The ThinkSystem SR250 V3 is Lenovo’s entry 1U rack server: one LGA 1700 processor — Xeon 6300, Xeon E-2400 or Pentium — up to 128 GB of ECC DDR5, and a 561 mm chassis that also fits two-post racks. It targets smaller businesses, retail and distributed sites running web, database, infrastructure, virtualisation or entry-cloud work. This page maps its processors, memory speeds, drive options, riser choice and power.
Our read of Lenovo’s documentation: where the SR250 V3 is strong, and the limits worth knowing before you spec one.
Strengths
+At 561 mm deep and 43 mm high it suits shallow comms-room cabinets, and Lenovo offers a two-post screw-in rail kit alongside its four-post rails.
+One socket, three processor families: Xeon 6300, Xeon E-2400 and Pentium, from 2 to 8 cores and never above 95 W.
+A choice of riser: two PCIe 4.0 x8 low-profile slots, or one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot that can take an NVIDIA RTX A400 or A1000.
+In the 2.5-inch chassis the RAID 545-8i comes as an internal CFF card served by the Slimline connector, giving hardware RAID without using either rear slot.
+XCC2 management with Redfish and IPMI, plus Platform Firmware Resiliency and a TPM 2.0 Root of Trust module as standard outside China.
Watch-outs
!Memory stops at four UDIMMs and 128 GB, and runs at 4400 MT/s at best — 4000 or 3600 MT/s once all four slots are filled.
!The four system fans are single-rotor, fixed and not redundant; Lenovo notes that a fan failure can cost performance.
!There is no OCP slot, so any network card beyond the two onboard 1GbE ports uses one of the two rear slots — and the M.2 boot adapter occupies one too.
!Pentium processors are not offered in the UK or EU because of ErP Lot 9.
!The 10 × 2.5-inch layout still mentioned in Lenovo’s introduction has been withdrawn; eight 2.5-inch bays is the current limit.
Processors18 SKUs
Cores / CPU2–8
DIMM slots4
Backplanes6
Max bays8
GPUsup to 1
PSU options2 · to 800 W
02 — Processors
18 supported processors, mapped
Every SR250 V3 processor uses the LGA 1700 socket and two DDR5 channels. Lenovo’s ordering table lists ten — the Pentium G7400, Xeon E-2436 and eight Xeon 6300 models — while its processor-features table lists 18 by adding the G7400T and seven more Xeon E-2400 parts. Core counts across the 18 run from two (the Pentiums) to eight, and TDP from the 35 W G7400T up to 95 W.
Processor landscape — cores × TDP
18 SKUs · 3 families
Pentium 2Xeon E-2400 8Xeon 6300 8Bubble 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 E-2488
8
3.2 GHz
24 MB
95 W
11.9
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon E-2478
8
2.8 GHz
24 MB
80 W
10.0
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon E-2468
8
2.6 GHz
24 MB
65 W
8.1
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6369P
8
3.3 GHz
24 MB
95 W
11.9
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6357P
8
3 GHz
24 MB
80 W
10.0
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6353P
8
2.7 GHz
24 MB
65 W
8.1
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon E-2486
6
3.5 GHz
18 MB
95 W
15.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon E-2456
6
3.3 GHz
18 MB
80 W
13.3
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon E-2436
6
2.9 GHz
18 MB
65 W
10.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6349P
6
3.6 GHz
18 MB
95 W
15.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6337P
6
3.5 GHz
18 MB
80 W
13.3
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6333P
6
3.1 GHz
18 MB
65 W
10.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon E-2414
4
2.6 GHz
12 MB
55 W
13.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon E-2434
4
3.4 GHz
12 MB
55 W
13.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6315P
4
2.8 GHz
12 MB
55 W
13.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Xeon 6325P
4
3.5 GHz
12 MB
55 W
13.8
DDR5-4400
Intel Pentium G7400
2
3.7 GHz
6 MB
46 W
23.0
DDR5-4400
Intel Pentium G7400T
2
3.1 GHz
6 MB
35 W
17.5
DDR5-4400
Whatever the DIMM’s rating, memory runs at no more than 4400 MHz in this server with any listed processor.
