Cisco UCS C220 M5 Upgrade Guide
Maximize the performance and lifespan of your UCS C220 M5 (M5). Every upgrade option below is verified compatible.
Verified Specifications
| Processor Options | 2 sockets (1 or 2) 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, up to 28 cores per CPU (e.g. Platinum 8280/8280L 28C); Intel C621 chipset |
| Memory Configuration | 24 DIMM slots, DDR4 RDIMM/LRDIMM/TSV up to 256GB per DIMM (DDR4-2933/3200) + Intel Optane PMem support; up to 9TB (12x256GB DDR4 + 12x512GB PMem) |
| Drive Configurations | 1U SFF, 10 front bays: UCSC-C220-M5SX up to 10 SAS/SATA HDD/SSD (bays 1-2 optionally NVMe); UCSC-C220-M5SN up to 10 NVMe PCIe SSDs only; plus dual M.2 SATA or dual SD, internal USB 3.0 |
| Power Supply Options | Up to 2 hot-swap PSUs, 1+1 redundant: 770W AC, 1050W AC, 1050W DC, 1600W AC, 1050W ELV AC |
| RAID Controllers | Embedded SW RAID via SATA interposer (up to 8 SATA drives); Cisco 12G SAS RAID controller in dedicated slot (10 drives, RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60 + JBOD); Cisco 12G SAS HBA (JBOD/pass-through); Cisco 12G 9400-8e HBA for external JBOD |
| Networking Options | 2x 10Gbase-T Intel X550 embedded LOM + 1GbE mgmt; mLOM slot: VIC 1387 2x40G, VIC 1457 4x10/25G, VIC 1497 2x100G, Intel i350 quad 1GbE; PCIe: VIC 1385 2x40G, VIC 1455 4x10/25G, VIC 1495 2x100G |
| Specification Source | Cisco official documentation (verified 2026-07-02) |
Upgrade Storage
Moving from spinning disk to SSD or NVMe storage provides the largest single performance improvement — often 10-50x faster I/O. Consider NVMe for boot drives and high-IOPS workloads.
Cisco 1.2-TB 12G 10K 2.5 SAS HDD
Cisco 1.6TB 2.5" SFF Enterprise Performance 12Gb/s SAS SSD (3X DWPD)
Cisco 1.6TB 2.5" U.2 NVMe Intel P5600 High Perf Medium Endurance SSD
Cisco 1.6TB 2.5" U.2 NVMe Intel P5620 High Perf High Endurance (3X) SSD
Cisco 1.6TB NVMe High Perf SSD 2.5"
Cisco 1.6TB NVMe SFF 2.5" Intel 3 DWPD High Endurance
Upgrade Power & Cooling
This category provides verified compatible upgrade paths. ICD engineers validate every part for compatibility with your specific server model and workload requirements.
Cisco 2811 Fan Kit CISCO2811 Fan Kit
Cisco 36076 04 Cooling Fan for UCS C240 M3
Cisco Air Duct for Intel 5TH Gen Xeon Processors (C220 M7)
Cisco C5020 Fan Fan Module for Nexus 5020 Series
Cisco Catalyst 3850 Type 1 Replacement Fan Module
Cisco Catalyst 9300 Fan Tray
Upgrade Controllers
Upgrading your RAID controller enables faster disk I/O, larger cache, and support for newer drive technologies. Essential when adding NVMe or SAS-4 drives.
Cisco 12G Modular SAS 6-PORT HBA Controller Card (UCSC-SAS-M5HD)
Cisco 12G Modular SAS HBA Max 26 Drives for UCS C-series M5
Cisco 24G SAS HBA (Tri-Mode pass-through) for UCS C-Series M7
Cisco M6 12G SAS HBA 32 Drives for UCS C-series M6
Upgrade Processors
CPU upgrades deliver more cores and higher clock speeds. If your workload is CPU-bound (compilation, analytics, HPC), upgrading from 8-core to 16+ core processors provides significant throughput improvement.
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 6226R 2.9GHz 16-Core 150W Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 6248R 3.0GHz 24-Core 205W Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 6252 2.1GHz 24-Core 150W Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Platinum 8276 2.2GHz 28-Core 165W Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Silver 4210R 2.4GHz 10-Core 100W Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Silver 4214R 2.4GHz 12-Core 100W Processor
Upgrade Memory
Memory is the most impactful upgrade for virtualization and database workloads. Upgrading from 64GB to 128GB or 256GB can dramatically improve VM density and application response times.
Cisco 128GB DDR4 LRDIMM 3200MHz 4DRx4 3DS Memory
Cisco 128GB DDR4 LRDIMM 3200MHz 4Rx4 Memory
Cisco 128GB DDR5 RDIMM 4800MHz 4Rx4 3DS ECC Memory
Cisco 128GB DDR5 RDIMM 4800MHz 4Rx4 Memory
Cisco 128GB DDR5 RDIMM 4800MHz 4Rx4 Memory (UCS X-Series)
Cisco 128GB DDR5 RDIMM 5600MHz 4Rx4 3DS ECC Memory
More UCS C220 M5 Resources
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