Technical data sheet · ProLiant Gen11 · 2U dual-socket AMD EPYC

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen11Specifications, configurations & comparisons

HPE pitches the DL385 Gen11 as an accelerator-optimised 2U with two AMD EPYC sockets, and its GPU chassis takes four double-wide or eight single-wide cards. This data sheet maps the full two-socket envelope — 39 orderable EPYC processors, 24 DDR5 slots and 6 TB, five chassis from 20 LFF to 48 SFF — and the riser, cooling and power rules that govern what one build can combine.

2U Rack1 or 2 socketsAMD EPYC 9004AMD EPYC 9005HPE iLO 6

160cores per processor320 per server · EPYC 9845

6TBDDR5 maximum24 × 256 GB · both sockets

48SFF drive bays48SFF chassis · or 36 × E3.S

4double-wide GPUsor 8 single-wide · GPU chassis

8PCIe 5.0 x16 slotswith two CPUs · plus 2 × OCP 3.0

4power supplieswith the PDB kit · Flex Slot

Configure a DL385 Gen11 →Get a UK quote Refurbished alternatives ↓

Every figure checked against the HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen11 QuickSpecs (Version 47 - 08-Sep-2026)

Image: Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Form factor: 2U Rack · 2 sockets
Processors: AMD EPYC 9004 · AMD EPYC 9005
Memory: 24 × DDR5 RDIMM · up to 6.0 TB
Drive bays: Up to 48 · 15 drive-cage kits
Expansion: 8 × PCIe · 2 × OCP 3.0
GPUs: Up to 8 · 9 listed
Boot: NS204i · 5 boot options
Management: HPE iLO 6

01 — Overview

The DL385 Gen11 at a glance

Our read of HPE’s documentation: where the DL385 Gen11 is strong, and the limits worth knowing before you spec one.

Strengths

A dedicated GPU chassis takes four double-wide cards — 600 W H200 NVL and RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell included — or eight single-wide L4s.
Storage runs from 20 LFF (12 front, 4 mid, 4 rear) through 34 SFF and 36 E3.S to a 48-bay SFF chassis, all in 2U.
With both sockets, 160 PCIe 5.0 lanes feed up to eight full-height x16 slots and two OCP 3.0 bays that can each be raised to x16.
Both EPYC generations are orderable — 18 4th Gen and 21 5th Gen kits, from the 1,150 MB-L3 9684X to the 160-core 9845.
A cable kit adds a fourth xGMI link to the three that join the processors by default.

Watch-outs

Much of the server depends on processor 2: all 24 DIMM slots, the secondary and tertiary risers (slots 4–8) and the 2P OCP x16 kit need both CPUs.
Double-wide GPUs need the GPU chassis and no GPU goes in a rear slot; 600 W cards bring the Maximum Performance fan kit, and three or four H200 NVL need iLO GPU power capping.
Processors above 300 W rule out the mid drive cage, so the 20-LFF and 34-SFF layouts are limited to lower-wattage parts.
The GPU and 48SFF chassis are the deepest, at 84.15 cm and 87.48 cm from chassis ear to PSU — check rack depth.
No software RAID option exists on AMD Gen11, and the Gen5 MR932i-p controller is qualified only on EDSFF builds.

Processors39 SKUs

Cores / CPU8–160

DIMM slots24

Drive-cage kits15

Max bays48

GPUsup to 8

PSU options5 · to 2,200 W

02 — Processors

39 supported processors, mapped

Two identical EPYC processors — HPE does not allow mixed models — from either the 4th Gen 9004 or the 5th Gen 9005 series. Core Options lists 39 kits (18 4th Gen, 21 5th Gen) from the 8-core 9015 to the 160-core 9845, at 125 W to 400 W; the chart maps every one by cores and default cTDP.

Processor landscape — cores × TDP

39 SKUs · 2 families

AMD EPYC 9004 18AMD EPYC 9005 21Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

