Technical data sheet · ThinkSystem V3 · 8U dual-socket AMD EPYC, 8-GPU

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3Specifications, configurations & comparisons

The ThinkSystem SR685a V3 is an air-cooled 8U server that pairs two AMD EPYC processors with a factory-fitted eight-GPU board — AMD Instinct MI300X or NVIDIA HGX H200, chosen when the server is ordered. This data sheet sets the two boards side by side and maps the fixed memory population, the ten PCIe 5.0 slots (eight of them for GPU Direct networking), storage, power and rack rules.

8U Rack2 socketsAMD EPYC 9005AMD EPYC 9004XClarity Controller 2

192GBHBM3 per MI300X1,536 GB across eight OAM GPUs

141GBmemory per H200HBM3e (HBM3 in the spec table)

128cores per processorEPYC 9745 · two required

3TBDDR5 maximum24 × 128 GB · all slots filled

16NVMe drive baysPCIe 5.0 x4 · 245.76 TB max

8 × 2600WTitanium suppliesN+N · 200–240 V AC, no 110 V

Configure an SR685a V3 →Get a UK quote

Every figure checked against the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 Server Product Guide (July 15, 2026)

Image: Lenovo

Form factor: 8U Rack · 2 sockets
Processors: AMD EPYC 9005 · AMD EPYC 9004
Memory: 24 × DDR5 RDIMM · up to 3 TB
Drive bays: Up to 16 · 1 backplane option
Expansion: 10 × PCIe · 1 × OCP 3.0
GPUs: Up to 8 · 2 listed
Boot: ThinkSystem M.2 NVMe 2-Bay RAID Adapter
Management: XClarity Controller 2

01 — Overview

The SR685a V3 at a glance

Our read of Lenovo’s documentation: where the SR685a V3 is strong, and the limits worth knowing before you spec one.

Strengths

One chassis, two GPU ecosystems: eight AMD MI300X OAM GPUs (192 GB HBM3, 5.3 TB/s, 750 W each) or eight NVIDIA H200 SXM5 GPUs (141 GB, listed as HBM3e in the GPU table, 4.8 TB/s, 700 W each).
Every listed processor works with either GPU board — seven 5th Gen EPYC 9005 parts up to 128 cores and 400 W, and five 4th Gen EPYC 9004 parts up to 96 cores.
Eight front PCIe 5.0 x16 slots are set aside for GPU Direct adapters of up to 400Gb/s, reached through PCIe switches, with two more x16 positions at the rear for user/control-plane or management networking.
Sixteen PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe bays hold up to 245.76 TB of local data, plus up to two M.2 boot drives that the adapter can mirror.
Lenovo lists a #1 MLPerf Inference v4.1 result among available 8-GPU configurations on the RetinaNet object-detection offline test (Closed Datacenter division, current as of 1 September 2026).

Watch-outs

The GPU vendor is fixed by the base feature code chosen at order (C1EJ for MI300X, C1EX for H200); the guide offers no conversion path.
Memory is all-or-nothing: exactly 24 identical DIMMs, so capacity comes only as 1.5, 2.25 or 3 TB, and 5th Gen servers run their 6400 MHz-rated DIMMs at 6000 MHz.
Supported operating systems are Linux only — RHEL 9.4 and 9.6 and Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 LTS — and the standard-specification row names Ubuntu alone.
XClarity Energy Manager cannot power-cap or apply policies on this model, and the backplanes and M.2 adapter have no field upgrades.
Up to 109.4 kg with MI300X, on a fixed shelf rail with no cable arm; Lenovo limits a rack to five, and handles GPU-related onsite service on a commercially reasonable endeavours basis rather than to its NBD or 4-hour targets.

Processors12 SKUs

Cores / CPU48–128

DIMM slots24

Backplanes1

Max bays16

GPUsup to 8

PSU options1 · to 2,600 W

02 — Processors

12 supported processors, mapped

Two AMD EPYC processors are required. Lenovo lists seven 5th Gen EPYC 9005 “Turin” parts — six Zen 5 and the Zen 5c 9745 — and five 4th Gen EPYC 9004 “Genoa” parts, all ordered as factory options with a quantity of two. Every model brings a dozen DDR5 memory channels and 128 lanes of PCIe 5.0, half of them left for adapters and NVMe drives.