Xeon 6300 processors take only 5600 MHz UDIMMs; Xeon E-2400 and Pentium accept 4800 or 5600 MHz parts.
UK and EU buyers cannot order Pentium models (ErP Lot 9), and Pentium parts are not Energy Star compliant.
None of the processors is sold as a separate option part; each arrives fitted in a CTO or preconfigured server.
Lane budget per processor: 16 PCIe 5.0 plus 4 PCIe 4.0 at most. Xeon E-2400 links to the chipset over DMI 4.0 x8 and Pentium over DMI 3.0 x4. Processor graphics go unused — video comes from the XCC2 or a GPU.
03 — Memory
4 DDR5 DIMM slots
Two DDR5 channels with two sockets each give four UDIMM slots. Lenovo supports one, two or four identical ECC UDIMMs — three is not allowed — and a pair goes one per channel. Speed depends on count and rank: one or two DIMMs run at 4400 MT/s, four single-rank DIMMs at 4000 MT/s and four dual-rank DIMMs at 3600 MT/s.
Capacity with every slot filled
by DIMM size
Operating speed
per Lenovo memory tables
Processor
1 DIMM / channel
2 DIMMs / channel
Xeon 6300 · Xeon E-2400 · Pentium
4400 MT/s
4000 MT/s (1R) · 3600 MT/s (2R)
The largest UDIMM is 32 GB, so the ceiling is 128 GB (4 × 32 GB); those are dual-rank parts, which run at 3600 MT/s in a four-DIMM build.
The 32 GB 4800 MHz UDIMM (4X77A88512) cannot be used with Xeon 6300 processors, which accept only 5600 MHz parts.
All installed DIMMs must share one part number.
Memory mirroring and rank sparing are not supported; protection is ECC.
04 — Storage
6 backplane options, up to 8 bays
Each SR250 V3 is built as either a 2.5-inch or a 3.5-inch chassis, and a server cannot be ordered without drive bays. The 2.5-inch chassis has eight hot-swap bays; the 3.5-inch chassis has four, either hot-swap or simple-swap, and one simple-swap backplane turns two of them into NVMe bays.
Headline layouts
front panel view
Front panel
Configs 6 and 7: one 8-bay hot-swap backplane on the onboard SATA ports (SATA drives only, and no M.2) or on a RAID adapter or HBA for SAS. The internal CFF RAID 545-8i is supported only in this chassis.
SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe
Controllers & boot
On Board SATA Software RAID Mode — Software RAID. Onboard SATA - up to 8 drives - Intel VROC SATA RAID (Intel RSTe); RAID levels: see Intel VROC section of the guide
The onboard SATA ports give RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 through Intel VROC (RSTe), but hypervisors can use them only in AHCI (non-RAID) mode, and Windows limits an RSTe array to six drives.
Two M.2 drives mount on an adapter carried by a dummy PCIe card in slot 1 or 2: the BM8X (software RAID through VROC) or the B540i-2i (hardware RAID 0 or 1). The two are mutually exclusive.
The controller table lists the RAID 545-8i, as an internal CFF card or a slot card, and the RAID 940-8i with 4 GB flash, which includes a supercap; each is limited to one per server. The configuration and specifications tables also mention HBAs, but the controller table names none for internal drives.
External SAS storage is supported through up to two 440-8e HBAs; Fibre Channel and flash storage adapters are not supported.
There is no internal optical or tape drive; Lenovo lists an external USB DVD-RW.
