The Dell PowerEdge R540 server is a flexible and capable system that is great for businesses of all sizes. This 2U rackmount server has two chassis options to choose from: 8 Bay LFF and 12 Bay LFF. The PowerEdge R540 does not have a 2.5" option. There are also a handful of rear configurations to choose from.

8 Bay LFF

The 8 Bay LFF chassis for the PowerEdge R540 has support for up to eight 3.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA hard drives. 2.5" HDDs or SSDs can be installed via a 2.5" to 3.5" drive converter.

12 Bay LFF

The R540's 12 Bay LFF chassis option can accept up to twelve 3.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA hard drives. Just like the 8 Bay LFF chassis, 2.5" HDDs or SSDs can be used via a 2.5" to 3.5" drive adapter.

Rear Configurations

There are three different rear configurations for the PowerEdge R540. The first configuration has two low-profile PCIe slots, and two 3.5" rear drive bays. The second configuration has one full-height PCIe slot and two 3.5" rear drive bays. The final rear configuration has one full height and four low-profile PCIe slots with no rear drive bays. Each chassis has a System ID button, CMA power port, two Type A USB 3.0 ports, a dedicated iDRAC port, two 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports, LOM riser slot, and two hot-swap power supply bays.

The Dell PowerEdge R540 server has two LGA-3647 CPU sockets inside that supports 1st Generation or 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. A max of 20 cores per processor are supported.

DIMM Slots & Channels

The Dell PowerEdge R540 has a total of 16 DIMM slots with a total of six memory channels. Each memory channel consist of two DIMM slots.

Memory Types & Module Capacities

The R540 accepts DDR4 memory. ECC Registered (RDIMMs) and Load Reduced (LRDIMMs) are supported by this server, but the two types cannot be mixed. Mixing memory types can lead to boot failure. With load reduced memory, an overall greater capacity can be achieved when compared to ECC registered. Module capacities of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB can be used. It is important to note that 64GB modules can only be installed as an LRDIMM.

Max Configurations

With load reduced memory, a maximum configuration of 1024GB can be achieved via 16 x 64GB modules. With ECC Registered, 512GB is the max that you can achieve with a configuration of 16 x 32GB modules.

Supported Memory Speeds

The Dell PowerEdge accepts memory speeds of 2133MT/s, 2400MT/s, 2666MT/s, 2933MT/s, and 3200MT/s. Do note, that 2666MT/s is the fastest possible speed for this system, meaning that 2933MT/s and 3200MT/s will clock down. Another factor that affects the max memory speed of the system, is the processor that is installed. For example, if the installed processor supports a max speed of 2400MT/s and a 2666MT/s module is installed, the module will operate at 2400MT/s.

Supported Drives

Power Supplies Overview

The Dell PowerEdge R540 server supports up to two hot-swap power supplies. Hot-swap power supplies can be installed or removed, if one power supply unit remains plugged into the system. Power supply options for the R540 are: 450W AC Cabled, 495W AC, 750W AC, 750W Mixed Mode HVDC (China Only), 750W Mixed Mode (DC input for China Only), 1100W AC, 1100W Mixed Mode HVDC.

The Dell PowerEdge R540 has two 1GbE RJ45 ports that are built into the server's motherboard. For additional networking capabilities, the PowerEdge R540 supports a single LOM riser card as well as PCIe network cards that can be installed in any of the system's PCIe slots.