Processor landscape — cores × TDP

12 SKUs · 2 families

AMD EPYC 9005 7AMD EPYC 9004 5Bubble 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 9745	128 / 256	2.4 GHz	256 MB	400 W	3.1	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9655	96 / 192	2.6 GHz	384 MB	400 W	4.2	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9654	96 / 192	2.4 GHz	384 MB	360 W	3.8	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9575F	64 / 128	3.3 GHz	256 MB	400 W	6.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9555	64 / 128	3.2 GHz	256 MB	360 W	5.6	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9535	64 / 128	2.4 GHz	256 MB	300 W	4.7	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9554	64 / 128	3.1 GHz	256 MB	360 W	5.6	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9534	64 / 128	2.45 GHz	256 MB	280 W	4.4	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9475F	48 / 96	3.65 GHz	256 MB	400 W	8.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9455	48 / 96	3.15 GHz	256 MB	300 W	6.3	DDR5-6400
AMD EPYC 9474F	48 / 96	3.6 GHz	256 MB	360 W	7.5	DDR5-4800
AMD EPYC 9454	48 / 96	2.75 GHz	256 MB	290 W	6.0	DDR5-4800

The 5th Gen range runs from the 48-core 300 W 9455 to the 128-core 400 W 9745; the 9475F has the highest base clock at 3.65 GHz and the 9575F the highest boost at 5 GHz.
The 4th Gen range spans the 48-core 290 W 9454 to the 96-core 360 W 9654, with the 9474F highest-clocked at a 3.6 GHz base.
L3 cache is 256 MB on every listed part except the 96-core 9655 and 9654, which carry 384 MB.
Lenovo lists no restriction pairing processors with GPU boards: any supported CPU goes with either the MI300X or the H200 board.
Two factory UEFI presets are offered: Maximum Efficiency (BFYA), which Lenovo advises UK and EU buyers to select for ErP Lot 9, and Maximum Performance (BFYB).

03 — Memory

24 DIMM slots, 12 per processor

Each EPYC processor drives 12 channels with one DIMM per channel, giving 24 slots — and the SR685a V3 insists that all 24 are filled with identical DIMMs. Memory tables differ by processor generation: 5th Gen servers take 64, 96 or 128 GB RDIMMs rated at 6400 MHz, which operate at 6000 MHz; 4th Gen servers take 64 or 96 GB 10x4 RDIMMs at 4800 MHz or a 128 GB 5600 MHz-rated RDIMM that also runs at 4800 MHz.

Capacity with every slot filled

by DIMM size

Rated memory speed

from the processor table

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

Because the population is fixed at 24, the only capacities are 1.5 TB (24 × 64 GB), 2.25 TB (24 × 96 GB) and 3 TB (24 × 128 GB).
6400 MHz-rated DIMMs are supported only with 5th Gen processors; 4800 and 5600 MHz-rated DIMMs only with 4th Gen.
5th Gen memory options are factory-installed (CTO) only; the 4th Gen parts also have option part numbers.
Lenovo’s summary mentions 3DS RDIMMs, but neither memory table lists one.
Speed is stated two ways: the feature list and specification table quote memory up to 6400 MHz with 5th Gen EPYC, while the memory section and its rules say 6400 MHz DIMMs run at 6000 MHz in this server.
Protection includes ECC, Bounded Fault, SDDC on x4 DIMMs, patrol/demand scrubbing, DRAM address command parity with replay, on-die ECC, ECS and Post Package Repair. Lenovo does not support mirroring or rank sparing on this server.
Persistent memory is not supported.

04 — Storage

1 backplane option, up to 16 bays

All sixteen drive bays are at the front, on two 8-bay backplanes that must both be fitted. The backplanes carry an AnyBay name but support NVMe only, and each drive gets its own PCIe 5.0 x4 link from the processors’ onboard NVMe ports. A separate two-bay M.2 RAID adapter sits on a tray between the processors for boot.

