Dell PowerEdge R650 Servers

Chassis options

The R650 shipped in three front-bay configurations plus optional rear 2.5" bays on some builds. The chassis cannot be converted from one to another after purchase, so choose by how many drives you need and what type.

All variants take the BOSS-S2 card with two hot-plug M.2 SATA SSDs for a mirrored boot volume, keeping the front bays free for data.

Processors

The R650 takes 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Ice Lake-SP, 2021) processors in two LGA4189 sockets, with TDPs up to 270 W, up to 40 cores per socket, eight memory channels per socket and 64 PCIe Gen4 lanes per socket. It is not compatible with first or second generation Xeon Scalable CPUs. Both CPUs in a system must be identical. The list below covers the SKUs most commonly found in refurbished R650 units. [VERIFY: which CPUs you stock for this model]

3rd generation Xeon Scalable (Ice Lake-SP)

Silver processors cap memory at 2667 MT/s and Gold 5xxx at 2933 MT/s; Gold 6xxx and Platinum run the full 3200 MT/s. Ice Lake also brings AVX-512 improvements and eight memory channels, so like-for-like core counts are noticeably faster than on the R640.

Memory

Thirty-two DDR4 DIMM slots, sixteen per processor across eight channels. Registered (RDIMM) and load-reduced (LRDIMM) modules are supported; they cannot be mixed in the same system. With one CPU installed, only the sixteen slots on that side are usable.

For best performance populate all eight channels per CPU in matched sets: 8, 16 or 32 DIMMs in total for a dual-CPU system. Two DIMMs per channel keeps full speed on this platform.

Storage and RAID

Drive support depends on the backplane fitted at the factory. All backplanes are hot-plug, and the 10-bay NVMe backplane connects directly to the CPUs over PCIe Gen4. The controller options are the PERC 11 family:

Supported drive types are 12 Gb/s SAS and 6 Gb/s SATA in hard disk and SSD form, plus U.2 NVMe on the NVMe backplane. Drives need Dell 15th generation caddies, which differ from the 14th generation ones.

Networking and expansion

Onboard networking comes from an OCP 3.0 mezzanine slot rather than the older NDC, so the adapter can be changed without opening the chassis. Common options:

• Broadcom 5720 quad-port 1 GbE
• Broadcom 57416 dual-port 10 GbE BASE-T
• Intel X710 quad-port 10 GbE SFP+
• Broadcom 57414 or Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx dual-port 25 GbE SFP28
• Mellanox ConnectX-6 dual-port 100 GbE

Beyond the OCP slot, the R650 offers up to three PCIe Gen4 slots depending on the riser configuration, all x16, which is enough for a Fibre Channel HBA, a 100 GbE adapter and a single-width accelerator such as the NVIDIA A2 or T4. Full-height or double-width GPUs need the 2U R750.

Power supplies

Two hot-plug redundant power supply bays, configured 1+1. Options are 800 W, 1100 W and 1400 W in Platinum and Titanium grades. A dual-CPU system with a full memory load, ten NVMe drives and a PERC generally needs the 1100 W units; specify 1400 W for the 250 W and 270 W processors. Both supplies in a system should be the same rating.

Management

Every R650 includes iDRAC9 (the 15th generation firmware line) with a dedicated management port. The Express licence covers remote power, health monitoring and basic alerts; the Enterprise licence adds the virtual console, virtual media, remote firmware updates through the Lifecycle Controller and the full Redfish API; the Datacenter licence adds telemetry streaming and thermal management. Licences can be added to any unit. OpenManage Enterprise handles fleet management.

Physical specification

Supported operating systems

Windows Server 2019 and 2022; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15; Ubuntu Server 20.04 and 22.04 LTS; VMware ESXi 7.0 U2 and later and 8.0; Citrix Hypervisor; and Proxmox VE, which is unsupported by Dell but widely deployed on this platform. Windows Server 2016 is not on the support matrix for this generation.

Buying a refurbished R650 from ServerDove

Every unit we sell has been through full hardware diagnostics and a burn-in run: memory tested across every installed DIMM, controller and drive health verified, both power supplies load-tested, and the management controller reset and confirmed reachable. BIOS is returned to defaults and the firmware brought to a stable release. Units carry a six-month warranty and are held in Doha, so a replacement part is a short drive away rather than a shipment from overseas. [VERIFY: same testing and warranty wording as the R640 page]

The R650 is still inside Dell's support window, so firmware and driver updates continue to arrive and a Dell ProSupport contract can be attached to a refurbished unit by serial number if your policy requires it. We stock the caddies, DIMMs, controllers, rails and power supplies it needs, and our hardware support plans are the local alternative. [VERIFY: parts stocked for this model; ProSupport attach on used serials]

If you need a specific configuration that is not listed, tell us the CPU, memory and drive layout you want and we will quote a build from stock. Custom configurations are usually ready within two working days. [VERIFY: lead time]