Product Overview
âš™ï¸Â Dell PowerEdge R420 — Specifications
| Category | Details / Capacity |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | 1U rack-mount server |
| Processors (CPU) | Up to 2 × Intel® Xeon® E5-2400 or E5-2400 v2 family CPUs. |
| CPU Sockets / Cache | 2 sockets; each core gets 2.5 MB cache. Supports 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-core CPUs per socket. |
| Memory (RAM) | Up to 384 GB DDR3 total (12 DIMM slots — 6 per CPU). Supports DDR3 speeds up to 1600 MT/s. |
| Memory module support | Supports RDIMM (registered), UDIMM, load-reduced ECC DIMMs; modules 2 GB / 4 GB / 8 GB / 16 GB / 32 GB depending on type. |
| Storage (internal drives) | - Option 1: up to 4 × 3.5″ drives (hot-swappable or cabled) - Option 2: up to 8 × 2.5″ hot-swap drives (SAS / SATA / SSD) Max internal storage ~ 16 TB (depending on drives). |
| RAID / Disk Controller Options | Internal RAID controllers: PERC S110 (software RAID), PERC H310, PERC H710, H710P. External: PERC H810 or external SAS HBA (non-RAID) if needed. |
| Expansion / I/O slots | 2 PCIe slots: - With dual CPUs: two x16 PCIe 3.0 slots - With single CPU: one x16 (x16 bandwidth) + one x8 (x4 bandwidth) slot. |
| Network (built-in) | Embedded Broadcom 5720 Dual-Port 1Gb Ethernet LOM. Additional NICs or 10Gb adapters possible via PCIe. |
| Power Supply | Hot-plug, redundant PSUs: 350 W or 550 W (depending on configuration), auto-ranging 100–240V AC. |
| Management / Remote Admin | Integrated iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller; supports remote management. Option to upgrade to iDRAC Express/Enterprise for advanced features. |
| Supported OS / Virtualization | Compatible with Windows Server (2008 R2, 2012), Linux distros (RHEL, SUSE, Ubuntu, etc.), virtualization platforms like VMware ESXi, Citrix XenServer, Red Hat Virtualization. |
| Physical Specs | Depth ~607 mm, Width ~482 mm (rack 19"), Height 1U (≈ 43 mm), Max weight ~19.9 kg (with full config & PSUs) |
✅ Typical Uses & Strengths — What R420 is Good For
Because of its balanced CPU/MEM/storage specs and compact 1U rack size, R420 is well suited for:
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Virtualization / Hypervisor Hosts — Dual Xeon CPUs + up to 384 GB RAM make R420 great for running multiple VMs (e.g. small-medium business virtualization, dev/test lab, virtualization clusters).
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Web / Application Hosting — Hosting websites, web-apps, middleware, microservices, etc., with enough CPU/memory for moderate-to-heavy workloads.
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Database Servers (SMB / mid-size) — With support for SAS/SATA/SSD storage + RAID + good memory, R420 can run databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.) for small/medium systems.
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File / Print / Collaboration / Email Servers — Good fit for business server roles (file storage, collaboration services, mail servers, internal tools) especially where rack space is constrained.
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Storage / NAS / SAN (small-scale) — With multiple drives + RAID + possible SSD caching, can serve as storage server or small SAN/NAS depending on configuration.
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Remote / Branch Office Deployment — 1U size, redundant PSU, remote management (iDRAC) — ideal for remote sites or data-centers with limited space.
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General Purpose Compute / Middleware / Virtual Desktops — For businesses needing compute power for business logic, backend tasks, application servers, virtual desktops, etc.
Supported Processor : Intel Xeon E5-2403, E5-2407, E5-2418L, E5-2420, E5-2420 v2, E5-2430, E5-2430L, E5-2430 v2, E5-2440, E5-2440 v2, E5-2450, E5-2450L, E5-2450 v2, E5-2470, E5-2470 v2
Supported RAM : DDR3