Every documented backplane
6 with drive bays
2.5-inch3.5-inchEDSFF (E1.S / E3.S)
05 — Accelerators & I/O
GPUs, PCIe and networking
A GPU can go only in slot 2, one per server, on either riser. Lenovo’s GPU table lists the NVIDIA RTX A400 (4 GB) and RTX A1000 (8 GB), although its generation-comparison table still names the Quadro T1000 and T400. On the x8/x8 riser slot 2 is electrically x8, which Lenovo says degrades GPU performance. With a GPU fitted, ambient temperature must stay at or below 35 °C, and Windows or ESXi cannot be factory-preloaded. One GPU, slot 2 only (a 75 W slot on the x16 riser).
NVIDIA RTX A400 4GB PCIe Gen4 Active GPU
single-wide
4GB · up to 1 (slot 2 only)
NVIDIA RTX A1000 8GB PCIe Gen4 Active GPU
single-wide
8GB · up to 1 (slot 2 only)
I/O topology
1 socket
The single LGA 1700 processor supplies at most 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 and 4 of PCIe 4.0, plus two DDR5 channels. The riser fitted sets the rear expansion: two PCIe 4.0 x8 low-profile slots, or a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot with slot 1 left unconnected.
An internal Slimline x8 connector serves either the onboard NVMe bays or the CFF RAID adapter. Lenovo’s slot list rates it PCIe 3.0 x4, while its note on the connector and the NVMe backplane description say PCIe 4.0.
With 800 W supplies Lenovo’s maximum configuration allows 25 W in slot 1 and 75 W in slot 2, with the two slots together capped at 75 W.
There is no OCP slot. Lenovo lists 1GbE, 10GbE and 25GbE PCIe NICs, two at most, and the X710-T4L and X710-DA2 fit only slot 2.
The M.2 boot adapter physically takes slot 1 or 2, although it draws no PCIe signals or power from it.
Lenovo’s key-features list mentions up to three PCIe slots; its I/O section counts the internal storage connector as the third.
06 — Power & cooling
2 power supplies, 800 W
Lenovo’s power-supply table lists two 800 W CRPS hot-swap units, Titanium or Platinum, each rated for 115 V or 230 V. A server takes one or two; a pair gives N+N redundancy depending on configuration, and a second unit can be added later to a single-supply model.
AC
Lenovo’s generation-comparison table and electrical specifications also mention a 300 W fixed-supply model, which the power-supply ordering table does not list.
For 800 W supplies, Lenovo’s maximum configuration is a 95 W processor, four DIMMs of up to 32 GB, one 75 W GPU in slot 2 and eight 2.5-inch or four 3.5-inch drives.
In the power-supply table only the Titanium unit is marked ErP Lot 9 compliant and Energy Star certified, although the specifications table describes the 800 W option in general as compliant; both units take 240 V DC in China only.
Input for 800 W models is 10 A at 100–127 V or 5 A at 200–240 V.
Heat output is 527 BTU/h (154 W) in the minimum configuration and 1196 BTU/h (350 W) in the maximum.
07 — Management, security & OS
Run it, secure it, choose the OS
Management
XClarity Controller 2 on an ASPEED AST2600 BMC
Dedicated rear 1GbE management port; one onboard 1GbE port can be shared
XCC2 Platinum software upgrade: remote console, virtual media, power capping, System Guard
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8–8.10, 9.2–9.8 and 10.0–10.2 (Xeon 6300: from 8.10 and 9.4)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5–SP7 and 16 (Xeon 6300: from SP6)
Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04 LTS
VMware ESXi 8.0 U3, 9.0 and 9.1; 8.0 U2 in the Xeon E list (factory preload available)
Lenovo prints two lists, “Pentium or Xeon E” and “Pentium or Xeon 6300”, so for Pentium the older releases appear in one list but not the other
08 — Compare
SR250 V2 → SR250 V3
Lenovo’s guide compares the SR250 V3 with the SR250 V2 and the original SR250. Against the V2, the V3 moves to DDR5, adds a PCIe 5.0 slot and a larger 800 W hot-swap supply, and Lenovo’s table gives it a 561 mm rack depth against 509 mm; the 10 × 2.5-inch option has gone.
