Dell PowerEdge R820 Quick start guide

PowerEdge R820
Technical Guide
The PowerEdge R820,
a four-socket, 2U rack
server designed for
dense virtualization
and scalable database
applications.

ii PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
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December 2013| Version 5.0

iii PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Table of contents
1System overview..................................................................................................................................................................5
Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................................5
Key technologies ............................................................................................................................................................... 6
2System features ...................................................................................................................................................................7
Comparison of PowerEdge systems ...............................................................................................................................7
Specifications ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
3Chassis views and features ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Chassis views.................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Chassis features ................................................................................................................................................................12
4Processor............................................................................................................................................................................15
Processor features............................................................................................................................................................15
Supported processors......................................................................................................................................................15
Chipset................................................................................................................................................................................16
5Memory...............................................................................................................................................................................17
Supported memory ..........................................................................................................................................................17
Memory configurations ...................................................................................................................................................18
Memory speed ..................................................................................................................................................................18
Memory RAS features.......................................................................................................................................................19
6Storage ............................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Internal storage ................................................................................................................................................................ 20
External storage ................................................................................................................................................................21
Storage controllers...........................................................................................................................................................21
Optical drive ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Tape drive.......................................................................................................................................................................... 22
7Networking and PCIe ...................................................................................................................................................... 23
Select Network Adapter.................................................................................................................................................. 23
PCIe expansion ................................................................................................................................................................ 25
8Power, thermal and acoustics ....................................................................................................................................... 28
Power consumption and energy efficiency................................................................................................................ 28
Power supply units .......................................................................................................................................................... 29
Thermal and acoustics.................................................................................................................................................... 30
9Rack rails and cable management ................................................................................................................................ 33
Sliding and static rail systems ........................................................................................................................................ 33
Cable management arm................................................................................................................................................. 35
10 Operating systems and virtualization ........................................................................................................................... 36
Supported operating systems........................................................................................................................................ 36
Supported virtualization ................................................................................................................................................. 37
11 Dell OpenManage systems management.................................................................................................................... 38
Systems management solutions................................................................................................................................... 38
OpenManage systems management ........................................................................................................................... 39
Dell server management operations............................................................................................................................ 43
Appendix A. Additional specifications.......................................................................................................................... 47
Chassis dimensions ......................................................................................................................................................... 47
Chassis weight.................................................................................................................................................................. 47
Video specifications ........................................................................................................................................................ 47
Environmental specifications ........................................................................................................................................ 48
Power supply specifications .......................................................................................................................................... 49
Rack rail specifications ................................................................................................................................................... 50
USB peripherals................................................................................................................................................................ 50
Appendix B. Standards compliance ..............................................................................................................................51

