “yes” for all three without frequencies. The SST profile is available on the 6766P-B and 6716P-B but not the 6776P-B.
The thermal restriction matrix has one processor row, printed “676P-B 235 W”, which matches no SKU name; the 235 W part in the processor table is the 6716P-B. That row is supported in every thermal category.
03 — Memory
8 DDR5 DIMM slots
One DIMM per channel, always. The launch HCC processor has four channels and four slots; XCC processors open all eight. Dell lists 16, 32, 64 and 96 GB RDIMMs, all rated 6400 MT/s, and states no system maximum.
Capacity with every slot filled
by DIMM size
Rated memory speed
from the processor table
Processor family
Up to
Xeon 6 P-core
6400 MT/s
By simple multiplication, four 96 GB modules give 384 GB with the HCC processor and eight give 768 GB with an XCC part; Dell’s guide does not quote a maximum itself.
Every listed DIMM size is supported in all three thermal categories (ASHRAE A2, NEBS3 and GR3108 Class 1) in both sled configurations.
DIMMs are rated only down to 0°C, and Dell’s heater-zone table gives the memory two of its zones (DIMM A1 and A2).
Empty slots need DIMM blanks.
04 — Storage
Storage and boot
There are no drive bays. Each sled holds up to three M.2 NVMe SSDs: one on the host processor module (HPM) board for the operating system and two on a dual M.2 direct riser. None of it is RAID — Dell lists no internal or external controller, no software RAID and no BOSS card for this sled.
Controllers & boot
M.2 NVMe SSD on HPM board (operating system drive; no BOSS - Table 2 lists internal boot as N/A) — boot
Supported M.2 drives: Gen4 read-intensive NVMe at 480 GB, 960 GB or 1.92 TB with ISE, or 480 GB and 960 GB FIPS models.
The 1.92 TB M.2 is supported only in the flexible configuration; the network-optimised sled stops at 960 GB a drive.
Dell’s heater-zone table gives each M.2 position its own zone — the on-board drive and both riser drives — so the SSDs are warmed before a cold start.
Against the XR8620t, the single-M.2 riser and the BOSS hardware-RAID boot device are gone and the on-board HPM M.2 is new.
With no RAID hardware, plan any redundancy for the operating system drive at the application or cluster level.
05 — I/O & networking
PCIe and networking
I/O topology
32 lanes per CPU
The SoC provides 32 lanes of PCIe 5.0 with bifurcation, split into two fixed sled personalities. Network-optimised (riser R1a): eight 10/25 GbE SFP28 ports and up to two x8 Gen5 DSFF OCP slots. Flexible (risers R1b + R2a): two 100 GbE QSFP ports and three Gen5 FHHL slots, two x8 and one x16.
Network adapters Dell lists
4 options
Adapter
Ports
Form
Co-planar QSFP module 2 x QSFP 100 GbE (Flexible configuration)
Intel 8 x SFP28 25 GbE OCP DSFF NIC card (thermal table: 'Intel Carter DSFF OCP')
8 × 25GbE
OCP 3.0 (DSFF)
The two configurations exclude each other: DSFF OCP cards are unsupported in the flexible sled, and the thermal matrix also rules them out in the GR3108 Class 1 category.
The one OCP card listed is Intel’s eight-port 25 GbE SFP DSFF card. Dell’s OCP table also says only an OCP card in “slot 10 (rear IO)” can act as the iDRAC shared NIC, a label that does not match the sled’s front DSFF slots.
Front panel: USB 3.0 Type-A, Mini DisplayPort, iDRAC Direct over USB-C, an RJ45 iDRAC port, an RJ45 dry-contact input, two ePPS SMA connectors and an optional GNSS SMA.
Fitting any GPU, NIC or PCIe card outside Dell’s validated list voids the system warranty, according to the guide.
06 — Power & cooling
1 power supply, 1,400 W
The sled has no power supplies of its own. The XR8000r chassis holds two redundant 60 mm −48 V DC supplies with reverse airflow — 1400 W, −48 to −60 V, 33.5 A, up to 5310 BTU/hr — and each sled takes its power through its own power distribution board, which plugs into the chassis.
−48 V DC
Both supplies must be installed at 55°C ambient or above, and only supplies rated for extended temperature (eTemp) are supported.