Processor explorer

filter · sort · compare

Sort

Processor	Cores / threads	Base	L3 cache	TDP	W / core	Memory
AMD EPYC 9845	160	2.1 GHz	320 MB	390 W	2.4	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9825	144	2.2 GHz	384 MB	390 W	2.7	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9754	128	2.25 GHz	256 MB	360 W	2.8	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9745	128	2.4 GHz	256 MB	400 W	3.1	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9684X	96	2.55 GHz	1150 MB	400 W	4.2	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9654	96	2.4 GHz	384 MB	360 W	3.8	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9655	96	2.6 GHz	384 MB	400 W	4.2	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9645	96	2.3 GHz	256 MB	320 W	3.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9634	84	2.25 GHz	384 MB	290 W	3.5	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9565	72	3.15 GHz	384 MB	400 W	5.6	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9554	64	3.1 GHz	256 MB	360 W	5.6	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9534	64	2.45 GHz	256 MB	280 W	4.4	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9575F	64	3.3 GHz	512 MB	400 W	6.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9555	64	3.2 GHz	256 MB	360 W	5.6	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9535	64	2.4 GHz	256 MB	300 W	4.7	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9474F	48	3.6 GHz	256 MB	360 W	7.5	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9454	48	2.75 GHz	256 MB	290 W	6.0	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9475F	48	3.65 GHz	256 MB	400 W	8.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9455	48	3.15 GHz	256 MB	300 W	6.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9365	36	3.4 GHz	192 MB	300 W	8.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9374F	32	3.85 GHz	256 MB	320 W	10.0	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9384X	32	3.1 GHz	768 MB	320 W	10.0	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9354	32	3.25 GHz	256 MB	280 W	8.8	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9334	32	2.7 GHz	128 MB	210 W	6.6	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9375F	32	3.8 GHz	256 MB	320 W	10.0	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9355	32	3.55 GHz	256 MB	280 W	8.8	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9335	32	3 GHz	128 MB	210 W	6.6	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9274F	24	4.05 GHz	256 MB	320 W	13.3	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9224	24	2.5 GHz	64 MB	200 W	8.3	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9254	24	2.9 GHz	128 MB	200 W	8.3	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9275F	24	4.1 GHz	256 MB	320 W	13.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9255	24	3.2 GHz	128 MB	200 W	8.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9174F	16	4.1 GHz	256 MB	320 W	20.0	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9184X	16	3.55 GHz	768 MB	320 W	20.0	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9124	16	3 GHz	64 MB	200 W	12.5	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9175F	16	4.2 GHz	512 MB	320 W	20.0	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9135	16	3.65 GHz	64 MB	200 W	12.5	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9115	16	2.6 GHz	64 MB	125 W	7.8	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9015	8	3.6 GHz	64 MB	125 W	15.6	DDR5-6400

Cooling follows wattage: under 240 W the Standard heat sink and fans, above 240 W and below 300 W the High-Performance pair, above 300 W the Maximum Performance heat sink — and above 300 W no mid drive cage.
The 300 W parts (9365, 9455, 9535) sit exactly on the boundary of HPE’s “below 300 W” and “above 300 W” wording, so confirm the heat sink when quoting.
The EPYC 9734 (112 cores, 340 W) is in the Standard Features table but has no option kit and cannot be ordered.
This document prints the 9575F with 512 MB of L3; HPE’s DL325 Gen11 QuickSpecs gives 256 MB for the same part.
Wattages are default cTDP; the 9255 and 9375F base clocks differ by 0.05 GHz between HPE’s two processor tables.

03 — Memory

24 DIMM slots, 12 per processor

Twelve DDR5 channels per processor with one DIMM each — 12 slots per socket, 24 in total, and all 24 only when both processors are fitted. 4th Gen EPYC uses the DDR5-4800 kits and 5th Gen the DDR5-6400 kits; each list runs from 16 GB to a 256 GB 3DS part.

Capacity with every slot filled

by DIMM size

Rated memory speed

from the processor table

Processor family	Up to
AMD EPYC 9004	4800 MT/s
AMD EPYC 9005	6400 MT/s

Maximum is 6 TB with two processors (24 × 256 GB) and 3 TB with one.
Any 256 GB DIMM needs six Performance fans. For the 256 GB DDR5-4800 kit with 4th Gen, HPE’s thermal matrix allows 24 at 25 °C on most front ends up to 290 W but 8 or 16 above 290 W (24 on the 8LFF, 8SFF and 12EDSFF fronts with HPE’s baffle and heat-sink kits), and holds the GPU and 48SFF chassis to 8. The rules do not apply to the 256 GB DDR5-6400 kit with 5th Gen.
With direct liquid cooling HPE lifts the 256 GB limits (24 on every front end); its memory note gives 35 °C ambient for that case, while the thermal matrix row prints 25 °C.
Keep DIMM types uniform: HPE forbids combining x4 with x8 parts or 3DS with non-3DS, offers no LRDIMM or persistent-memory support, and protects memory with Advanced ECC.

04 — Storage

15 drive-cage kits, up to 48 bays

Five configure-to-order chassis define the drive options: 8SFF (built up to 24 front SFF with three cages), 8LFF (to 12 LFF), 12EDSFF (to 36 E3.S), a GPU chassis with one 8-bay SFF or E3.S backplane, and a 48SFF chassis with six 8-bay cages included. Mid-tray and rear cages add more on the SFF and LFF models.