iv PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Appendix C. System board block diagram .................................................................................................................. 54
Tables
Table 1. Key technologies.................................................................................................................................................. 6
Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge R810 to PowerEdge R820 .................................................................................7
Table 3. Technical specifications...................................................................................................................................... 8
Table 4. Chassis features...................................................................................................................................................12
Table 5. Security features..................................................................................................................................................14
Table 6. Supported processors ........................................................................................................................................16
Table 7. Memory technologies supported.....................................................................................................................17
Table 8. DIMMs supported................................................................................................................................................18
Table 9. Memory RAS features .........................................................................................................................................19
Table 10. Supported hard drives ....................................................................................................................................... 20
Table 11. Supported RAID controllers...............................................................................................................................21
Table 12. Supported Select Network Adapter options and features .......................................................................... 24
Table 13. Select Network Adapter selection for racks .................................................................................................. 25
Table 14. Supported NICs and HBAs................................................................................................................................ 26
Table 15. Additional supported PCIe expansion cards ................................................................................................. 27
Table 16. Power tools and technologies ......................................................................................................................... 28
Table 17. Power supply efficiency .................................................................................................................................... 30
Table 18. Acoustical performance.................................................................................................................................... 32
Table 19. Supported rack types......................................................................................................................................... 34
Table 20. Primary operating system support .................................................................................................................. 36
Table 21. Virtual guest operating system support ......................................................................................................... 37
Table 22. Virtualization support ........................................................................................................................................ 37
Table 23. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller functions and benefits........................................................................... 39
Table 24. Feature comparison for iDRAC7 Express and Enterprise ............................................................................40
Table 25. One-to-one and one-to-many operations .................................................................................................. 44
Table 26. Supported video modes.................................................................................................................................... 47
Table 27. Environmental specifications ........................................................................................................................... 48
Table 28. Power supply specifications............................................................................................................................. 49
Table 29. Rail adjustability range....................................................................................................................................... 50
Table 30. Industry standard documents ...........................................................................................................................51
Table 31. Additional resources .......................................................................................................................................... 52
Figures
Figure 1. Front view without bezel .................................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 2. Front view with bezel......................................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 3. Back view .............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 4. Internal view ......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 5. LCD control panel...............................................................................................................................................13
Figure 6. QRL location ........................................................................................................................................................13
Figure 7. Rack network daughter card............................................................................................................................ 23
Figure 8. 750W power supply unit ................................................................................................................................... 30
Figure 9. Sliding rails with optional CMA ........................................................................................................................ 33
Figure 10. Static rails............................................................................................................................................................. 34
Figure 11. Dell systems management solutions.............................................................................................................. 38
Figure 12. Systems management server lifecycle ...........................................................................................................44
Figure 13. System dimensions ............................................................................................................................................ 47
Figure 14. R820 system board block diagram ................................................................................................................. 54

5PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
1System overview
Introduction
Designed to excel at running a wide range of applications and virtualization environments for both
midsize and large enterprises, the Dell™PowerEdge™R820 rack server is a compute-intensive
performance platform with highly scalable memory (up to 1.5TB) and impressive I/O capabilities to
match. With four Intel®Xeon®E5-4600 processors and the ability to support dual RAID controllers,
the R820 can readily handle very demanding, mission-critical workloads, like data warehousing,
e-commerce, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), databases and data node high-performance
computing (HPC).
Manage data overload
Keep pace with the explosion of data in the virtual age with the flexible, powerful I/O and storage
capabilities of the R820. Up to 16 internal hard drives and integrated PCI Express®(PCIe) 3.0 enabled
expansion slots greatly increase your capacity, while optional hot-plug, front-access Express Flash
PCIe solid-state drives (SSD) (up to four) enable performance-enhancing, in-box storage tiering.
Moreover, Dell Select Network Adapters, our flexible NIC technology, let you choose the right
network fabric to match your needs without using up a valuable PCIe slot.
Accelerate the solution
Boost the performance of your HPC or 2D VDI environment by combining the PowerEdge R820’s
memory density with an optional graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerator. Choose from a range
of GPU options for greater assisted performance.
Virtualize more with the R820
Maximize your data center’s application capacity by expanding your virtual environment using the
PowerEdge R820’s large memory footprint, I/O options, flexible fabric choices and up to 32 cores in
a four-processor configuration. Choose an industry-leading hypervisor and take advantage of our
system management capability to manage both physical and virtual assets. The R820 can also help
maximize your virtual machines’ uptime using redundant failsafe hypervisors on its internal dual SD
module. Dell OpenManage Integration with Microsoft System Center for Hyper-V and VMware
vCenter for ESXi can help you easily manage complex virtual environments.
Simplified systems management, without compromise
The Dell OpenManage systems management portfolio includes Integrated Dell Remote Access
Controller 7 (iDRAC7) with Lifecycle Controller. This embedded feature helps IT administrators
manage Dell servers in physical, virtual, local and remote environments, operating in-band or out-
of-band, with or without a systems management software agent installed.
OpenManage iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller integrates and connects to leading third-party
systems management solutions (such as those from Microsoft, VMware and BMC Software), so users
can maintain a single point of control and capitalize on an existing systems management investment.
OpenManage simplifies the lifecycle of deploying, updating, monitoring and maintaining Dell
PowerEdge servers.