Headline layouts

front panel view

Front panel

The single layout: two BT3B 8-bay backplanes, both mandatory, on onboard PCIe 5.0 x4 ports (JBOD, no RAID). Sixteen 15.36 TB drives give 245.76 TB. The M.2 boot pair is internal and not drawn.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

Controllers & boot

Onboard PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe ports - JBOD, no RAID — HBA. onboard; VROC not offered for 2.5-inch drives
ThinkSystem M.2 NVMe 2-Bay RAID Adapter (Marvell) - M.2 boot RAID 0/1 — Boot. M.2 only
ThinkSystem M.2 NVMe 2-Bay RAID Adapter (B8P9) - Marvell 88NR2241 RAID-0/1, PCIe 3.0 x2, no SED; no field upgrade — boot

Drive options are PM1745 Mixed Use (1.6, 3.2, 6.4 and 12.8 TB) and PM1743 Read Intensive (1.92, 3.84, 7.68 and 15.36 TB) U.3 PCIe 5.0 SSDs, each SED-capable and allowed in all 16 bays.
The onboard NVMe controller runs drives as JBOD; there is no hardware or VROC RAID for the 2.5-inch bays.
The M.2 NVMe 2-Bay RAID Adapter (Marvell 88NR2241) takes 2242 to 22110 drives over PCIe 3.0 — x2 to the host, x1 per drive — and offers RAID 0 or 1, but no SED encryption.
M.2 drive choices are PM9A3 960 GB and 1.92 TB NVMe; neither the M.2 adapter nor the backplanes are offered as field upgrades.

05 — Accelerators & I/O

GPUs, PCIe and networking

The eight GPUs sit on one board in the lower half of the chassis, selected with the server’s base feature code: the ThinkSystem AMD MI300X 192GB 750W 8-GPU Board or the ThinkSystem NVIDIA HGX H200 141GB 700W 8-GPU Board, each CTO only with a maximum of one. The MI300X GPUs are fully interconnected over Infinity Fabric at 128 GB/s between each pair, 896 GB/s in total; the H200 GPUs use 900 GB/s NVLink plus 128 GB/s PCIe Gen5. Lenovo’s GPU table and feature list give the H200 141 GB of HBM3e, whereas its standard-specification table calls it HBM3. For FP8, Lenovo lists 2,610 teraFLOPS per MI300X and 1,979 per H200 without sparsity (5,220 and 3,958 with it). MI300X divides into eight partitions and H200 into up to seven 16.5 GB MIG instances. One 8-GPU board: 8 × MI300X OAM (1,536 GB HBM3) or 8 × H200 SXM5 (1,128 GB; HBM3e per the GPU table), air-cooled.

AMD Instinct MI300X 192GB 750W 8-GPU Board (OAM)

192GB HBM3 · 8

NVIDIA HGX H200 141GB 700W 8-GPU Board (SXM5)

141GB HBM3e · 8

I/O topology

2 sockets

Ten PCIe 5.0 x16 positions in total. PCIe switches link the eight front FHHL slots to the GPUs as well as the processors — slots 1–4 on CPU 2 and 5–8 on CPU 1. At the rear, slot 10 (CPU 2) is always available, while CPU 1’s lanes feed either slot 9 or the OCP 3.0 slot (slot 11). Each processor has 12 memory channels and 64 lanes left for PCIe and NVMe.

Network adapters Lenovo lists

12 options

Adapter	Ports	Form
ThinkSystem Broadcom 57508 100GbE QSFP56 2-Port PCIe 4 Ethernet Adapter (GPU Direct, front slots 1-8)	2 × 100GbE	PCIe
ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx 100GbE QSFP56 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter (front 8 / rear 2)	2 × 100GbE	PCIe
ThinkSystem Broadcom 57608 2x200/1x400GbE QSFP112 PCIe Ethernet Adapter (GPU Direct)	2 × 200/400GbE	PCIe
ThinkSystem NVIDIA BlueField-3 B3140H VPI QSFP112 1P 400G PCIe Gen5 x16 Adapter (GPU Direct)	1 × 400GbE/NDR	PCIe
ThinkSystem NVIDIA ConnectX-7 NDR400 OSFP 1-port PCIe Gen5 VPI Adapter (GPU Direct)	1 × 400GbE/NDR	PCIe
ThinkSystem NVIDIA ConnectX-7 NDR200/200GbE QSFP112 2-port PCIe Gen5 x16 InfiniBand Adapter (front 8 / rear 2)	2 × 200GbE/NDR200	PCIe
ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx 10/25GbE SFP28 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter (User/Control plane, rear slots 9/10)	2 × 25GbE	PCIe
ThinkSystem Intel X710-T2L 10GBASE-T 2-port OCP Ethernet Adapter	2 × 10GbE	OCP 3.0
ThinkSystem Intel X710-T4L 10GBase-T 4-Port OCP Ethernet Adapter	4 × 10GbE	OCP 3.0
ThinkSystem Broadcom 57414 10/25GbE SFP28 2-Port OCP Ethernet Adapter	2 × 25GbE	OCP 3.0
ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx 10/25GbE SFP28 2-port OCP Ethernet Adapter	2 × 25GbE	OCP 3.0
ThinkSystem Broadcom 57508 100GbE QSFP56 2-Port OCP Ethernet Adapter	2 × 100GbE	OCP 3.0