Previous generationThinkSystem SR250 V2
This modelThinkSystem SR250 V3
Rack depth
509 mm
561 mm
Processors
Xeon E-2300, up to 8 cores / 95 W · Pentium
Xeon E-2400, up to 8 cores / 95 W · Pentium · Xeon 6300
Chipset
Intel C256
Intel C266
Memory
4 × DDR4 UDIMM, up to 128 GB
4 × DDR5 UDIMM, up to 128 GB
Drive bays
4 × 3.5" HS, 10 × 2.5" HS, 4 × 3.5" SS, or 3 × 3.5" SS + 1 NVMe
4 × 3.5" HS, 8 × 2.5" HS, 4 × 3.5" SS, or 2 × 3.5" SS + 2 NVMe
M.2 boot RAID
VROC
VROC or hardware RAID
PCIe slots
3 (x8, x8, x4) or 2 (x16, x4)
Riser-dependent: 2 × Gen4 x8 or 1 × Gen5 x16
Hot-swap supply
450 W Platinum
800 W Platinum or Titanium
Management
XClarity Controller
XClarity Controller 2
Source: Lenovo Press LP1802 (SR250 V3 product guide), Table 1 — Comparing the SR250 V3 to the SR250s.
The SR250 V3 family side by side
The ST250 V3 tower prints the identical 18-entry processor-features table and has the same 128 GB UDIMM limit, yet holds up to 16 drives and four full-height slots. The ST50 V3 and ST45 V3 are entry towers whose drives are not hot-swap. For more memory in 1U, the SR630 V3 (Xeon, one or two sockets) and SR635 V3 (one AMD EPYC) are the rack alternatives. Bars use each model’s own spec file.
This modelSiblings and successorEach value from that model’s own verified spec file · bars scale per column
Head-to-head comparisons
Every figure on this page, set against the machines buyers weigh it up with.
Four starting points for an entry 1U, built from SR250 V3 parts in our configurator. With only two rear slots, the riser choice decides what fits, so every build says which riser it assumes. Lenovo’s ambient-temperature and slot rules are rechecked against the exact parts before we quote.
Branch office
Branch infrastructure server
For a branch or comms-room rack: eight Xeon 6300 cores, 64 GB and a hardware RAID array of SATA SSDs on the cabled RAID 545-8i, which keeps the rear slots for networking — a dual-port 10GBASE-T card fits slot 1 or 2, so either riser works.
1 × Xeon 6357P — 8 cores @ 3 GHz, 80 W
2 × 32 GB TruDDR5 ECC UDIMM — 64 GB, one per channel (4400 MT/s)
4 × 1.92 TB SATA SSD in the 8-bay 2.5-inch chassis
RAID 545-8i internal (CFF) adapter
Broadcom 57416 2 × 10GBASE-T PCIe
800 W Titanium CRPS hot-swap supply — add a second for N+N
Windows Server 2025
The internal RAID 545-8i is supported only in the 2.5-inch chassis, and an 80 W processor limits the room to 35 °C ambient. On the x16 riser the NIC takes slot 2, leaving no slot for an M.2 boot adapter; the x8/x8 riser keeps one free.
The x16 riser gives slot 2 a PCIe 5.0 x16 connection, used here by an NVIDIA RTX A1000 with 8 GB, in a chassis shallow enough for an edge or comms cabinet. An eight-core, 95 W Xeon 6369P and 128 GB support it, with two SATA SSDs on the onboard ports.
1 × Xeon 6369P — 8 cores @ 3.3 GHz, 95 W
NVIDIA RTX A1000 8 GB in slot 2 (x16 riser)
4 × 32 GB TruDDR5 ECC UDIMM — 128 GB (3600 MT/s with four dual-rank DIMMs)
2 × 3.84 TB SATA SSD on the onboard SATA ports
Onboard 2 × 1GbE for networking
800 W Titanium CRPS hot-swap supply
Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS
With the x16 riser slot 1 is not connected, so the onboard 1GbE ports are the only network ports. A GPU or a 95 W processor limits ambient temperature to 35 °C, and Lenovo will not factory-preload Windows or ESXi with an NVIDIA GPU.