6 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Key technologies
Table 1 summarizes key technologies used in the Dell PowerEdge R820 rack server.
Table 1. Key technologies
New technologies
Detailed descriptions
Intel Xeon processor
E5-4600 product family
This new family of Intel processors has embedded PCIe lanes for improved I/O
performance. See the Processor section for details.
Intel C600 series chipset
The R820 server uses the Intel Platform Controller Hub (PCH) chip.
1600MT/s DDR3
memory
Certain models of the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family support
1600MT/s memory. The R820 supports four DIMMs per channel at 1600MT/s with
these processors. See the Memory section for details.
LRDIMM
This new memory option, load reduced DIMM (LRDIMM), is designed with a buffer
chip (or chips) to replace the register to help minimize loading. LRDIMMs can
increase overall server system memory capacity and speed. See the Memory
section for details.
Flexible LOM
The Dell Select Network Adapter options allow you to customize your LAN port
combinations from your choice of controller vendors. See the Networking and
PCIe section for details.
Next-generation PERC
options
The R820 supports the new PERC controller cards with improved functionality and
faster performance. See the Storage section for details.
PERC S110 software
RAID Solution
This new software RAID solution supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10; supports maximum
of four hot-plug SATA hard drives or SATA SSDs. See the Storage section for
details.
Express Flash drives
Dell Express Flash PCIe SSDs provide fast performance without requiring
processor resources or capturing DRAM. The R820 supports up to four Express
Flash drives. See the Storage section for details.
iDRAC7 with Lifecycle
Controller
The new embedded system management solution for Dell servers features
hardware and firmware inventory and alerting, in-depth memory alerting, faster
performance, a dedicated gigabit port and many more features. See the Dell
OpenManage systems management section for details.
Internal GPU support
The R820 supports internal graphics processing units (GPUs) for extreme
computing power to solve HPC needs. See the Processor section for details.
DC power supply
A new 1100W DC power supply option is available for the R820. See the Power,
thermal and acoustics section for details.
Advanced power
management
The R820 supports advanced power monitoring and power capping tools that can
help manage power consumption. See the Power, thermal and acoustics section
for details.
Fresh Air cooling
Dell has tested and validated an integrated data center solution that enables you
to operate at higher temperatures or even chiller-less. See the Power, thermal and
acoustics section for details.
Failsafe hypervisors
The internal dual SD module enables Dell's unique Failsafe Virtualization
architecture, ensuring uptime by providing failover capability for embedded
hypervisors, such as VMware®vSphere®ESXi™.

7 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
2System features
Compared to the previous generation of Dell PowerEdge servers, the R820 has more drive bay
options, more PCIe slots, PCIe 3.0 support, more memory, a dual RAID controller option, optional
Express Flash PCIe SSDs, internal GPU support and advanced system management.
Comparison of PowerEdge systems
The PowerEdge R820 is a direct replacement for the R810. Table 2 compares some of the features
of the R820 to the R810. For the latest information on supported features, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge R810 to PowerEdge R820
Feature
PowerEdge R810
PowerEdge R820
Chassis
2U rack
2U rack
Processors
IntelXeonprocessors 6500, 7500,
E7-2800, E7-4800 and E7-8800 series
Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product
family
Internal interconnect
Intel QuickPath Interconnect
Intel QuickPath Interconnect
Memory1
32 x DDR3 RDIMM and UDIMM
Up to 1TB
48 x DDR3 RDIMM, UDIMM and LRDIMM
Up to 1.5TB
Hard drive bays
(hot-plug)
6 x 2.5”
16 x 2.5”
RAID controller
PERC H200, H700, H800
PERC H310, H710, H710P, H810
Dual PERC option
Express Flash drives
N/A
Up to 4 Flash Express drives
PCI slots
7 PCIe 2.0 slots
7 PCIe 3.0 slots
Embedded NICs
4 x 1GbE with optional TOE
Select Network Adapter: minimum
configuration of 4 x 1GbE, 10GbE
(optional)
Power supplies
Hot-plug, redundant 1100W AC
Hot-plug, redundant 750W AC, 1100W AC,
1100W DC
Dell OpenManage
Systems Management
Dell OpenManage
Lifecycle Controller 1.x
iDRAC6 (Express or Enterprise) with
Lifecycle Controller 1.x
OpenManage Essentials
OMSA Agent
OpenManage Power Center (requires
iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle
Controller)
OpenManage Integrations and
Connections
iDRAC7 Express with Lifecycle Controller
(standard option)
Support for internal
GPU
No
Yes
Power efficiency
Gold
Titanium
Availability
Hot-plug drives
Hot-plug redundant cooling
Hot-plug redundant power supply units
Internal dual SD modules
Hot-plug drives
Hot-plug redundant cooling
Hot-plug redundant power supply units
Internal dual SD modules
1GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating
environment and will be less.

8PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Specifications
Table 3 summarizes the specifications for each of the PowerEdge R820 features. For the latest
information on supported features for the PowerEdge R820, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 3. Technical specifications
Feature
PowerEdge R820 technical specification
Form factor
2U rack
Processors
Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family
Processor sockets
4 sockets
Internal interconnect
2 Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) links: 6.4GT/s, 7.2GT/s, 8.0GT/s
Cache
2.5MB per core with core options of 4, 6 or 8
Chipset
Intel C602
Memory1
Up to 1.5TB (48 DIMM slots): 2GB/4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB DDR3 up to 1600MT/s
PCIe slots
7 PCIe slots:
2 x16 full-height, half-length
1 x8 full-height, half-length
3 x8 half-height, half-length
1 x8 full-height, half-length for the RAID controller
RAID controller
Internal controllers:
PERC H310
PERC H710
PERC H710P
External HBAs (RAID):
PERC H810
External HBAs (non-RAID):
6Gbps SAS HBA
Hard drives
(hot-plug)
Drive bay options:
Up to 16 x 2.5-inch hot-plug SAS, SATA or SSD
Hard drive options:
2.5-inch Express Flash, SAS SSD, SATA SSD, SAS (15K, 10K), nearline SAS (7.2K),
SATA (7.2K); self-encrypting drives (SEDs) available
Embedded NIC
Select Network Adapter options:
Broadcom®5720 4x1Gb Base-T
Intel I350 4x1Gb Base-T
Intel X540 2x1Gb + 2x10Gb Base-T
Broadcom 57800S 2x1Gb + 2x10Gb Base-T
Broadcom 57800S 2x1Gb + 2x10Gb SFP+
Broadcom 57840S 4x10Gb SFP+
Mellanox®ConnectX®-3 Dual Port 40GbE QSFP+
ConnectX-3 Dual Port 10GbE DA/SFP+
Power supply
Titanium efficiency 750W AC power supply
Platinum efficiency 750W or 1100W AC power supply (auto-ranging)
1100W DC power supply
Availability
High-efficiency, hot-plug redundant power supplies; hot-plug hard drives; TPM;
dual internal SD support; hot-plug redundant fans; optional bezel; information
tag; ECC memory; interactive LCD screen; extended thermal support; ENERGY
STAR®compliant; switch independent partitioning

9 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Feature
PowerEdge R820 technical specification
Dell OpenManage
Systems Management
(Agent-free or with
OpenManage Server
Administrator [OMSA]
Agent)
OpenManage Essentials
OMSA Agent
OpenManage Power Center (requires iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle
Controller)
OpenManage Integrations and Connections:
>OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft®System Center
>OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter™
>Connections for HP®Operations Manager, IBM®Tivoli®Netcool®and CA
Network and Systems Management
iDRAC7 Express with Lifecycle Controller (standard option)
>Upgrade to iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller
>Upgrade to 8GB vFlash media or 16GB vFlash media for iDRAC7
Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller
>Trial evaluation available for IDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller
Rack support
ReadyRails™ sliding rails for tool-less mounting in 4-post racks with square or
unthreaded round holes or tooled mounting in 4-post threaded hole racks, with
support for optional tool-less cable management arm
ReadyRails static rails for tool-less mounting in 4-post racks with square or
unthreaded round holes or tooled mounting in 4-post threaded and 2-post
(Telco) racks
Operating systems
Microsoft Windows Server®2012
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (includes Hyper-V®)
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, x64 (includes Hyper-V)
Novell®SUSE®Linux Enterprise Server
Red Hat®Enterprise Linux®
Virtualization options:
Citrix®XenServer®
VMware vSphere including ESXi™
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization®
For more information on the specific versions and additions, visit
Dell.com/OSsupport.
1GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating
environment and will be less.