GPU Direct adapters for the front slots: Broadcom 57508 2 × 100GbE, ConnectX-6 Dx 2 × 100GbE, Broadcom 57608 2 × 200GbE, BlueField-3 B3140H 1 × 400G, ConnectX-7 NDR400 1-port and ConnectX-7 NDR200 2-port.
Front adapters may be any quantity up to eight, but all must be the same model.
The rear slots are intended for the user/control plane: ConnectX-6 Lx 25GbE, ConnectX-6 Dx 100GbE or ConnectX-7 NDR200, two at most.
Lenovo’s feature summary and specification table mention a BlueField-3 2-port 200Gb DPU for the user/control plane, yet the adapter table offers no BlueField-3 for the rear slots — confirm at quotation.
Rear layout is set with risers: two C1EP risers for two PCIe slots, or one C1EP plus the BK1E enablement kit for one slot and the OCP slot.
OCP choices: Intel X710-T2L or X710-T4L 10GBASE-T, Broadcom 57414 25GbE, ConnectX-6 Lx 25GbE or Broadcom 57508 100GbE; one port can be shared with XCC for NC-SI and Wake-on-LAN.
Fibre Channel HBAs are special-bid only.

06 — Power & cooling

1 power supply, 2,600 W

Eight ThinkSystem 2600W 230V Titanium Hot-Swap Gen2 v4 supplies come as standard, in an N+N redundant arrangement. They take C19 inlets and need a 200–240 V AC feed — Lenovo lists no 110 V support — or 180–300 V DC in China only.

Maximum inlet current per supply: 13.2 A at 200 V AC, 13 A at 220 V AC and 11.9 A at 240 V DC.
Cooling uses fifteen hot-swap 80 mm dual-rotor fans, N+1 rotor-redundant: five at the front (16.3K RPM peak) for the CPU shuttle and ten at the rear (19.5K RPM) for GPUs, drives and PCIe switches. Each supply adds its own fan, peaking at 28.5K RPM.
Maximum airflow with fans at full speed is 1417 CFM with MI300X and 1457 CFM with H200.
The server meets ASHRAE A2 in most configurations and, depending on hardware, A3, A4 or H1; performance may drop outside A2.
XCC2 on this model does not support power capping, and Energy Manager’s capping and policy functions are unavailable.

07 — Management, security & OS

Run it, secure it, choose the OS

Management

XClarity Controller 2 (XCC2) on an ASPEED AST2600 BMC
Lenovo’s management section says XCC2 Platinum is built in; the specification table calls it optional
Rear 10/100/1000 RJ45 management port · optional NC-SI port sharing through the OCP adapter
IPMI 2.0 (IPMI-over-LAN off by default), SNMPv3, CIM-XML, Redfish, HTML5 web UI
System I/O Board with MicroSD port (32 GB card option; up to 4 GB RDOC)
Integrated diagnostics panel with pull-out LCD · light path LEDs for DIMMs, drives and PSUs
XClarity One and Energy Manager (licence included; no power capping or policies)

Security

Platform Firmware Resiliency hardware Root of Trust (NIST SP 800-193)
Integrated TPM 2.0 · UEFI Secure Boot factory option (BPKQ)
AMD Platform Secure Boot, SEV, SEV-ES, SEV-SNP and TSME
System Guard component-change detection
SED drives with KMIP key managers (IBM SKLM, Thales KeySecure)
NIST SP 800-147B compliant

Operating systems

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 and 9.6
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS
No Windows Server or VMware ESXi in Lenovo’s support list

08 — Compare

How the SR685a V3 compares with its family

The SR685a V3 is the AMD-hosted member of Lenovo’s eight-GPU line and the only one offering an AMD Instinct board. Its air-cooled 8U Intel siblings are the SR680a V3 (HGX B200) and SR680a V4 (HGX B300); the SR780a V3 fits an HGX board into 5U with Neptune water cooling. The SR675 V3 and SR650a V4 use PCIe GPUs. Each bar reflects that model’s verified 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.

vs XE7745 vs XE9685L vs XE9785 vs DL380a Gen12 vs XD685 vs Compute XD690

SR680a V3 data sheet SR680a V4 data sheet SR780a V3 data sheet SR675 V3 data sheet SR650a V4 data sheet Dell PowerEdge XE9680 data sheet HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 data sheet Dell PowerEdge XE9685L data sheet

09 — Use cases

Three builds that suit the SR685a V3

Three SR685a V3 builds, each assembled only from parts our configurator allows for this server. The GPU board, both drive backplanes and all 24 DIMMs are mandatory, so the choices are the GPU vendor, processor generation, DIMM size, drives and the adapter family for the front slots; the number of identical front adapters is agreed at quotation.