Headline layouts

front panel view

Front panel

48SFF CTO: all six 8-bay cages ship in the chassis, driven by tri-mode controllers with the hardware-RAID signal cables included (x1 per drive). The deepest DL385 Gen11, at 87.48 cm ear to PSU.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

Controllers & boot

HPE NS204i-u Gen11 NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device — Boot. Boot device module (not a PCIe card); 2 x 480GB M.2 NVMe included; RAID 1; locations: Tertiary (no tertiary riser), Secondary Slot 4 (slots 4/5 lost), or below 4LFF rear cage with LP secondary riser P59260-B21
HPE NS204i-u v2 480GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device — Boot. Only supported with 9005 processors
HPE Smart Array E208e-p SR Gen10 (8 External Lanes/No Cache) 12G SAS PCIe Plug-in Controller — RAID. Listed under 'Essential RAID Controllers'; external; up to 8 SAS/SATA drives; 'currently not supported when 2x AMD EPYC 9005 processors are configured. HPE targets to support such configurations by Feb. 2025' (stale target date left in doc)
HPE MR216i-o Gen11 x16 Lanes without Cache OCP SPDM Storage Controller — RAID. OROC, takes an OCP slot; up to 16 SAS/SATA/NVMe (4 x4 or 8 x2 NVMe)
HPE MR408i-o Gen11 x8 Lanes 4GB Cache OCP SPDM Storage Controller — RAID, 4GB cache. OROC, takes an OCP slot; up to 8 SAS/SATA/NVMe (2 x4 or 4 x2 NVMe)
HPE MR416i-o Gen11 x16 Lanes 8GB Cache OCP SPDM Storage Controller — RAID, 8GB cache. OROC, takes an OCP slot; up to 16 SAS/SATA/NVMe (4 x4 or 8 x2 NVMe)
HPE MR216i-p Gen11 x16 Lanes without Cache PCI SPDM Plug-in Storage Controller — RAID. PCIe plug-in; up to 16 SAS/SATA/NVMe (4 x4 or 8 x2 NVMe)
HPE MR416i-p Gen11 x16 Lanes 8GB Cache PCI SPDM Plug-in Storage Controller — RAID, 8GB cache. PCIe plug-in; up to 16 SAS/SATA/NVMe (4 x4 or 8 x2 NVMe)
HPE NS204i-u Gen11 NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device (P48183-B21) — boot
HPE NS204i-u v2 480GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device (P78279-B21; 9005 CPUs only) — boot
HPE ProLiant DL3X5 Gen11 NS204i-u NVMe Hot Plug Boot Device Cable Kit (P57013-B21) — boot
HPE ProLiant DL3X5 Gen11 Tertiary NS204i-u NVMe Hot Plug Boot Device Enablement Kit (P57850-B21) — boot

All 10 controllers and 5 boot options

HPE MR932i-p x32 Lanes PCIe Gen5 SPDM Plug-in Storage Controller — RAID. First PCIe Gen5 storage controller on DL385 Gen11; only supported on EDSFF configurations (12/24/36 E3.S on EDSFF CTO, 8 E3.S on GPU CTO); cache not stated in this doc
HPE SR932i-p Gen11 x32 Lanes 8GB Wide Cache PCI SPDM Plug-in Storage Controller — RAID, 8GB cache. PCIe plug-in; up to 32 SAS/SATA/NVMe (8 x4 or 16 x2 NVMe); supported by 8SFF x4 NVMe PCIe cable kit P57856-B21
HPE ProLiant DL3X5 Gen11 Secondary NS204i-u NVMe Hot Plug Boot Device Enablement Kit (P57885-B21) — boot

The Universal Media Bay goes only in Box 1, not with the 24-SFF front or the EDSFF chassis; the LFF chassis-type line mentions a media bay, but the note beneath it rules the UMB out on LFF.
U.3 x1 and x4 front cages may be mixed, but a mixed front rules out the mid cage.
HPE offers no software RAID on its AMD Gen11 platforms, and MegaRAID and SmartRAID internal controllers cannot be combined.
NS204i-u boot mounts above the power supplies (no tertiary riser), in secondary slot 4 (losing slots 4 and 5), or under the rear 4LFF cage with a low-profile riser.
HPE’s NVMe bundle kits balance 8, 16 or 24 U.3 drives across two processors, or put 8 directly on one.
The notes still say the external E208e-p is unsupported with two 5th Gen processors, citing a February 2025 target date that has passed.

Every documented drive-cage kit

15 with drive bays

2.5-inch3.5-inchEDSFF (E1.S / E3.S)

05 — Accelerators & I/O

GPUs, PCIe and networking

HPE’s base-model note ties GPUs to the GPU CTO chassis and rules out the rear PCIe slots, although the L4 entry now also lists the SFF and EDSFF chassis (not LFF or 48SFF). A 4 Double Wide enablement kit provides four GPU risers; the 8 Single Wide kit with its switchboard provides eight. The list covers NVIDIA L4, L40, L40S, A16, H200 NVL, RTX PRO 4500 and RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (plus the 6000D version for China, Hong Kong and Macau) and the AMD Instinct MI350P, and models cannot be mixed. Up to 4 × double-wide (GPU chassis only) or 8 × single-wide L4 · MI350P limited to 2.