10 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
3Chassis views and features
The Dell PowerEdge R820 is a 2U, 4-socket rack server. For additional system views and features,
see the Dell PowerEdge R820 Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Chassis views
Figure 1 shows the features on the front of the R820 chassis including sixteen 2.5-inch hard drives,
control panel, USB connectors, power button, system identification button, optical drive,
information tag, video connector and vFlash media card slot.
Figure 1. Front view without bezel
Figure 2 shows the optional lockable bezel on the front of the R820 chassis.
Figure 2. Front view with bezel

11 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Figure 3 shows the features on the back panel of the R820 including USB connectors, Ethernet
connectors, serial connector, video connector, system identification button connector, iDRAC7
Enterprise port, PCIe slots and power supplies.
Figure 3. Back view
The chassis design of the R820 is optimized for easy access to components and for airflow for
effective and efficient cooling. The R820 supports up to 48 DIMMs, four processors, hot-plug
redundant fans, and many other components and features described in this guide.
Figure 4. Internal view

12 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Chassis features
Table 4 lists the features on the R820 chassis. For additional information, see the Dell PowerEdge
R820 Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Table 4. Chassis features
Feature
Description
Power button
ACPI-compliant power button with an integrated green power LED
Front bezel
Covers the system’s front-loading hard drives and locks for security
NMI button
Used to troubleshoot software and device driver errors; use only if directed
to do so by qualified support personnel or by the operating system's
documentation
System identification button
Buttons on the back and front of a system to help identify the unit in a data
center environment
Hard drives
Up to 16 2.5-inch drives
USB connectors
Connects USB devices to the server
vFlash media reader
Activated when iDRAC Enterprise is enabled
Information tag
Slide-out label panel for recording system information
Video connector
Connects a monitor to the server
LCD panel and buttons
Displays system ID, status information and system error messages; two
navigation buttons to scroll through the menu on the LCD and one select
button
Optical drive
Optional slim DVD or DVD+RW drive
Tape drive
Optional external tape drive through the SAS 6Gbps HBA
Power supply units
Supplies power to the server
Power supply indicators
Indicates whether server has power
NIC indicators
Indicates network activity and status
PCIe slots
Connects PCIe expansion cards to the server
Ethernet connectors
Connects integrated 10/100/1000 NICs to the server
Serial connector
Connects a serial device to the server
iDRAC7 Enterprise port
Dedicated management port for optional iDRAC Ports card
Front control panel
The R820 control panel is located on the front of the chassis as shown in Figure 5. For more
information about the LCD control panel, see the Dell PowerEdge R820 Owner’s Manual on
Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

13 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Figure 5. LCD control panel
Quick Resource Locator
Dell PowerEdge 12th-generation servers include a Quick Resource Locator (QRL) —a model-specific
Quick Response (QR) code that is located inside the R820 chassis cover (see Figure 6). Use your
smartphone to access the Dell QRL app to learn more about the server.
Figure 6. QRL location
This QRL code allows you to:
View step-by-step videos, including overviews of system internals and externals, as well as
detailed, concise, task-oriented videos and installation wizards
Locate reference materials, including searchable owner’s manual content, LCD diagnostics and
an electrical overview
Look up your service tag so you can quickly gain access to your specific hardware configuration
info and warranty information
Contact Dell directly (by link) to get in touch with technical support and sales teams and provide
feedback to Dell
These codes provide an easy way to retrieve the critical support information you need when you
need it, making you more efficient and effective in managing your hardware.

