R760 (Dell 16G) vs DL380 Gen11 (HPE current). Both are current-generation DDR5 platforms. Both target the same refresh cycle for enterprises retiring 14G/Gen10 fleets. The decision here is rarely technical — it is about channel, licensing, and which vendor gets the renewal signature.
At a glance
| Spec | PowerEdge R760 | ProLiant DL380 Gen11 |
|---|---|---|
| Generation | 16G (Dell) | Gen11 (HPE) |
| CPU sockets | 2 | 2 |
| Max memory | 4TB DDR5 | 4TB DDR5 |
| Drive bays | 16 SFF | 24 SFF |
| End of sale | still shipping | still shipping |
| End of support | not announced | not announced |
| Lifecycle | current | current |
| Remote management | iDRAC 9 Enterprise | iLO 5 Advanced |
| RAID family | PERC H730/H740P/H750/H755 | Smart Array P408/P816/MR416i-p/MR216i-p |
| OEM support plan | ProSupport / ProSupport Plus (4-hour mission-critical) | Foundation Care / Proactive Care (24×7 Call-to-Repair) |
Platform and silicon
R760: Intel Xeon Scalable Gen4/Gen5 (Sapphire Rapids, Emerald Rapids), 32 DDR5-4800/5600 slots, 4TB, PCIe Gen5, optional GPU bays. DL380 Gen11: same CPU family, same DDR5, same 4TB, same PCIe Gen5. Real-world benchmarks within 2-4% for typical virtualization and database workloads. The silicon is identical.
BMC and remote management: iDRAC 9 Enterprise vs iLO 5 Advanced
iDRAC 10 on R760 (the first iDRAC major version bump in 6 years) vs iLO 6 on Gen11 in late production. iDRAC 10 brings container-native telemetry and OpenTelemetry export. iLO 6 adds Redfish profile conformance improvements. Both now ship GraphQL endpoints in late 2025 firmware. Operationally: whichever your team knows better wins.
Storage and RAID
R760: 16 SFF SAS/SATA/NVMe or 8 EDSFF E3.S with PERC H965i-p. Gen11: 24 SFF or 12 EDSFF E3.S with MR416i-p Gen5. For raw NVMe density in 2U, Gen11’s 12 EDSFF config edges out R760’s 8. For SAS/SATA footprint, R760’s 16 SFF is industry-standard.
Firmware and tooling ecosystem
Dell Lifecycle Controller on R760 now includes Lifecycle Controller 4.0 with infrastructure-as-code via Ansible RedFish collection. HPE OneView 10 offers similar infrastructure-as-code via Terraform provider. Both have matured to the point where greenfield DevOps teams can pick either and not regret it.
Total cost of ownership: 3-year and 5-year horizons
New R760 configured: $10,000-$14,000 USD. New DL380 Gen11: $12,000-$16,000 USD. HPE typically lists 10-15% higher out the gate but discounts more aggressively through channel. Net price after discount is usually within 5%. 3-year support: ProSupport Plus $2,000-$2,800, Foundation Care $2,200-$3,000. ICD Care+ $900-$1,200/year for either.
Refurb market reality
Both are current-gen. Refurb supply is minimal — maybe 2-5% of new availability in 2026. Real refurb market for R760 opens 2027; Gen11 opens 2028. For 2026 purchasing, both are priced as new platforms.
Third-party maintenance vs OEM renewal
OEM renewal on year 4+ will eventually get expensive — both Dell and HPE raise support costs roughly 10-12% per year after year 3. ICD Care+ pricing is flat over the life of the contract. Customers planning 8-10 year operational life on R760 or Gen11 save materially by starting with 3-year OEM then transitioning to ICD Care+ in year 4.
When PowerEdge R760 is the right call
R760 when: Dell dominates your rack; VMware + iDRAC is your standard; ProSupport Plus 4-hour mission-critical fits your SLA profile; capex allocation favors Dell channel.
When ProLiant DL380 Gen11 wins
Gen11 when: HPE is incumbent; GreenLake consumption pricing interests you (HPE’s pay-per-use model, unique to HPE); Aruba networking is already in the rack; InfoSight predictive telemetry delivers real ROI in your ops model.
ICD stock today
PowerEdge R760: 591 Dell memory SKUs; 2961 SSD SKUs; 5623 HDD SKUs; 936 RAID controller SKUs; 128 PSU SKUs.
ProLiant DL380 Gen11: 1353 HPE memory SKUs; 4724 SSD SKUs; 4288 HDD SKUs; 1167 RAID controller SKUs; 34 PSU SKUs.
Both platforms ship from our Cairo warehouse with same-day dispatch on in-stock parts. Cross-reference sheets, firmware bundles, and compatibility checks come free with every quote. Need parts for both sides of a mixed estate? One ICD quote covers every brand you run.
Typical workload fit
R760 shines for GPU-accelerated workloads (PERC H965i with tri-mode, 8 NVMe EDSFF option), VMware NSX and NSX-T distributed routing, and large VMware clusters where OpenManage Enterprise fleet-firmware orchestration matters. DL380 Gen11 wins on SAP HANA certified BOM, Aruba-networked ProLiant plus Aruba CX fabric, and GreenLake consumption model buyers. Both handle mainstream virtualization identically.
Known failure modes
R760 early-production units had occasional iDRAC 10 Redfish endpoint inconsistencies — resolved in firmware 1.10+. DL380 Gen11 early-production units had iLO 6 GraphQL endpoint hardening — resolved in firmware 1.66+. Both platforms ship current from ICD.
Refresh cadence
Expect R760 to hit end-of-sale around 2028-2029 and EOSL 2033-2034 based on Dell’s historical pattern. DL380 Gen11 similar window. Both give 7+ years of OEM runway from 2026 purchase. Beyond OEM, ICD Care+ extends useful life materially.
Frequently asked
Which is easier for a Kubernetes bare-metal cluster? Parity. Both support Cluster API providers. Dell has a slight edge in OpenShift integration via Dell validated designs; HPE has tight alignment with Ezmeral.
Related: PowerEdge R760 parts catalog | ProLiant DL380 Gen11 parts catalog | ICD Care+ single-vendor-agnostic support.