AMD Instinct MI350P 144GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

144GB · 1-2

NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition 96GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

96GB · 1-4

NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D 84GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

84GB · 1-4

NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition 32GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

32GB · up to 4

NVIDIA L40S 48GB PCIe Accelerator

double-wide

48GB · up to 4 (4DW GPU FIO enablement kit)

NVIDIA L40 48GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

double-wide

48GB · up to 4 (4DW GPU FIO enablement kit)

NVIDIA L4 24GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

single-wide

24GB · up to 8 (8SW kit) / up to 4 (4DW kit)

NVIDIA H200 NVL 141GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

double-wide

141GB · 1-4

NVIDIA A16 64GB PCIe Non-CEC Accelerator for HPE

double-wide

64GB · up to 4 (4DW GPU FIO enablement kit)

I/O topology

2 sockets

With both sockets the platform exposes 160 PCIe 5.0 lanes (HPE’s two-processor figure) and three xGMI links between the CPUs, with a fourth available by cable kit. All eight are PCIe 5.0 x16, full-height half-length in the standard risers, but slots 4–8 hang off processor 2.

Network adapters HPE lists

30 options

Adapter	Ports	Form
Intel I350-T4 Ethernet 1Gb 4-port BASE-T Adapter for HPE	4 × 1GbE	PCIe
Broadcom BCM5719 Ethernet 1Gb 4-port BASE-T Adapter for HPE	4 × 1GbE	PCIe
Broadcom BCM57416 Ethernet 10Gb 2-port BASE-T Adapter for HPE	2 × 10GbE	PCIe
Broadcom BCM57412 Ethernet 10Gb 2-port SFP+ Adapter for HPE	2 × 10GbE	PCIe
Broadcom BCM57414 Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port SFP28 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	PCIe
Broadcom BCM57504 Ethernet 10/25Gb 4-port SFP28 Adapter for HPE	4 × 10/25GbE	PCIe
Intel E810-XXVDA2 Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port SFP28 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	PCIe
Mellanox MCX631102AS-ADAT Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port SFP28 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	PCIe
Intel E810-XXVDA4 Ethernet 10/25Gb 4-port SFP28 Adapter for HPE	4 × 10/25GbE	PCIe
NVIDIA Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port SFP28 NVMe-oF Crypto Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	PCIe
AMD Solarflare X4522-PLUS 10/25GbE 2-port SFP56 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	PCIe
Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT Ethernet 100Gb 2-port QSFP56 Adapter for HPE	2 × 100GbE	PCIe
Intel E810-CQDA2 Ethernet 100Gb 2-port QSFP28 Adapter for HPE	2 × 100GbE	PCIe
HPE Slingshot SA210S Ethernet 200Gb 1-port PCIe NIC	1 × 200GbE	PCIe
NVIDIA Ethernet 100Gb 2-port NVMe-oF Offload Adapter for HPE	2 × 100GbE	PCIe
Broadcom BCM57608 Ethernet 100Gb 2-port QSFP112 Adapter for HPE	2 × 100GbE	PCIe
HPE Data Processing Unit InfiniBand NDR200/Ethernet 200Gb 2-port QSFP112 FHHL B3220 Adapter	2 × 200Gb (IB NDR200/Ethernet)	PCIe (DPU)
HPE Data Processing Unit InfiniBand NDR/Ethernet 400Gb 1-port QSFP112 HHHL B3140H Adapter	1 × 400Gb (IB NDR/Ethernet)	PCIe (DPU)
HPE InfiniBand NDR200/Ethernet 200Gb 1-port OSFP PCIe5 x16 MCX75310AAS-HEAT Generic Adapter	1 × 200Gb (IB NDR200/Ethernet)	PCIe (InfiniBand)
HPE InfiniBand NDR/Ethernet 400Gb 1-port OSFP PCIe5 x16 MCX75310AAS-NEAT Generic Adapter	1 × 400Gb (IB NDR/Ethernet)	PCIe (InfiniBand)
Intel I350-T4 Ethernet 1Gb 4-port BASE-T OCP3 Adapter for HPE	4 × 1GbE	OCP 3.0
Broadcom BCM5719 Ethernet 1Gb 4-port BASE-T OCP3 Adapter for HPE	4 × 1GbE	OCP 3.0
Broadcom BCM57412 Ethernet 10Gb 2-port SFP+ OCP3 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10GbE	OCP 3.0
Broadcom BCM57416 Ethernet 10Gb 2-port BASE-T OCP3 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10GbE	OCP 3.0
Broadcom BCM57414 Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port SFP28 OCP3 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	OCP 3.0
Broadcom BCM57504 Ethernet 10/25Gb 4-port SFP28 OCP3 Adapter for HPE	4 × 10/25GbE	OCP 3.0
Intel E810-XXVDA2 Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port SFP28 OCP3 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	OCP 3.0
Mellanox MCX631432AS-ADAI Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port SFP28 OCP3 Adapter for HPE	2 × 10/25GbE	OCP 3.0
Intel E810-CQDA2 Ethernet 100Gb 2-port QSFP28 OCP3 Adapter for HPE	2 × 100GbE	OCP 3.0
Broadcom BCM57608 Ethernet 100Gb 2-port QSFP112 OCP3 Adapter for HPE	2 × 100GbE	OCP 3.0

