Cisco UCS C225 M8 Upgrade Guide
Maximize the performance and lifespan of your UCS C225 M8 (M8). Every upgrade option below is verified compatible.
Verified Specifications
| Processor Options | 1 socket (single-socket only), AMD EPYC 9005 Series (up to 160 cores) or EPYC 9004 / 97x4 / 9004 with 3D V-Cache (up to 128 cores) |
| Memory Configuration | 12 DIMM slots (RDIMM); up to 3 TB - 12x 256 GB DDR5-6400 (with 5th Gen EPYC) or 12x 128 GB DDR5-5600 (with 4th Gen EPYC) |
| Drive Configurations | Up to 10x 2.5-inch SFF front drives: C225-M8S - 10x SAS/SATA/NVMe (bays 1-4 direct-attach NVMe); C225-M8N - 10x NVMe only; plus 2x M.2 SATA on boot-optimized RAID carrier; 8GB FlexMMC |
| Power Supply Options | Up to 2 hot-swappable (1+1 redundant): 1050 W DC, 1200 W AC, 1600 W AC, or 2300 W AC |
| RAID Controllers | Cisco Tri-Mode 24G SAS RAID Controller, 24G Tri-Mode M1 HBA (16 drives), or 24G Tri-Mode M1 RAID Controller w/4GB FBWC; external: Cisco 12G 9500-8e SAS HBA |
| Networking Options | 1x mLOM/OCP 3.0 slot (up to 2x 100GbE): Cisco VIC 15427 quad-port CNA mLOM, VIC 15237 2x 40/100/200G mLOM, or OCP 3.0 NIC; PCIe: VIC 15425 quad-port 10/25/50G, VIC 15235 2x 40/100/200G |
| 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 1.6TB 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
Cisco 1.6TB SAS Enterprise Value SSD 2.5"
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 AMD EPYC 9454 48-Core 2.75GHz 290W (256MB L3) 4th Gen EPYC Genoa
Cisco AMD EPYC 9534 64-Core 2.45GHz 280W (256MB L3) 4th Gen EPYC Genoa
Cisco AMD EPYC 9654 96-Core 2.4GHz 360W (384MB L3) 4th Gen EPYC Genoa
Cisco Intel Xeon 6710E 64-Core 2.4GHz 205W (96MB cache) Intel Xeon 6
Cisco Intel Xeon 6740P 48-Core 2.1GHz 270W (288MB cache) Intel Xeon 6
Cisco Intel Xeon 6747P 48-Core 2.7GHz 330W (288MB cache) Intel Xeon 6
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 C225 M8 Resources
Ready to upgrade your UCS C225 M8?
Tell us your current configuration and workload. Our engineers will recommend the most impactful upgrades with guaranteed compatibility.
Get Upgrade Quote