14 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Security features
The latest generation of PowerEdge servers has the features listed in Table 5 to help ensure the
security of your data center.
Table 5. Security features
Security feature
Description
Cover latch
A tooled latch is integrated in the side cover to secure it to the rack chassis.
Bezel
An optional metal bezel is mounted to the chassis front to provide the Dell ID. A
lock on the bezel is used to protect un-authorized access to hard drives. System
status is viewable on the LCD screen when the bezel is installed.
TPM
The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is used to generate/store keys,
protect/authenticate passwords and create/store digital certificates. It also
supports the Intel Xeon TXT functionality. TPM can also be used to enable the
BitLocker™ hard drive encryption feature in Windows Server 2008. TPM 1.2 is
supported. No TPM version is available for China or Russia.
Power-off security
BIOS has the ability to disable the power button function.
Intrusion alert
An internal switch is used to detect chassis intrusion.
Secure mode
BIOS has the ability to enter a secure boot mode through system setup. This
mode includes the option to lock out the power and NMI switches on the
control panel or set up a system password.

15 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
4Processor
The Dell PowerEdge R820 features the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family, which offers
an ideal combination of performance, power efficiency and cost. These processors provide high
performance no matter what your constraint is —floor space, power or budget —and on workloads
that range from the most complicated scientific exploration to crucial web-serving and
infrastructure applications. In addition to providing raw performance gains, improved I/O is also
made possible with Intel Integrated I/O, which can reduce latency by adding more lanes and
doubling bandwidth. This helps to reduce network and storage bottlenecks, unleashing the
processor’s performance capabilities.
Processor features
The new Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family adds the following new features:
Four-socket processor design with power and dimensions optimized for density
Up to eight execution cores per processor
Intel Hyper-Threading technology enables up to 16 computational threads
Micro-architecture on 32nm process for greater performance per watt
Support for more memory —up to 48 DIMM slots and support for up to 32GB DIMMs, which
increases memory capacity from 1TB to 1.5TB
Integrated memory controller with four channels of DDR3 and 46-bit physical addressing
facilitate greater memory capacity
Intel Integrated I/O has support for up to 160 lanes of PCIe 3.0, which can reduce latency
Faster connections throughout the system with support for DDR3 1600MT/s memory and
8.0GT/s QPI
Intel Data Direct I/O (DDIO) allows I/O traffic to skip the main system memory and be directed
straight to the processor cache, which can provide a significant reduction in latency as well as
allowing memory to remain in a low-power state
High bandwidth, low latency, bidirectional ring interconnect allows faster access to the 20MB
multi-banked last level cache
Intel Advanced Vector Extensions offer up to double the floating point operations per clock
cycle by doubling the length of registers, which can be useful for addressing very complex
problems or dealing with large-number calculations, which are integral to many technical,
financial and scientific computing problems
Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, which allows processor cores to run faster than the base
operating frequency if it's operating below power, current and temperature specification limits,
delivers up to double the boost than the previous generation
Continued improvements to both Intel TXT and AES-NI help to better protect systems and data
For more information on the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family, visit Intel.com.
Supported processors
The R820 supports up to four processors with up to eight cores per processor. Table 6 lists the Intel
Xeon processors supported by the PowerEdge R820. For the latest information on supported
processors, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.

16 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Table 6. Supported processors
Model
Speed
TDP
Cache
Cores/
threads
QPI
Turbo
E5-4650
2.7GHz
130W
20MB
8/16
8.0GT/s
Yes
E5-4650L
2.6GHz
115W
20MB
8/16
8.0GT/s
Yes
E5-4640
2.4GHz
95W
20MB
8/16
8.0GT/s
Yes
E5-4620
2.2GHz
95W
16MB
8/16
7.2GT/s
Yes
E5-4617
2.9GHz
130W
15MB
6/6
7.2GT/s
Yes
E5-4610
2.4GHz
95W
15MB
6/12
7.2GT/s
Yes
E5-4607
2.2GHz
95W
12MB
6/12
6.4GT/s
NA
E5-4603
2.0GHz
95W
10MB
4/8
6.4GT/s
NA
For information on processor installation and configuration, see the Dell PowerEdge R820 Owner’s
Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Chipset
The PowerEdge R820 uses the Intel C602 chipset. For more information, visit Intel.com.