Large-model inference

MI300X node for models that need HBM capacity

Eight MI300X GPUs give 1,536 GB of HBM3, about 36% more than the H200 board’s 1,128 GB, so larger models fit across one server’s GPUs. A pair of 64-core, 3.2 GHz EPYC 9555 processors and 2.25 TB of RAM handle the host side, and sixteen NVMe drives stage model files locally.

2 × AMD EPYC 9555 — 64 cores @ 3.2 GHz, 360 W each
AMD Instinct MI300X 8-GPU board — 192 GB HBM3 per GPU, 1,536 GB in total
24 × 96 GB TruDDR5 RDIMM — 2.25 TB, operating at 6000 MHz
16 × 7.68 TB 2.5-inch NVMe across both backplanes — 122.88 TB raw
Broadcom 57608 2 × 200GbE / 1 × 400GbE adapters in the front GPU Direct slots
8 × 2600 W Titanium supplies, N+N
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

The MI300X base (feature C1EJ) is fixed at order. MI300X systems are the heavier option — up to 109.4 kg against 104.4 kg with H200 — and Lenovo requires a material lift for single-person service.

Open this build in the configurator →

AI training

HGX H200 training and fine-tuning node

The H200 board links its eight GPUs with 900 GB/s NVLink. Two 96-core EPYC 9655 processors and the 3 TB memory maximum give data loading plenty of headroom, and a 400G BlueField-3 in each front slot used carries GPU Direct traffic.

2 × AMD EPYC 9655 — 96 cores @ 2.6 GHz, 400 W each
NVIDIA HGX H200 8-GPU board — 141 GB HBM3e per GPU, NVLink 900 GB/s
24 × 128 GB TruDDR5 RDIMM — 3 TB, the server maximum
16 × 3.84 TB 2.5-inch NVMe — 61.44 TB raw
NVIDIA BlueField-3 B3140H 1 × 400G adapters in the front GPU Direct slots
8 × 2600 W Titanium supplies, N+N
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

The H200 base (feature C1EX) is fixed at order, and all front adapters must be identical. Lenovo’s onsite NBD and 4-hour targets do not cover GPU-related faults, so onsite spares are worth considering.

Open this build in the configurator →

Computer vision

Object-detection inference on 4th Gen EPYC

Lenovo lists a #1 MLPerf Inference v4.1 result for this server among available 8-GPU configurations on RetinaNet object detection. A 4th Gen build with two 48-core EPYC 9454s and 1.5 TB of 4800 MHz memory keeps host costs in proportion while the H200 board does the inference work.

2 × AMD EPYC 9454 — 48 cores @ 2.75 GHz, 290 W each
NVIDIA HGX H200 8-GPU board
24 × 64 GB TruDDR5 RDIMM — 1.5 TB at 4800 MHz
8 × 1.92 TB 2.5-inch NVMe (both backplanes fitted)
Broadcom 57508 2 × 100GbE adapters in the front GPU Direct slots
8 × 2600 W Titanium supplies, N+N
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

4th Gen processors accept only the 4800 MHz-rated DIMMs or the 128 GB 5600 MHz-rated part, all running at 4800 MHz. Both backplanes are mandatory even with eight drives. The MLPerf entry does not say which GPU board it used.