Pre-heating can draw up to 470 W per sled, so size the DC feed for cold starts as well as running load.
The supplies connect through a Lotes connector cable.
The XR8620t also offered an 800 W −48 V DC unit and 1400 W and 1800 W AC units; the XR8720t lists one DC supply only.
Empty PSU and sled positions need blanks.
07 — Management, security & OS
Run it, secure it, choose the OS
Management
iDRAC10 (per Dell’s comparison table; the guide’s licence chapter still describes iDRAC9 tiers)
iDRAC Direct over the front USB-C port
iDRAC RESTful API with Redfish
Dedicated RJ45 iDRAC port
Heater Manager metrics (on-time, energy, temperatures) read by iDRAC over I2C
RJ45 dry-contact inputs to iDRAC
OpenManage Enterprise with Power Manager and Update Manager plug-ins
iDRAC secure default password on the information tag (when secure default access is ordered)
Operating systems
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server / RT
Canonical Ubuntu Server LTS
Red Hat Enterprise Linux / RT
Wind River (OSV only)
08 — Compare
XR8620t → XR8720t
Dell compares the XR8720t with the XR8620t sled it follows. The move to a Xeon 6 SoC removes the chipset, widens networking from two 25 GbE ports to eight 10/25 GbE or two 100 GbE ports and adds timing hardware, while the power options shrink to a single DC supply.
Previous generationPowerEdge XR8620t
This modelPowerEdge XR8720t
Processor
1 × 5th Gen Xeon Scalable (to 16 cores) or 4th Gen (to 32 cores)
1 × Xeon 6 SoC, up to 72 cores*
Chipset
Intel C741
N/A
Memory
8 × DDR5 RDIMM · up to 5600 MT/s
4 × DDR5 (HCC) or 8 × (XCC*) · up to 6400 MT/s
Storage
Dual M.2 NVMe riser or single M.2 riser · BOSS hardware RAID boot
Dual M.2 NVMe riser (non-RAID) + 1 × M.2 on the HPM board
Time & sync
N/A
Microchip timing module, U-blox GNSS module (Table 2 puts one asterisk after the pair; Table 1 asterisks only the timing module)
Source: Dell PowerEdge XR8720t Technical Guide (Rev. A00, January 2026), Table 2 — XR8720t compared with XR8620t. * Not available at initial launch.
The XR8720t family side by side
Dell’s other XR models on this site are conventional short-depth rack servers — the single-socket 1U XR5610 and the two-socket 2U XR7620 — rather than sleds. The R470, a 1U data-centre server with one Xeon 6 processor, shows the same processor family in a standard rack chassis.
This modelSiblings and successorEach value from that model’s own verified spec file · bars scale per column
Three sled builds for the telecom and edge workloads Dell names. The configurator does not yet list the XR8720t’s M.2 drives or its two sled configurations, so we specify those on the quote; a complete system also needs the XR8000r chassis.
Telco · D-RAN / vRAN
Cell-site sled at launch spec
The launch 6716P-B carries vRAN Boost, and four 32 GB DIMMs fill its four channels. In the network-optimised sled an Intel DSFF OCP card adds eight SFP28 ports to the eight built in, and the ePPS connectors take timing from the site. Dell’s matrix supports this processor and card at NEBS3 (55°C).
4 × 32 GB DDR5-6400 RDIMM — 128 GB, one per HCC channel
Intel 8 × 25 GbE SFP28 DSFF OCP card
1400 W −48 V DC supply (the XR8000r chassis takes two)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
ProSupport, 4-hour response, 5 years
Dell’s matrix does not support the DSFF OCP card in the GR3108 Class 1 category, and the 1.92 TB M.2 is not supported in the network-optimised sled — specify 480 GB or 960 GB M.2 drives on the quote.
The flexible sled trades the SFP28 ports for two 100 GbE QSFP ports and three PCIe Gen5 slots for Dell-validated cards. A 64-core 6766P-B with eight 64 GB DIMMs gives the SoC’s full eight channels, and this configuration also accepts the 1.92 TB M.2 SSD.
1400 W −48 V DC supply (the XR8000r chassis takes two)
Canonical Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS
ProSupport, 4-hour response, 5 years
XCC processors and eight-DIMM memory are not available at initial launch. Dell’s thermal matrix lists only the 235 W processor, so we confirm the 305 W part’s limits with Dell for your site conditions.
