Dell Precision T7820 Workstations

About the Dell Precision T7820

Dell Precision T7820 dual-socket tower workstations in Doha. One or two Intel Xeon Scalable processors, 12 DDR4 slots for up to 768 GB, hot-swap FlexBay storage, 950 W supply. Tested and delivered across Qatar.

The Dell Precision T7820, Dell's Precision 7820 Tower, puts two Intel Xeon Scalable sockets into the same compact chassis as the single-socket T5820. Each processor can have up to 28 cores, from the first or second generation of Xeon Scalable, on the Intel C621 chipset, with twelve DDR4 ECC DIMM slots for up to 768 GB at 2933 MHz. The graphics budget is 600 W and storage lives in hot-swap front FlexBays, with M.2 and U.2 NVMe on the PCIe backplane version of the chassis. It is the mid-size dual-socket choice for simulation, rendering, AI development and heavily threaded engineering software where the larger T7920 is more machine than the desk needs. ServerDove stocks configured T7820 systems, barebones and the 950 W power supply in Doha.

Dell Precision T7820 Workstations
Sockets
1 or 2, Intel Xeon Scalable
Memory
12 x DDR4 ECC, up to 768 GB
Graphics
2 x PCIe x16, up to 600 W
Power supply
950 W, 80 PLUS Gold

Chassis and form factor

The 7820 Tower measures 417.9 mm high, 176.5 mm wide and 518.2 mm deep and starts at 15.4 kg: identical to the T5820 and noticeably smaller than the T7920, which is the model to look at when you need more than two graphics cards or more than six drives. Integrated front and rear handles make it practical to move, and the power supply is externally accessible, tool-less and lockable. The front carries two FlexBays, each taking up to two 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives, a 5.25-inch FlexBay that can hold one 3.5-inch or two 2.5-inch drives instead of an optical drive, a slimline optical bay and an SD slot. The PCIe backplane FlexBay chassis version supports one to four M.2 or U.2 NVMe SSDs with hot-swap access.

Where the T7820 sits against the larger dual-socket T7920:

Precision T7820Precision T7920
DIMM slots12 (6 per CPU)24 (12 per CPU)
Maximum memory768 GB at 2933 MHz1.5 TB at 2666 MHz, 3 TB with select CPUs
Graphics power600 W, 2 cards900 W, up to 3 double-width cards
Drive baysUp to 6 x 2.5-inch or 5 x 3.5-inchUp to 10 x 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch
Power supply950 W, 100 to 240 VAC1400 W, 181 to 240 VAC
Rack mountingNot listedOptional 19-inch rail kit
Starting weight15.4 kg20.4 kg
Dell Precision T7820 tower workstation barebone
T7820 barebone. The same enclosure as the T5820, with a second processor socket on the board.

Processors

One or two Intel Xeon Scalable processors from the first generation (Skylake-SP) or second generation (Cascade Lake), with up to 28 cores per processor, Intel AVX, Trusted Execution Technology, AES New Instructions, Turbo Boost and optional vPro. Second-generation processors require Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 rather than 7.5 where Linux is used. The datasheet names the family and not individual SKUs, so processor choice is quoted per build from our processors range; configured units we list include Xeon Scalable builds with NVIDIA Quadro RTX graphics.

The number of processors changes more than core count on this platform:

One processorTwo processors
DIMM slots available612
GraphicsUp to 2 x 300 W double-width cardsUp to 2 x 160 W single-width cards
Memory ceilingHalf the 768 GB maximum768 GB

The graphics rule is the one that catches buyers out: a dual-processor T7820 is limited to single-width cards of 160 W or less, because the second processor takes the cooling and power headroom. A rendering workstation wanting two large GPUs is better served by a single-processor T7820, a T5820 or the T7920.

Memory

Twelve DDR4 ECC DIMM slots, six per processor, on six memory channels per processor. The platform supports up to 768 GB at 2933 MHz with two processors installed, which works out to 64 GB modules in every slot. Memory speed depends on the specific Xeon Scalable processor, so a lower-tier processor will run 2933 MHz modules at its own lower limit. With Xeon processors the system uses ECC memory, and Dell's Reliable Memory Pro software sits on top of ECC to map out failing memory regions and warn when a module needs replacing.

Populate all six channels on each installed processor for bandwidth, and use identical modules across both processors. DDR4 RDIMMs are stocked under server memory; send the processor model or service tag so we can match rated speed.

Graphics

Two PCIe x16 Gen 3 graphics slots share a 600 W budget. With one processor that allows two double-width 300 W cards; with two processors it allows two single-width cards of up to 160 W each. Cards named in Dell's 7820 Tower datasheet:

TierAMDNVIDIA
High-end 3DRadeon Pro WX 9100, Radeon Pro SSGQuadro GV100, Quadro P6000, Quadro P5000, Quadro RTX 8000, Quadro RTX 6000, Quadro RTX 5000
Mid-range 3DRadeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100, WX 4100Quadro P4000, Quadro P2000, Quadro RTX 4000
Entry 3DRadeon Pro WX 3100, WX 2100Quadro P1000, P620, P400
Professional 2DNVS 310

Quadro RTX 4000 is a single-slot card and appears in the configured T7820 units we list. Other professional cards are under graphics cards.