Open this build in the configurator →

10 — Full specifications

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 specifications

Chassis & cooling

Form factor	8U rack server, air-cooled
Machine type	7DHC (3-year warranty) · CTO models 7DHCCTO1WW and 7DHCCTOLWW
Dimensions (W × H × D)	447 × 351 × 924 mm · 483 mm across the EIA flanges
Weight	104.4 kg with H200 · 109.4 kg with MI300X
Fans	15 hot-swap 80 mm dual-rotor (5 front, 10 rear), N+1 rotor-redundant, plus one per PSU
Airflow	1417 CFM (MI300X) · 1457 CFM (H200) at full fan speed

Processor

Sockets	Two (one-socket builds not supported)
Families	5th Gen EPYC 9005 (Zen 5, Zen 5c) · 4th Gen EPYC 9004 “Genoa”
Cores per processor	48 to 128 (5th Gen) · 48 to 96 (4th Gen)
TDP	280 W to 400 W
PCIe lanes	128 × PCIe 5.0 per processor · 64 for PCIe and NVMe

Memory

Slots	24 DDR5 · 12 channels × 1 DIMM per processor · all 24 required
Type	TruDDR5 x4 RDIMM — 64, 96 or 128 GB, all identical
Speed	5th Gen: 6000 MHz (6400-rated DIMMs) · 4th Gen: 4800 MHz
Maximum	3 TB (24 × 128 GB)
Protection	ECC, SDDC (x4), Bounded Fault, scrubbing, PPR · no mirroring or sparing

GPU complex

Board options	AMD MI300X 192GB 750W 8-GPU · NVIDIA HGX H200 141GB 700W 8-GPU
MI300X	OAM · 192 GB HBM3 · 5.3 TB/s · Infinity Fabric 128 GB/s per link
H200	SXM5 · 141 GB HBM3e (spec table: HBM3) · 4.8 TB/s · NVLink 900 GB/s
Selection	Fixed by base feature code (C1EJ or C1EX)

Storage

Drive bays	16 × 2.5-inch hot-swap NVMe, PCIe 5.0 x4, front
Controller	Onboard NVMe, JBOD — no RAID
Maximum	245.76 TB (16 × 15.36 TB)
Boot	M.2 NVMe 2-Bay RAID Adapter (Marvell) · 1–2 drives · RAID 0/1

Expansion & networking

Front slots	8 × PCIe 5.0 x16 FHHL, GPU Direct via PCIe switch
Rear slots	Slot 10 x16 + slot 9 x16 or OCP 3.0 (PCIe 5.0 x16)
GPU Direct adapters	100, 200 or 400Gb Ethernet/InfiniBand · identical, up to 8
Fibre Channel	Special bid only

Power

Supplies	8 × 2600 W Titanium hot-swap, standard, N+N
Input	200–240 V AC (no 110 V) · 180–300 V DC in China only · C19
Inlet current	13.2 A at 200 V · 13 A at 220 V · 11.9 A at 240 V DC

Ports & management

Front	USB 3.2 Gen 1 · USB 2.0 (also XCC) · VGA
Rear	3 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 · VGA · 1GbE XCC RJ45
Video	16 MB in XCC · 1920 × 1200 at 60 Hz · front VGA disables rear
Management	XCC2 (AST2600) · LCD diagnostics panel · light path

Environment & warranty

ASHRAE	A2 in most configurations; A3, A4 or H1 depending on hardware
Rack	Fixed L-shelf rail · no CMA · up to 5 per 42U or 48U rack
Warranty	3 years (7DHC), CRU and onsite, 9 × 5 next business day

11 — FAQ

SR685a V3 questions, answered from the documentation

Which GPUs can the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 use?

Either eight AMD Instinct MI300X OAM GPUs with 192 GB of HBM3 each, or eight NVIDIA H200 SXM5 GPUs with 141 GB each (HBM3e in Lenovo’s GPU table, HBM3 in its specification table), supplied as a single 8-GPU board. The choice is set by the base feature code when the server is ordered: C1EJ for MI300X, C1EX for H200.

How do the MI300X and H200 boards compare in the SR685a V3?

Per GPU, Lenovo lists 192 GB of HBM3 at 5.3 TB/s and 750 W for MI300X against 141 GB of HBM3e at 4.8 TB/s and 700 W for H200. MI300X GPUs are fully interconnected over Infinity Fabric at 128 GB/s per link; the H200s use 900 GB/s NVLink. Across eight GPUs that is 1,536 GB versus 1,128 GB of GPU memory.

What is the maximum memory of the SR685a V3?

Three terabytes, from 24 × 128 GB RDIMMs. The server must have all 24 slots filled with identical DIMMs, so the only other sizes are 1.5 TB and 2.25 TB. With 5th Gen EPYC the 6400 MHz-rated DIMMs operate at 6000 MHz; with 4th Gen the memory runs at 4800 MHz.

Which processors does the SR685a V3 support?