Slot 1 with OCP1, and slot 6 with slot 7, each share 112 GB/s because of a processor limit.
The 1P OCP1 x16 kit disables OCP2; the 2P kit raises both to x16 but rules out the secondary riser upgrade.
The xGMI cable kit needs two CPUs and a P48793-002/-003 or newer mainboard, and is not supported with the GPU chassis, NVMe balanced kits, primary or tertiary riser upgrades, or EDSFF direct attach.
The GPU chassis ships with primary and secondary risers and cannot take riser upgrade kits.
No embedded LOM: networking is an OCP 3.0 or stand-up card.

06 — Power & cooling

5 power supplies, 800–2,200 W

Five HPE Flex Slot supplies are offered: an 800 W and a 1600 W Platinum, a 1000 W and an 1800–2200 W Titanium, and a DC unit rated 1600 W on −48 V. A server normally takes one or two of a single SKU; the EDSFF, GPU and 48SFF chassis can run four through the Power Distribution Board kit, which the 8SFF and 8LFF chassis cannot take.

AC277 VAC / HVDC

High line only (200–240 VAC): the Platinum 1600 W and Titanium 1800–2200 W units. The 800 W and 1000 W accept 100 to 240 VAC.
HPE says different supply SKUs may not be mixed, yet also notes that a four-supply build including the 1800–2200 W unit may mix two types.
The 1600 W −48 V DC unit is rated from −40 to −72 V DC and needs its lug or cable kit, yet HPE’s feature list attaches an AC-only note (“200–240VAC power input only”) to it; the document does not reconcile the two, so confirm with HPE.
Up to six fans with redundancy; Performance fans number four with one processor and six with two. The fan notes reserve the Maximum Performance kit for 600 W GPUs, while the processor rules call for a Max Performance fan kit above 300 W — confirm the fan choice for such builds.
Direct liquid cooling cold-plate kits for both processors ship only inside a complete rack with manifold and CDU.

07 — Management, security & OS

Run it, secure it, choose the OS

Management

HPE iLO 6 (iLO 6 ASIC · 64 MB flash · 8 Gbit DDR4 with ECC)
iLO Standard with Intelligent Provisioning; iLO Advanced optional, and required for iLO GPU power capping
HPE OneView Standard · Compute Ops Management subscription included
iLO RESTful API (Redfish), IPMI 2.0, SNMP v3
OpenBMC capable through iLO 6 transfer of ownership
Optional Systems Insight Display
1GbE dedicated iLO port · front iLO service port

Security

Immutable Silicon Root of Trust
UEFI Secure Boot and Secure Start
TPM 2.0 embedded — no module kit needed
FIPS 140-3 and Common Criteria — iLO 6 certification in progress
CNSA support · configurable for PCI DSS compliance
Digitally signed firmware, secure recovery and rollback
One Button Secure Erase
Optional bezel lock and chassis intrusion detection

Operating systems

Supported operating systems and hypervisors are listed in HPE’s Servers Support & Certification Matrices, not in the QuickSpecs
UEFI boot with NVMe, iSCSI and HTTP/HTTPS boot support

08 — Compare

How the DL385 Gen11 compares with its family

The DL385 Gen11 beside HPE’s other AMD Gen11 rack servers and the DL380 Gen11 and DL380a Gen11 2U models; the bars compare the limits in each spec file.

This modelSiblings and successorEach value from that model’s own verified spec file · bars scale per column

DL365 Gen11 data sheet DL345 Gen11 data sheet DL325 Gen11 data sheet DL380 Gen11 data sheet DL380a Gen11 data sheet Dell PowerEdge R7625 data sheet Lenovo ThinkSystem SR665 V3 data sheet Dell PowerEdge R7725 data sheet

09 — Use cases

Four builds that suit the DL385 Gen11

Four two-socket builds that use the DL385 Gen11’s distinctive chassis — GPU, EDSFF and deep LFF. All of them draw on options the configurator accepts for the DL385 Gen11, and each opens there for editing.