Storage

The front FlexBays hold up to four 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA hard drives or SSDs on the integrated controller, and up to six 2.5-inch or five 3.5-inch drives once the 5.25-inch FlexBay is used for drives. On the PCIe backplane chassis, FlexBay 1 supports up to two hot-plug M.2 or U.2 NVMe SSDs with the integrated Intel controller, or up to four with the MegaRAID 9460 NVMe hardware RAID controller. Dell offers backplane and single M.2 module kits to convert standard FlexBays. The Ultra-Speed Drive Quad x16 card adds four M.2 NVMe SSDs and the Duo x8 card adds two, both with active cooling. Total capacity reaches 60 TB.

Drive typeMaximum in the datasheet
M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD on Ultra-Speed Drive Quad4 x 2 TB
Front FlexBay M.2 or U.2 NVMe SSD4 x 2 TB
U.2 Intel Optane 905P SSD4 x 960 GB
2.5-inch SATA 7200 rpm HDD6 x 1 TB
2.5-inch SATA SSD6 x 1 TB
2.5-inch SAS SSD6 x 800 GB
3.5-inch SATA 7200 rpm HDD5 x 12 TB
3.5-inch SAS 7200 rpm 12 Gb/s HDD5 x 4 TB
2.5-inch SAS 10K rpm 12 Gb/s HDD6 x 1.8 TB
2.5-inch SAS 15K rpm 12 Gb/s HDD6 x 600 GB
M.2 PCIe self-encrypting SSD512 GB and 1 TB

The integrated Intel chipset SATA controller runs six 6 Gb/s ports plus two for optical drives with Intel RSTe software RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10. NVMe RAID 0, 1 and 10 is enabled by the Intel RSTe vROC activation key, available as a customer kit. For SAS, the optional Broadcom MegaRAID SAS 9440-8i gives eight 12 Gb/s ports with software RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, and the MegaRAID SAS 9460-16i adds a 4 GB cache with flash and supercapacitor backup for hardware RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, including the NVMe option for four front drives. We stock matching hard drives and SSDs; tell us which controller is fitted so we match the interface and carrier.

Expansion slots and ports

All slots are PCIe Gen 3: two x16, one x16 wired as x8, one x16 wired as x4, one x16 wired as x1, plus one legacy 32-bit 33 MHz PCI slot. Onboard networking is a single Intel i219 Gigabit Ethernet controller with Remote Wake Up, PXE and jumbo frames. Optional network hardware includes the Intel i210 single-port gigabit card, the Intel X550-T2 dual-port 10GbE card and an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 module with Bluetooth. Other optional cards: a two-port Thunderbolt 3 card with DisplayPort pass-through, a two-port USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C card, Teradici PCoIP remote host cards and a serial port card.

  • Front: 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, 2 x USB 3.1 Type-C, universal audio jack
  • Rear: 6 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, serial, RJ45, 2 x PS/2, audio line out, audio line in/microphone
  • Internal: 1 x USB 2.0 Type-A, one 2 x 5 USB 2.0 header, 6 x SATA 6 Gb/s plus 2 for optical drives

Audio is the integrated Realtek ALC3234 codec with an internal speaker. Out-of-band management is Intel AMT or vPro with DASH, with Dell Command Suite for fleet configuration, and TPM 2.0 is standard.

Power supply

A single 950 W supply, 100 to 240 VAC input, 90 percent efficient and 80 PLUS Gold certified. It is externally accessible, removable without tools and lockable. The same D950EF-00 unit serves the T5820, so one spare covers both models in a mixed fleet. It is stocked in Doha.

Dell 950 W power supply D950EF-00 for the Precision T7820 and T5820
The 950 W D950EF-00 supply used in both the T7820 and T5820.

Physical specification

Form factorTower, dual socket
Height417.9 mm
Width176.5 mm
Depth518.2 mm
WeightFrom 15.4 kg, depending on configuration
Drive bays2 FlexBays (up to 2 drives each), 1 x 5.25-inch FlexBay, 1 slimline optical bay, SD slot
Power input100 to 240 VAC
SecurityTPM 2.0, Kensington slot, padlock ring, intrusion switch, lockable supply, drive sleds and bezel

Supported operating systems

Dell lists Windows 10 Pro for Workstations in its up-to-four-core and four-cores-plus editions, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 (required for second-generation Xeon Scalable), Ubuntu Linux 16.04 and 18.04. The datasheet predates Windows 11 and current Linux releases; if a specific build has to be certified on this hardware, tell us before ordering and we will check it against Dell's support matrix.

Buying a refurbished Dell Precision T7820 from ServerDove

We list the T7820 both as configured workstations, with processors, memory, SSD and in some cases a Quadro RTX graphics card already fitted, and as a barebone chassis for buyers who want to specify every part. Refurbished units are tested before listing and are covered by the ServerDove warranty, with extended cover available on request. Stock is held in Doha and delivery across Qatar is typically one day.

If a listed configuration is close but not right, ask for a variant: a second processor, more memory, a different graphics card or an NVMe layout are all quoted as a build from stock. Installation, operating system loading and base configuration are offered as a service. Compare it with the rest of our Dell workstations, or the earlier Precision T7810 if budget leads. Quotes by WhatsApp on +974 5521 2108, email to sales@serverdove.com or the contact page; business customers can request bulk quotations.

From the journal

Buying guides and comparisons

View all articles