Four hot-swap 3.5-inch bays with 20 TB SATA drives give 80 TB raw behind a RAID 940-8i with 4 GB flash — a compact file server or backup target — and a 25GbE card takes the other slot.
1 × Intel Xeon E-2436 — 6 cores, 2.9 GHz, 65 W
2 × 16 GB TruDDR5 ECC UDIMM — 32 GB (4400 MT/s)
4 × 20 TB 3.5-inch SATA HDD, hot-swap — 80 TB raw
RAID 940-8i with 4 GB flash (supercap included)
Intel E810-DA2 2 × 25GbE PCIe
800 W Platinum CRPS hot-swap supply
Windows Server 2025
The RAID adapter and the network card fill both slots of the x8/x8 riser, leaving no room for an M.2 boot adapter. 25GbE adapters limit ambient temperature to 35 °C.
Hypervisors can use the onboard SATA ports only in non-RAID mode, so this host puts six SATA SSDs behind a RAID 940-8i. A 65 W, eight-core Xeon 6353P and the full 128 GB carry a few small VMs, and the X710-T4L adds four 10GBASE-T ports.
6 × 3.84 TB SATA SSD in the 8-bay 2.5-inch chassis
RAID 940-8i with 4 GB flash
Intel X710-T4L 4 × 10GBASE-T PCIe (slot 2)
800 W Titanium CRPS hot-swap supply
VMware ESXi 8.0
The X710-T4L fits only slot 2 and the RAID 940 goes in slot 1, so this build uses the x8/x8 riser; adding an M.2 boot pair would need one of those slots.
We don’t configure refurbished Lenovo servers, so the like-for-like 1U picks below come from Dell and HPE and use DDR4. They are a generation or more older, yet each has 16 DIMM slots where the SR250 V3 has four.
14G · re-certified
Dell PowerEdge R440
1U · two sockets
16 DIMM slots · up to 1 TB DDR4
10 × 2.5" or 4 × 3.5"
iDRAC9
Branch, web and infrastructure roles that need more memory than 128 GB, where a DDR4 platform is acceptable.
Slimline x8 for onboard NVMe or CFF RAID (slot list: PCIe 3.0 x4; connector note: PCIe 4.0)
Onboard LAN
2 × 1GbE RJ45 (Broadcom BCM5720) + dedicated XCC2 port
OCP
None
External storage
440-8e SAS HBA (up to 2) · no Fibre Channel
GPU
One NVIDIA RTX A400 or RTX A1000, slot 2
Power
Supplies
1 or 2 × 800 W CRPS hot-swap, Titanium or Platinum, 115 V / 230 V
Redundancy
N+N with two supplies, configuration dependent
Heat output
154 W minimum · 350 W maximum
Ports & video
Front
USB 3.2 Gen 1 · USB 2.0 (XCC) · optional VGA (disables rear VGA when used)
Rear
2 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 · VGA · serial · 1GbE XCC · 2 × 1GbE
Video
G200, 16 MB, in the XCC2 · up to 1920 × 1200 at 60 Hz
Environment & warranty
ASHRAE
A2 (10–35 °C); A3 and A4 with certain configurations
Ambient limits
45 °C with a processor ≤ 55 W · 40 °C ≤ 65 W · 35 °C ≤ 95 W, or with a GPU, M.2, U.2/U.3 or 25GbE adapter
Maximum altitude
3,050 m
Acoustics (LpAm, typical)
35.7 dBA idle · 60.8 dBA at 100 % CPU
Warranty
1 or 3 years by machine type · CRU and onsite, 9 × 5 next business day
12 — FAQ
SR250 V3 questions, answered from the documentation
What is the maximum memory of the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR250 V3?
