Dell PowerEdge R730 vs R740 — Legacy Platform to 14G
The R730 was Dell’s workhorse from 2014 through 2019. Every major Egyptian bank, several Moroccan telcos, and the bulk of the Gulf enterprise mid-market ran on R730 fleets. Dell publishes no fixed end-of-support date for PowerEdge; ProSupport coverage ends per service tag, and Dell ended iDRAC8 firmware fixes in February 2024. Teams still running R730s have three paths: extend with ICD Care+ TPM, refresh to R740 (14G), or jump two generations to R750. This page covers the most common step — R730 to R740.
Spec comparison
| Metric | R730 (13G) | R740 (14G) |
|---|---|---|
| Released | September 2014 | July 2017 |
| CPU family | Xeon E5-2600 v3 (Haswell) / v4 (Broadwell) | Xeon Scalable Gen 1/2 (Skylake / Cascade Lake) |
| Max cores/socket | 22 (E5-2699 v4) | 28 (Gold 6258R) |
| Max memory | 1.5TB DDR4 DDR4-2400 | 3TB DDR4 DDR4-2933 |
| DIMMs | 24 | 24 |
| PCIe | Gen 3 × 40 lanes | Gen 3 × 48 lanes |
| Drive bays | 16 SFF / 8 LFF | 16 SFF / 8 LFF |
| RAID | PERC H330/H730/H730P/H830 | PERC H330/H730P/H740P/HBA330 |
| OEM support | Per service tag | Per service tag |
What the jump actually buys you
Xeon E5 v4 to Scalable Gen 1 is a bigger architectural shift than Gen 1 to Gen 2. New socket (LGA 2011-3 → LGA 3647). New mesh interconnect (ring bus replaced by mesh). New memory controller (4 channels per socket → 6). The R740 delivers roughly 25–35 % more memory bandwidth per socket at equivalent DIMM count, and roughly 27 % more cores in a fully-loaded chassis.
PCIe lane count increased from 40 per socket to 48 per socket — a small number with a real impact when you populate three HBAs plus a 25 GbE NIC plus a GPU.
The memory question
R730 uses DDR4 RDIMM/LRDIMM at 1866 / 2133 / 2400 MHz. R740 moves to DDR4 at 2133 / 2400 / 2666 / 2933. Some DIMM sticks overlap — a 2400 MHz RDIMM validated in an R730 will train in an R740 at 2400 MHz. You do not need to replace memory if you’re OK running the new chassis at Gen 1/2-era memory speeds.
But the R740 native top speed of 2933 MHz is real bandwidth you paid for. For a full refresh, re-spec memory to current-era Dell PNs: 370-ADVZ, 370-ADWK, 370-AEOI, 370-AEPP.
Representative R730-era memory: 1VRGY, CG17D, D715X (late-production high end).
RAID migration
R730 typical build: PERC H730 (1GB or 2GB cache).
R740 standard: PERC H730P (retained from 13G with revised firmware) or H740P (new 14G flagship). Dell carried the H730P forward specifically to ease the R730 → R740 migration — the controller boots in both chassis. PERC 10 family PN: 0878M.
Storage re-use
2.5″ SAS SSDs and HDDs in the R730 use Gen 13 drive caddies. The R740 uses revised Gen 14 caddies — physically similar but latch geometry differs. Drives themselves (the bare disk) move forward. Caddies do not. Budget for one caddy per swapped drive (quoted per part) if you’re re-using a 16-drive tier.
Real R730-era HDD PNs we supply: 01M0D, 029V4. SAS SSDs: 0184M, 01Y7M, 03VVP, 03XGD.
What the R730 still does well
If you have a working R730 doing file-share duty, domain-controller duty, a small Oracle instance, or backup target — the CPU and memory are still well-matched to those loads. Dell ProSupport ended but ICD Care+ TPM extends hardware coverage 3–5 years with on-site SLA levels set per contract.
For R730 replacement parts ICD supplies: CPUs (077DY, 307G2), memory, caddies, fans, PSU (061XT, 0G34N, 1JDDV, 1Y45R, 38GYJ), and PERC controllers.
Migration options in plain numbers
- Stay on R730 with ICD Care+: quoted per node per year, covers hardware and on-site support, with SLA levels set per contract.
- Refresh to R740 refurb: chassis plus memory (pick R740-spec), possibly re-using drives, quoted per configuration.
- Refresh to R740 new (limited availability): quoted per configuration, depending on spec.
- Jump to R750: see the R740 vs R750 comparison.
ICD advice
For most Egypt and Morocco customers the right answer is ICD Care+ for one more year then R750 refurb. Skipping the R740 step is fine if your CapEx window is tight — going 13G to 15G in one jump avoids paying for an intermediate refresh. For Gulf customers with larger IT budgets and audit pressure, R740 refurb makes less sense than R750 refurb and the premium is small.
For parts or refresh quotes: open an RFQ. WhatsApp direct +20 104 022 2214 for urgent R730 spares.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I move my R730 memory into a new R740 chassis?
Partly. A 2400 MHz RDIMM validated in an R730 will train in an R740 at 2400 MHz, so you do not have to replace it if that speed is acceptable. The R740 natively runs DDR4-2933, though, so a full refresh should re-spec memory to current numbers such as 370-ADVZ or 370-AEPP.
Do R730 drive caddies fit into the R740?
No. The bare drives move forward, but the caddies do not. The R730 uses Gen 13 caddies and the R740 uses revised Gen 14 caddies that look similar but have different latch geometry. Plan for one new caddy per drive if you are re-using a 16-drive tier.
Will my PERC H730P controller work after the move to an R740?
The H730P boots in both chassis, as Dell carried it forward to ease the R730 to R740 migration. The R740 standard options are the H730P with revised firmware or the newer H740P flagship from the PERC 10 family.