AI inference

Two-H200 NVL inference node

Two H200 NVL cards — a pair HPE’s 2-way NVLink bridge option can join — run without iLO power capping, which HPE only requires at three or four cards. Two 64-core 5th Gen processors fill all 24 channels with DDR5-6400, and eight E3.S drives hold models and datasets.

2 × AMD EPYC 9555 — 64 cores @ 3.2 GHz, 360 W each
2 × NVIDIA H200 NVL 141 GB
24 × 64 GB DDR5-6400 — 1.5 TB across both sockets
8 × 7.68 TB E3.S NVMe on the GPU chassis EDSFF backplane
NS204i-u hot-plug boot mirror
Broadcom BCM57608 2 × 100GbE QSFP112 OCP 3.0
1800–2200 W Flex Slot Titanium supplies with PDB kit

H200 NVL needs the GPU chassis, 4DW enablement kit, PDB kit and 12-pin GPU power cables, and HPE pairs its 600 W GPUs with the Maximum Performance fan kit. The 360 W processors need the Maximum Performance heat sink.

Open this build in the configurator →

VDI

Eight-L4 desktop host

The 8 Single Wide kit and switchboard give eight L4 risers, so desktop sessions spread across eight GPUs in one 2U. Two 280 W processors stay on the High-Performance heat sink, clear of HPE’s 300 W boundary.

2 × AMD EPYC 9355 — 32 cores @ 3.55 GHz, 280 W each
8 × NVIDIA L4 24 GB on the 8 Single Wide kit and switchboard
24 × 32 GB DDR5-6400 — 768 GB
8 × 3.84 TB U.3 NVMe
Broadcom BCM57504 4 × 25GbE SFP28 OCP 3.0
1600 W Flex Slot Platinum supplies (200–240 VAC)

The 8 Single Wide kit cannot share the chassis with any controller backup battery. HPE’s notes differ on chassis: the base-model note requires the GPU chassis for any GPU, while the L4 entry also allows SFF and EDSFF chassis.

Open this build in the configurator →

Backup & archive

20-bay LFF repository

Twelve front, four mid-tray and four rear LFF bays hold 20 × 24 TB drives — 480 TB raw — for a backup target or object store. The mid tray keeps processors at 300 W or less, which two 32-core, 280 W parts satisfy.

2 × AMD EPYC 9355 — 32 cores @ 3.55 GHz, 280 W each
20 × 24 TB 3.5" SAS 7.2K — 480 TB raw
8LFF front + 4LFF front cage + 4LFF mid tray + 4LFF rear cage
MR416i-o OCP RAID controller (8 GB cache)
24 × 32 GB DDR5-6400 — 768 GB
Broadcom BCM57414 2 × 25GbE SFP28 OCP 3.0
1000 W Flex Slot Titanium supplies

The rear 4LFF cage occupies the primary, secondary and tertiary riser space, leaving only its dedicated LFF-rear risers; the mid tray accepts OCP (OROC) controllers only. Controller count and cabling for all 20 bays are confirmed at quote.

Open this build in the configurator →

HCI & virtualisation

Twelve-E3.S two-socket HCI node

The 12EDSFF chassis ships with direct-attach signal cables for its twelve E3.S bays, and a pair of 96-core 4th Gen processors on DDR5-4800 suits a cluster already standardised on EPYC 9004.

2 × AMD EPYC 9654 — 96 cores @ 2.4 GHz, 360 W each
24 × 64 GB DDR5-4800 — 1.5 TB
12 × 7.68 TB E3.S NVMe, direct attach
NS204i-u hot-plug boot mirror
Broadcom BCM57504 4 × 25GbE SFP28 OCP 3.0
1600 W Flex Slot Platinum supplies (200–240 VAC)

At 360 W these processors need the Maximum Performance heat sink; the fourth xGMI link is not available with EDSFF drives on direct attach.

Open this build in the configurator →

10 — Refurbished alternatives

When a refurbished ProLiant makes more sense

For two-socket AMD work that does not need PCIe 5.0, DDR5 or a 600 W GPU chassis, earlier DL385 generations — and the Intel DL380 Gen10 Plus — come re-certified through our refurbished configurator.

Gen10 Plus · re-certified

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen10 Plus

2U · two EPYC 7002/7003
Up to 128 cores
32 DIMM slots · up to 8 TB DDR4
24 SFF or 12 LFF · iLO 5

The previous two-socket AMD 2U — more DIMM slots than the Gen11, on DDR4-3200 and PCIe 4.0.