128 GB, using four 32 GB ECC UDIMMs. With all four slots filled those dual-rank DIMMs run at 3600 MT/s; one or two DIMMs run at 4400 MT/s. Only 16 GB and 32 GB UDIMMs are listed, and all must be identical.
Which processors does the SR250 V3 support?
One LGA 1700 processor from the Xeon 6300, Xeon E-2400 or Pentium G7400 families, 2 to 8 cores and up to 95 W. Lenovo’s ordering table lists ten SKUs and its features table 18. Pentium models are not offered in the UK or EU.
How many drives does the SR250 V3 hold?
Eight 2.5-inch hot-swap drives, or four 3.5-inch drives that are either hot-swap or simple-swap; one simple-swap backplane makes two of the four bays NVMe. Two M.2 boot drives can be added on an adapter. The 10 × 2.5-inch layout has been withdrawn.
Can the SR250 V3 take a GPU?
Yes, one: an NVIDIA RTX A400 or RTX A1000 in slot 2. It works on either riser, but on the x8/x8 riser the slot is x8 and performance drops. A GPU limits ambient temperature to 35 °C and rules out a factory Windows or ESXi preload.
How many PCIe slots and network ports does the SR250 V3 have?
Two low-profile rear slots, depending on the riser: two PCIe 4.0 x8, or one PCIe 5.0 x16. There is no OCP slot. Two onboard 1GbE ports and a dedicated XCC2 management port are standard, and up to two PCIe NICs from 1GbE to 25GbE can be added.
What power supplies does the SR250 V3 use?
One or two 800 W CRPS hot-swap supplies, 80 PLUS Titanium or Platinum, rated for 115 V or 230 V. Two supplies give N+N redundancy depending on configuration. Lenovo’s comparison and electrical sections also refer to a 300 W fixed-supply model that its ordering table does not list.
How big is the SR250 V3, and will it fit a two-post rack?
Lenovo’s physical specifications give 435 × 43 × 561 mm (its standard-specifications table says 434.4 mm wide), and it weighs up to 12.3 kg with 3.5-inch drives. Lenovo offers a two-post screw-in rail kit as well as toolless and short four-post rails; none has a cable management arm.
How does the SR250 V3 differ from the ST250 V3?
Lenovo’s two guides print an identical 18-SKU processor-features table, and each server stops at 128 GB of UDIMM memory. The ST250 V3 is a tower, convertible to 5U rack mounting, with up to 16 × 2.5-inch or 8 × 3.5-inch drives, four full-height PCIe slots, two 5.25-inch media bays and a choice of fixed or hot-swap supplies. The SR250 V3 trades that for a 1U, 561 mm-deep chassis.
What changed from the SR250 V2?
The V3 moves from DDR4 to DDR5 and from Xeon E-2300 to Xeon E-2400 or Xeon 6300, adds a PCIe 5.0 x16 riser option and raises the hot-swap supply from 450 W to 800 W. It is 561 mm deep against the V2’s 509 mm and drops the 10 × 2.5-inch option.
Is the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR250 V3 end of life?
No. The SR250 V3 guide we checked still carries ordering tables for processors, drives and options, and it does not publish an end-of-service date for the model — only individual options, such as the 10-bay layout, are marked withdrawn. Machine type 7DCM ships with a one-year base warranty and 7DCL with three years; check our end-of-life checker for any date Lenovo announces later.
Sources & verification
Where these figures come from
Lenovo ThinkSystem SR250 V3 Server Product Guide (publication date is not printed in the text export) — SR250 V3 vs SR250 series (Table 1), standard specifications (Table 2), processors (Tables 13–14), memory (Table 16 and rules), backplanes and storage configurations (Tables 17–19, 23), I/O and risers (Table 35), NICs (Table 36), GPUs (Table 38), power (Tables 39–40), security, OS support, dimensions (Table 51) and operating environment.
Specifications are extracted from Lenovo’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.