17 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
5Memory
More memory options are available than ever before with the Dell PowerEdge R820 —greater
capacities, higher frequencies and more flexibility. The R820 supports up to 1.5TB of memory
(48 DIMM slots) and speeds of up to 1600MT/s, providing high performance in a variety of
applications.
In addition to supporting existing unbuffered DIMMs (UDIMM) and registered DIMMs (RDIMM), the
R820 supports load reduced DIMMs (LRDIMM), which use a buffer to reduce memory loading and
provide greater density, allowing for the maximum platform memory capacity. High memory density
provides a richer, no compromise virtualization environment. While the buffer in the LRDIMM
reduces memory bus loading and allows 50% higher capacity in a system, the buffer does introduce
additional latency, which will have a small impact on system performance.
Increase your uptime and reduce data loss with reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features
like memory mirroring, sparing and many others. RAS aids in the rapid and accurate diagnosis of
faults that require service, increasing your memory reliability.
Supported memory
The R820 supports the memory technologies shown in Table 7.
Table 7. Memory technologies supported
Feature
RDIMM
LRDIMM
Register
Yes
Yes
Buffer
No
Yes
Frequencies*
1333 or 1600MT/s
1333 or 1600MT/s
Ranks supported
1, 2 or 4
4
Capacity per DIMM
4, 8, 16 or 32GB
32GB
Maximum DIMMs per channel
3
3
DRAM technology
x4 or x8
x4
Temperature sensor
Yes
Yes
Error Correction Code (ECC)
Yes
Yes
Single Device Disable Code
(SDDC)
Yes
Yes
Address parity
Yes
Yes
*Although the R820 supports DIMM speeds lower than 1333MT/s, you can only purchase this system with DIMM
speeds of 1333MT/s and 1600MT/s on Dell.com/PowerEdge.

18 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
The R820 supports the DIMMs listed in Table 8. For the latest information on supported memory,
visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 8. DIMMs supported
Capacity
(GB)
Speed
(MT/s)
Type
Ranks per
DIMM
Data
width
SDDC support
Voltage
4
1600
RDIMM
1
x8
Advanced ECC
1.35
8
1600
RDIMM
1
x4
All modes
1.35
16
1600
RDIMM
2
x4
All modes
1.35
32
1333
RDIMM
4
x4
All modes
1.35
32
1333
LRDIMM
4
x4
All modes
1.35
32
1600
LRDIMM
4
x4
All modes
1.35
Memory configurations
The R820 server supports flexible memory configurations ranging from capacities of 4GB to
1.5TB. The R820 supports up to 12 DIMMs per processor (up to 48 DIMMs in a four-processor
configuration). The R820 has four memory channels per processor, with each channel supporting
up to three DIMMs.
The R820 supports a flexible memory configuration according to these basic rules:
Speed: If DIMMs of different speeds are mixed, all channels across all processors operate at the
slowest DIMM’s common frequency.
DIMM type: Only one type of DIMM is allowed per system. UDIMM, RDIMM and LRDIMM cannot
be mixed.
The following additional memory population guidelines apply to the R820:
Up to two quad-rank (QR) DIMMs and up to three dual-rank (DR) or single-rank (SR) DIMMs may
be populated per channel. Although an LRDIMM is physically a QR DIMM, logic on the LRDIMM
can make it appear as a DR DIMM to the system, allowing up to three LDRIMMs per channel.
DIMMs must be installed in each channel, starting with the DIMM farthest from the processor.
DIMMs should be installed with largest rank count to smallest. For example, if DR DIMMS are
mixed with SR DIMMs, DR DIMMS should be placed in the lowest DIMM slots, followed by the SR
DIMMs.
For more information on memory configuration, see the Dell PowerEdge R820 Owner’s Manual on
Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Memory speed
The R820 supports memory speeds of up to 1600MT/s, depending on the DIMM types installed and
the configuration. All memory on all processors and channels run at the same speed and voltage. By
default, the systems run at the highest speed for the channel with the lowest DIMM voltage and
speed. The operating speed of the memory is also determined by the maximum speed supported by
the processor, the speed settings in the BIOS and the operating voltage of the system.
Visit the PowerEdge memory page on Dell.com for the latest memory configuration and
performance details for the R820 based on the population of the number and type of DIMMs per
memory channel.