Configure a refurbished DL385 Gen10 Plus →

Gen10 · re-certified

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen10

2U · two EPYC 7001
Up to 64 cores
32 DIMM slots · up to 4 TB DDR4
iLO 5

Budget two-socket capacity for file, backup or lab clusters where 64 cores in total are plenty.

Configure a refurbished DL385 Gen10 →

Gen10 Plus · re-certified

HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 Plus

2U · two 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable
Up to 8 TB DDR4-3200
PCIe 4.0 · OCP 3.0
SFF / LFF / NVMe · iLO 5

When software or support policy ties the estate to Intel, the same-generation Xeon 2U.

Configure a refurbished DL380 Gen10 Plus →

Refurbished HPE ProLiant servers Refurbished ProLiant configurator New vs refurbished cost calculator

11 — Full specifications

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen11 specifications

Chassis & cooling

Form factor	2U rack · one or two processors
Chassis types	8SFF · 8LFF · 12EDSFF · GPU · 48SFF
Height	8.75 cm
Width	44.8 cm at the rear · 48.2 cm ear to ear
Depth (chassis ear to PSU)	SFF/EDSFF 68.89 cm · LFF 70.59 cm · GPU 84.15 cm · 48SFF 87.48 cm
Maximum weight	SFF 33.4 kg · LFF 36.72 kg · GPU 32.52 kg · 48SFF 41.41 kg
Fans	Up to 6, redundant · Standard, Performance or Maximum Performance
Operating temperature	10–35 °C standard · 5–10 °C and 35–45 °C for approved configurations

Processor

Sockets	One or two, same model
Families	4th Gen AMD EPYC 9004 · 5th Gen AMD EPYC 9005
Cores	8 to 160 per processor
Default cTDP	125 W to 400 W
PCIe	160 PCIe 5.0 lanes with two processors
Interconnect	3 xGMI links · optional fourth by cable kit

Memory

Slots	24 DDR5 RDIMM · 12 per processor · 1 DIMM per channel
DIMM kits	16–256 GB DDR5-4800 (4th Gen) · 16–256 GB DDR5-6400 (5th Gen)
Maximum	6 TB with two processors · 3 TB with one
Protection	Advanced ECC

Storage

Front	48 SFF · 24 SFF · 12 LFF · 36 E3.S (chassis-dependent)
Mid and rear	8 SFF or 4 LFF mid tray · 2 SFF or 4 LFF rear
Controllers	MR216i-o/-p, MR408i-o, MR416i-o/-p, SR932i-p, MR932i-p (EDSFF) · E208e-p (external)
Boot	NS204i-u (2 × 480 GB M.2 NVMe, RAID 1)

Expansion & networking

PCIe slots	Up to 8 × PCIe 5.0 x16 FHHL · slots 4–8 need processor 2
OCP 3.0	OCP1 and OCP2, x8 each · x16 with cable kits
Embedded NIC	None

Accelerators

GPU envelope	Up to 4 double-wide or 8 single-wide · double-wide in GPU chassis only · L4 also SFF/EDSFF
600 W-class cards	H200 NVL, RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (and 6000D), AMD Instinct MI350P (max 2)

Power

Supplies	1 or 2 HPE Flex Slot · 4 with the PDB kit (not 8SFF or 8LFF)
AC	800 W Platinum · 1000 W Titanium · 1600 W Platinum · 1800–2200 W Titanium
DC	1600 W −48 VDC (−40 to −72 V)

Ports & management

Front	USB 3.2 Gen 1 · iLO service port · optional DisplayPort and USB 2.0 (media bay)
Rear	2 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 · VGA · 1GbE iLO · optional serial
Internal	2 × USB 3.2 Gen 1
Management	HPE iLO 6

12 — FAQ

DL385 Gen11 questions, answered from the documentation

What is the maximum memory of the HPE DL385 Gen11?

6 TB, from 24 × 256 GB RDIMMs with both processors fitted — 12 slots per socket, one DIMM per channel. A single processor can use only its own 12 slots, for 3 TB. 4th Gen processors take DDR5-4800 kits and 5th Gen processors DDR5-6400 kits; with 4th Gen, HPE’s thermal matrix limits 256 GB DIMM counts in some builds.

Which processors does the DL385 Gen11 support?

One or two identical AMD EPYC processors from 18 4th Gen 9004 and 21 5th Gen 9005 option kits — from the 8-core 9015 up to the 160-core 9845, at no more than 400 W. Above 300 W the Maximum Performance heat sink is required and the mid drive cage is excluded.

How many drive bays does the DL385 Gen11 have?

Up to 48 SFF in the 48SFF chassis. Otherwise 24 front SFF plus an 8-bay mid tray and 2 rear (34), 12 front LFF plus 4 mid and 4 rear (20), or up to 36 E3.S in the EDSFF chassis; the GPU chassis keeps one 8-bay SFF or E3.S backplane.