Dell’s GR3108 Class 1 category requires the Heater Manager, which warms up to seven zones before power-on and keeps them above threshold while the sled runs. This lean network-optimised build uses the eight built-in SFP28 ports and no OCP card, because Dell does not support the DSFF card in that category.
1400 W −48 V DC supply (the XR8000r chassis takes two)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
ProSupport Plus, 5 years
Pre-heating draws up to 470 W per sled and Dell targets no more than six minutes to a Linux prompt. Without the heater enabled the sled cannot boot below 0°C. Both chassis supplies are required at 55°C and above.
−5°C operating · no cold start below 5°C · no boot below 0°C
Acoustics (tested “Rural” build)
47 dBA idle at 25°C · 55 dBA at 35°C and 72 dBA at 55°C under maximum load
11 — FAQ
XR8720t questions, answered from the documentation
Can the Dell PowerEdge XR8720t be used on its own?
No. It is a half-width 2U sled that installs in a PowerEdge XR8000r chassis, two sleds per chassis. The chassis holds the two −48 V DC power supplies, and it mounts on static rails.
Which processors does the XR8720t support?
One Intel Xeon 6 SoC with vRAN Boost from three SKUs: the 40-core 6716P-B (235 W), the 64-core 6766P-B (305 W) and the 72-core 6776P-B (325 W). Dell marks the two larger XCC parts as not available at initial launch.
What is the maximum memory of the XR8720t?
Dell does not state one. With the launch HCC processor there are four DDR5-6400 slots, and with XCC processors eight; the largest listed module is 96 GB, which works out at 384 GB or 768 GB. Only one DIMM per channel is supported.
What storage does the XR8720t have?
M.2 NVMe only: one SSD on the HPM board for the operating system and up to two on a dual M.2 direct riser, three in total. There is no RAID controller, software RAID or BOSS card. Drives are 480 GB, 960 GB or 1.92 TB, and the 1.92 TB size is supported only in the flexible configuration.
What is the difference between the network-optimised and flexible configurations?
The network-optimised sled has eight 10/25 GbE SFP28 ports and up to two x8 Gen5 DSFF OCP slots for Intel eight-port 25 GbE cards. The flexible sled has two 100 GbE QSFP ports and three PCIe Gen5 FHHL slots (two x8, one x16), and does not support DSFF OCP cards. The flexible sled weighs 7.78 kg against 5.9 kg.
What power does the XR8720t use?
The sled has no supply of its own: the XR8000r chassis takes two redundant 1400 W −48 to −60 V DC supplies, and no AC supply is listed. Both supplies are required at 55°C and above, and the heater system can draw up to 470 W per sled while it pre-heats.
What temperature range does the XR8720t cover?
With the Heater Manager it operates from −20°C to 55°C, and it can be stored from −40°C to 65°C. The heater takes about 5.5 minutes to warm the sled from −20°C to 5°C before start-up. Without the heater enabled, it cannot boot below 0°C and should not be cold-started below 5°C.
Does the XR8720t support PTP and GNSS timing?
It has two SMA connectors for ePPS input and output, an optional GNSS antenna SMA with a U-blox receiver, and an optional Microchip timing module with a PLL for PTP/SyncE and a 4- or 8-hour OCXO. Dell lists the Microchip module as not available at initial launch.
What changed from the XR8620t?
Per Dell’s comparison, the XR8720t moves from a 4th/5th Gen Xeon with a C741 chipset to a Xeon 6 SoC, raises memory speed from 5600 to 6400 MT/s, adds timing hardware, goes from two 25 GbE ports to eight 10/25 GbE or two 100 GbE, and replaces iDRAC9 with iDRAC10. It drops the BOSS boot device and the AC power options.
Is the Dell PowerEdge XR8720t end of life?
Dell’s January 2026 guide (Rev. A00) gives no end-of-sale or end-of-support date, and it still marks several features as not available at initial launch. Any dates Dell publishes later will appear in our server end-of-life checker.
Specifications are extracted from Dell’s published documents and independently re-checked line by line. Configurations are quote-based; availability and exact options are confirmed at quotation. Last reviewed 2026-09-11.
