Cisco UCS C480 M5 Upgrade Guide
Maximize the performance and lifespan of your UCS C480 M5 (M5). Every upgrade option below is verified compatible.
Verified Specifications
| Processor Options | 2 or 4 sockets (CPU modules of 2), 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable family, up to 28 cores per processor (up to 112 cores per server) |
| Memory Configuration | Up to 48 DIMM slots (24 per CPU module; 24 functional with 2 CPUs), DDR4 RDIMM/LRDIMM/TSV + Intel Optane PMem support; up to 12 TB DDR4 (48x 256 GB) |
| Drive Configurations | Up to 32x 2.5-inch drives: 24 front-loading bays (all SAS/SATA, 12 of them NVMe-capable) + 8 top-loading bays in auxiliary drive module; optional DVD; mini-storage 2x SD or 2x M.2 SATA |
| Power Supply Options | Up to 4x 1600 W AC hot-swappable power supplies, redundant as 2+2 (or 1+1 with two PSUs) |
| RAID Controllers | Cisco 12G Modular RAID controller UCSC-RAID-M5HD w/4GB cache (front drives), Cisco 12G 9460-8i RAID controller w/2GB cache (auxiliary drives), Cisco 12G 9400-8e SAS HBA (external JBOD) |
| Networking Options | No mLOM - PCIe VIC adapters in 12 PCIe 3.0 slots: Cisco VIC 1455 quad-port 10/25G SFP28 (UCSC-PCIE-C25Q-04), VIC 1495 dual-port 40/100G QSFP28 (UCSC-PCIE-C100-04), VIC 1385 dual-port 40G |
| 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 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 C480 M5 Resources
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