Two are required, from seven 5th Gen EPYC 9005 models (9455, 9475F, 9535, 9555, 9575F, 9655 and the 128-core 9745) or five 4th Gen EPYC 9004 models (9454, 9474F, 9534, 9554 and 9654). Every one is supported with either GPU board.

How much storage does the SR685a V3 hold?

Sixteen 2.5-inch PCIe 5.0 NVMe bays on two mandatory 8-bay backplanes, up to 245.76 TB with 15.36 TB SSDs, run as JBOD without RAID. A Marvell-based M.2 adapter between the processors holds one or two NVMe boot drives in RAID 0 or 1.

How is the SR685a V3 networked into a GPU cluster?

Through adapters in eight front PCIe 5.0 x16 slots that reach the GPUs via PCIe switches for GPU Direct — up to 400Gb/s per adapter with BlueField-3 B3140H or ConnectX-7 NDR400, all identical. Two rear positions take user/control-plane adapters, or one rear slot plus an OCP 3.0 card for management.

What power does the SR685a V3 need?

Eight 2600 W Titanium hot-swap supplies are standard and run N+N. Each needs a 200–240 V AC feed through a C19 inlet (110 V is not supported) and draws up to 13.2 A at 200 V. DC input from 180 to 300 V is listed for China only.

How big and heavy is the SR685a V3?

It is an 8U server measuring 447 × 351 × 924 mm, weighing up to 104.4 kg with H200 or 109.4 kg with MI300X. Lenovo supplies a static toolless shelf kit rather than slides, rules out a cable arm, allows five servers per 42U or 48U cabinet and requires a material lift for single-person service.

Which operating systems run on the SR685a V3?

Lenovo’s operating-system section lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 and 9.6 and Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 LTS. Its standard-specification table mentions only Ubuntu Server, so check the Lenovo OS interoperability guide for the exact release before ordering. Windows Server and VMware ESXi are not listed.

Is the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 end of life?

No end-of-service date appears in Lenovo’s product guide, last updated on 15 July 2026, and it still lists orderable processors, GPU boards and drives. Support runs with each unit’s warranty or service contract; our end-of-life checker will add official dates once Lenovo publishes them.

Sources & verification

Where these figures come from

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 Server Product Guide (July 15, 2026) — Key features, MLPerf table (Table 1), standard specifications (Table 2), models (Tables 3–4), processors (Tables 5–9), memory (Tables 10–11), GPUs (Tables 12–13), storage (Tables 14–18), I/O and network adapters (Tables 20–22), cooling (Table 23), power (Tables 24 and 34), management, security, rack installation, OS support, dimensions (Table 33), operating environment and warranty.

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.

Get a quote for the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3

Tell us the workload and we’ll spec and price it — or build it in the configurator first.

Business enquiries only — please use your company email. Gmail, Hotmail and other personal addresses are not accepted.

Delivery country (optional)

We only ship hardware to the countries in the dropdown. Software and maintenance services are global.

We use these details to reply to your enquiry and prepare any quote. No marketing emails without your consent. Privacy Policy

Enquiring about: Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3

Full Name *

Email *

Company

Quantity Required

Additional Notes

Response within 4 business hours · No obligation

Quote for

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3

0800 987 4111

The SR685a V3 at a glance

Strengths

Watch-outs

12 supported processors, mapped

Processor landscape — cores × TDP

Processor explorer

24 DIMM slots, 12 per processor

Capacity with every slot filled

Rated memory speed

1 backplane option, up to 16 bays

Headline layouts

Controllers & boot

GPUs, PCIe and networking

AMD Instinct MI300X 192GB 750W 8-GPU Board (OAM)

NVIDIA HGX H200 141GB 700W 8-GPU Board (SXM5)

I/O topology

Network adapters Lenovo lists

1 power supply, 2,600 W

Run it, secure it, choose the OS

Management

Security

Operating systems

How the SR685a V3 compares with its family

Head-to-head comparisons

Three builds that suit the SR685a V3

MI300X node for models that need HBM capacity

HGX H200 training and fine-tuning node

Object-detection inference on 4th Gen EPYC

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3 specifications

Chassis & cooling

Processor

Memory

GPU complex

Storage

Expansion & networking

Power

Ports & management

Environment & warranty

SR685a V3 questions, answered from the documentation

Where these figures come from

Buy & configure

Choosing the GPU board

Plan the deployment

Support & lifecycle

Get a quote for the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR685a V3

Talk to a UK specialist