Cisco UCS C240 M7 Upgrade Guide
Maximize the performance and lifespan of your UCS C240 M7 (M7). Every upgrade option below is verified compatible.
Verified Specifications
| Processor Options | 2 sockets (1 or 2): 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable up to 64 cores per CPU (DDR5-5600), or 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable up to 60 cores per CPU (DDR5-4800) |
| Memory Configuration | 32 DIMM slots (16 per CPU), DDR5-5600 (5th Gen) or DDR5-4800 (4th Gen), DIMM capacity points up to 256GB; up to 8TB (32x256GB) in 2-socket config |
| Drive Configurations | 2U SFF: UCSC-C240-M7SX up to 24 front SAS/SATA or NVMe SSDs (up to 4 direct-attach NVMe) + storage-centric risers add up to 4 rear SFF (SAS/SATA or NVMe Gen4) = up to 28; UCSC-C240-M7SN up to 24 front NVMe (direct-attach Gen4 x2) + 4 rear; I/O-centric option gives up to 8 PCIe slots instead |
| Power Supply Options | Up to 2 hot-swap PSUs, 1+1 redundant: 1050W DC, 1200W AC, 1600W AC, 2300W AC |
| RAID Controllers | One or two internal controllers: Cisco 24G Tri-mode RAID w/cache backup for up to 16 drives (UCSC-RAID-HP) or up to 32 drives (UCSC-RAID-MP1L32); Cisco 12G RAID controller w/cache backup; Cisco 24G Tri-mode pass-through HBA (UCSC-HBA-M1L16, 16 drives); Cisco 12G SAS pass-through HBA |
| Networking Options | 1GbE mgmt port; mLOM/OCP 3.0 slot up to 2x100GbE: VIC 15428 4x10/25/50G, VIC 15427 4x10/25/50G, VIC 15238 2x40/100/200G, VIC 15237 2x40/100/200G; PCIe: VIC 15425, VIC 15235; OCP 3.0 NICs incl. Intel X710 2x10Gbase-T and 25G/100G OCP options |
| 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 Networking
Stepping up from 1GbE to 10GbE or 25GbE eliminates network bottlenecks for VM migration, iSCSI storage traffic, and backup windows. Most modern workloads benefit from at least 10GbE.
Cisco GPU Power Cable for NVIDIA H100 (C240 M7)
Cisco NVIDIA A100 40GB GPU Card
Cisco NVIDIA A100 40GB PCIe GPU
Cisco NVIDIA A100 80GB GPU Card
Cisco NVIDIA A100 Passive GPU 300W 80GB for Cisco UCS X-series
Cisco NVIDIA A100 PCIe Gpu, 80GB Hbm2e, 300W
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 Bronze 3508U (5TH Gen, 8C) for X-series Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 5415+ 2.9GHz 8C/16T 150W Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 5418Y 2.0GHz 24C/48T 185W Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 5512U (5TH Gen) for X-series Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 5515+ (5TH Gen) for C-series Processor
Cisco Intel Xeon Gold 5515+ (5TH Gen) for X-series 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 C240 M7 Resources
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