Dell PowerEdge R7525

The Dell PowerEdge R7525 is a great server for data analytics, all flash SDS, VDI and more. This 2U chassis has a handful of different chassis options to pick from. We will cover some of the differences and similarities between the different chassis.

Bay Counts

There are five possible bay count and form factor options for the PowerEdge R7525 server. These options are: 8 Bay LFF, 12 Bay LFF, 8 Bay SFF, 16 Bay SFF, and 24 Bay SFF. The 8 Bay LFF chassis accepts eight 3.5” SAS/SATA drives. This chassis has an optical drive on the front. The 12 Bay LFF chassis accepts twelve 3.5” SAS/SATA hard drives. The 8 Bay SFF accepts up to eight 2.5” SAS/SATA hard drives or solid-state drives. The 16 Bay SFF accepts up to sixteen 2.5” SAS/SATA hard drives or solid-state drives.

Chassis Rear & PCIe Slots

There are two rear configurations to choose from for the PowerEdge R7525. The first configuration has six full-height PCIe slots and two low-profile PCIe slots. The second configuration has four full-height PCIe slots, two low-profile PCIe slots, and two 2.5” drive bays. Each rear configuration has a BOSS S2 module, two integrated 1GbE RJ45 Ethernet ports, an OCP NIC slot, a system ID button, a dedicated iDRAC port, USB 2.0 and 3.0 port, a VGA port, and two hot-swap power supply bays.

The Dell PowerEdge R7525 has one SP3 socket. This server accepts 2nd or 3rd Generation AMD EPYC processors. A maximum of 64 cores are supported by the R7525.

The PowerEdge R7525 server has 32 DDR4 DIMM slots inside. There are eight memory channels for each CPU. Each memory channel consists of two DIMM slots. DIMM slots are colored either white or black to help distinguish the memory channels.

Supported Memory Types and Capacities

Two types of memory can be used with the PowerEdge R7525: ECC Registered (RDIMMs) and Load Reduced (LRDIMMs). Module capacities of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB are supported by the R7525 server. One thing to note is that 128GB modules can only be used with Load Reduced. With LRDIMMs, an overall greater RAM capacity can be reached than if you were to use RDIMMs. With RDIMMs, the greatest possible configuration is 2TB (2048GB) with 32x64GB. With LRDIMMs, you can reach 4TB (4096GB) with a configuration of 32x128GB.

Supported Memory Speeds

The PowerEdge R7525 server supports memory speeds of 2666MT/s, 2933MT/s, and 3200MT/s. The processor that you install into your server will determine the maximum memory speed that your DIMMs can operate at. If you install a processor with that supports a lower maximum speed than the speeds you have installed, then the memory modules will clock down to the maximum supported speed. For example, if the installed processor supports a max speed of 2666MT/s, and you install 2933MT/s modules, the modules will operate at 2666MT/s.

The PowerEdge R7525 has many potential storage options that are compatible. The chassis of the R7525 determines whether you can install 2.5” or 3.5” drives. If your system has a rear drive kit, then you can install an additional two 3.5” drives. The R7525 accepts HDDs, SSDs, and M.2s. Supported drive interfaces are: SATA, SAS, and NVMe.

Supported Drives

NVMe is offers many benefits over most non-NVMe drives. NVMe drives bring major performance gains to your system. If you are wondering if the R7525 supports NVMe, the answer is yes!

U.2 NVMe and Backplane NVMe

Out of the five chassis options for the Dell PowerEdge R7525, only one supports U.2 NVMe drives. The 24 Bay SFF chassis has an NVMe capable backplane, meaning that you can install NVMe U.2 drives into the system’s drive bays. The 8 Bay LFF, 12 Bay LFF, 8 Bay SFF, and 16 Bay SFF chassis only supports SAS and SATA drives.

M.2 NVMe

Up to two M.2 drives can be installed into the PowerEdge R7525 via a BOSS S2 card, but NVMe drives cannot be used. Only non-NVMe M.2 drives can be used with the Dell BOSS S2 card, meaning there is no M.2 NVMe solutions for the PowerEdge R7525. The BOSS S1 can also be used to install M.2 drives, but the S1 does not support NVMe either.

The Dell PowerEdge 7525 can accept up to two hot-swap power supply units (PSUs). Hot-swap means that the PSUs can be added or removed while the server is powered on, as long as one unit remains plugged into the system.

Wattages

Wattage options for the PowerEdge R7525 are 800W, 1100W, and 1400W, and 2400W. For more power-intensive applications, a 1400W or 2400W power supply is the best choice. For lower end applications, a 800W or 1400W power supply works just fine.

Voltages

Voltage options for the R7525 are Mixed Mode and -48VDC. Mixed Mode power supplies support a power input of 100-240VAC or 240VDC. -48VDC power supplies support a power input of (-48)-(-60) VDC. Mixed mode options are only available with 800W, 1100W, 1400W, 2400W power supplies. -48VDC power supplies are only available with 1100W. It is important to make sure that your connection is supported by your power supply, or your system may not power on.

In order to connect a server to the Internet, it will need some type of Network Interface Card (NIC). A NIC can manifest as ports that are built-in to the motherboard. It can also manifest as an additional card that can be installed into the system. The PowerEdge R7525 has two RJ45 Ethernet ports built into the back of the motherboard. You can also install one OCP NIC card into the back of the PowerEdge R7525.