How many GPUs fit in the DL385 Gen11?

Up to four double-wide or eight single-wide cards. Double-wide cards need the GPU CTO chassis and no GPU is supported in the rear slots; the L4 entry also lists the SFF and EDSFF chassis, though the base-model note ties every GPU to the GPU chassis. H200 NVL and RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell reach four, the AMD Instinct MI350P is limited to two, and three or four H200 NVL need iLO GPU power capping.

How many PCIe slots are there?

Up to eight PCIe 5.0 x16 full-height, half-length slots with two processors, plus two OCP 3.0 slots. Processor 1 drives the primary riser (slots 1–3); the secondary (4–6) and tertiary (7–8) risers need processor 2, so a one-CPU server is limited to the primary riser.

What power supplies does the DL385 Gen11 take?

Five Flex Slot units: Platinum 800 W and 1600 W, Titanium 1000 W and 1800–2200 W, plus a −48 V DC supply rated 1600 W. A server normally takes one or two of the same SKU, and the Power Distribution Board kit raises that to four everywhere except the 8SFF and 8LFF chassis.

How big and heavy is the DL385 Gen11?

It is 2U: 8.75 cm high, 44.8 cm wide at the rear and 48.2 cm across the ears. Depth from chassis ear to PSU is 68.89 cm (SFF and EDSFF), 70.59 cm (LFF), 84.15 cm (GPU) or 87.48 cm (48SFF), and maximum weights run from 32.52 kg (GPU) to 41.41 kg (48SFF).

How does the DL385 Gen11 compare with the DL325 Gen11?

The DL325 Gen11 is the 1U, one-socket model: 12 DIMM slots and 3 TB, two rear PCIe slots, and GPU support limited to four single-width L4 cards in its GPU chassis. The DL385 Gen11 doubles the sockets and memory slots and adds double-wide GPU and 48-bay storage options in 2U.

Can I add a fourth xGMI link between the processors?

Yes. Three xGMI links connect the processors by default, and the XGMI Interconnection Cable Kit adds a fourth. It needs two processors and a P48793-002/-003 or newer mainboard, and is not supported with the GPU chassis, NVMe balanced kits or EDSFF direct attach.

Is the DL385 Gen11 end of life?

HPE’s QuickSpecs do not say so: version 47 (September 2026) publishes no end-of-sale or end-of-support date, and the August 2026 revision was still adding accelerator options. Our server end-of-life checker records HPE’s dates when they appear.

Sources & verification

Where these figures come from

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen11 QuickSpecs (Version 47 - 08-Sep-2026) — Overview and chassis types; Standard Features processor, memory, expansion-riser, storage, power, interface and security sections; Step 1 CTO tables; Step 2 processor, memory and power rules; Core Options drive cages, NVMe kits, GPU, xGMI, OCP, fan and power notes; Technical Specifications.
HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen11 QuickSpecs (Version 40 - 03-Aug-2026) — Used for the DL325 comparison and the EPYC 9575F cache cross-check.
HPE product imagery (HPE DAM) — Front, rear and top-view renders s00011734, s00011736 and s00011737.

Specifications are extracted from HPE’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.

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The DL385 Gen11 at a glance

Strengths

Watch-outs

39 supported processors, mapped

Processor landscape — cores × TDP

Processor explorer

24 DIMM slots, 12 per processor

Capacity with every slot filled

Rated memory speed

15 drive-cage kits, up to 48 bays

Headline layouts

Controllers & boot

Every documented drive-cage kit

GPUs, PCIe and networking

AMD Instinct MI350P 144GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition 96GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D 84GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition 32GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

NVIDIA L40S 48GB PCIe Accelerator

NVIDIA L40 48GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

NVIDIA L4 24GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

NVIDIA H200 NVL 141GB PCIe Accelerator for HPE

NVIDIA A16 64GB PCIe Non-CEC Accelerator for HPE

I/O topology

Network adapters HPE lists

5 power supplies, 800–2,200 W

Run it, secure it, choose the OS

Management

Security

Operating systems

How the DL385 Gen11 compares with its family

Four builds that suit the DL385 Gen11

Two-H200 NVL inference node

Eight-L4 desktop host

20-bay LFF repository

Twelve-E3.S two-socket HCI node

When a refurbished ProLiant makes more sense

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen10 Plus

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen10

HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 Plus

HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen11 specifications

Chassis & cooling

Processor

Memory

Storage

Expansion & networking

Accelerators

Power

Ports & management

DL385 Gen11 questions, answered from the documentation

Where these figures come from

Buy & configure

Guides & family

Plan the deployment

Support & lifecycle

Get a quote for the HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen11

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