19 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Memory RAS features
RAS features help keep the system online and operational without significant impact to performance,
and can decrease data loss and crashing due to errors. RAS aids in rapid, accurate diagnosis of faults
that require service. Table 9 describes the RAS features supported on the R820.
Table 9. Memory RAS features
Feature
Description
Dense configuration
optimized profile
Increased memory reliability can be a result from this selectable platform profile
that adjusts parameters to reduce faults regarding refresh rates, speed,
temperature and voltage
Memory demand and
patrol scrubbing
Demand scrubbing is the ability to write corrected data back to the memory once
a correctable error is detected on a read transaction.
Patrol scrubbing proactively searches the system memory, repairing correctable
errors.
Recovery from single
DRAM device failure
Recovery from Single DRAM Device Failure (SDDC) provides error checking and
correction that protects against any single memory chip failure as well as multi-bit
errors from any portion of a single memory chip.
Failed DIMM isolation
This feature provides the ability to identify a specific failing DIMM channel pair,
thereby enabling the user to replace only the failed DIMM pair.
Memory mirroring:
intra-socket
Memory mirroring is a method of keeping a duplicate (secondary or mirrored)
copy of the contents of memory as a redundant backup for use if the primary
memory fails. The mirrored copy of the memory is stored in memory of the same
processor socket.
Memory address parity
protection
This feature provides the ability to detect transient errors on the address lines of
the DDR channel.
Memory sparing (rank)
Memory sparing allocates one rank per channel as a spare. If excessive correctable
errors occur in a rank or channel, it is moved to the spare area while the operating
system is running to prevent the error from causing an uncorrectable failure.
Memory thermal
throttling
This feature helps to optimize power/performance and can also be used to
prevent DIMMs from overheating.
For information on memory mirroring and sparing configurations, see the Dell PowerEdge R820
Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

20 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
6Storage
The Dell PowerEdge R820 supports extensive internal and external storage options, internal and
external storage controllers, and different chassis and backplane options for a varied number of
drives.
Features such as Express Flash PCIe SSDs and CacheCade™ provide accelerated performance over
previous technologies. Express Flash drives use PCIe lanes to connect directly to the processor and
chipset and are easily accessible through the hot-plug drive bay. CacheCade uses Dell PERC storage
controllers to accelerate performance over hard drives or traditional SSDs.
Internal storage
The R820 supports the following internal storage options:
8 x 2.5-inch drives
8 x 2.5-inch drives plus 4 x 2.5-inch Express Flash PCIe SSDs
8 + 8 x 2.5-inch drives
16 x 2.5-inch drives
Note: A system cannot be upgraded or reconfigured after point of purchase.
Supported hard drives
The R820 supports up to sixteen 2.5-inch hard drives or SSDs. Table 11 lists more information about
these drives. For additional information, see Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 10. Supported hard drives
Form factor
Type
Speed (rpm)
Capacities
2.5”
SATA
7.2K
250GB, 500GB, 1TB
Nearline SAS
7.2K
500GB, 1TB, 1TB SED
SAS
10K
300GB, 600GB, 900GB, 900GB SED, 1.2TB
SAS
15K
146GB, 300GB, 300GB SED
SAS SSD
N/A
200GB, 400GB
SATA SSD
N/A
100GB, 160GB, 200GB, 300GB, 400GB, 480GB,
800GB
PCIe SSD
N/A
175GB, 350GB, 700GB, 1.2TB