Dell PowerEdge R960 Upgrade Guide
Maximize the performance and lifespan of your PowerEdge R960 (16G). Every upgrade option below is verified compatible.
Verified Specifications
| Processor Options | Up to 4x 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable, up to 60 cores each |
| Memory Configuration | 64 DDR5 DIMM slots, RDIMM 16TB max, 4800 MT/s |
| Drive Configurations | Up to 32x 2.5in SAS/SATA (491TB) or 24x NVMe (368TB) |
| Power Supply Options | 1100W-2800W Titanium, 1400W/2400W Platinum; hot-swap redundant |
| GPU Options | Up to 4x 400W DW |
| Specification Source | Dell official documentation (verified 2026-07-02) |
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
005052919 Dell Powerstore 1.92TB 2.5" SSD
005053076 Dell Powerstore 1.92TB 2.5" SSD
005053077 Dell Powerstore 1.92TB 2.5" SSD
0086DD Dell 1.92-TB 12G 2.5 SAS RI SSD W/G176J
00FYFW Dell 1.92-TB 12G 2.5 SAS RI SSD W/G176J
00J77H Dell 1.8-TB 12G 10K 2.5 SAS W/G176J
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.
013MJR Emulex LPE16000 16GB/S FC PCI-E HBA
0187V Dell QLogic QLE2660 1 Port 16GB SFP HBA
01HD39 Dell Pe 12GB/S SAS HBA Controller
01KK8W Dell Sanblade FC DP PCI-E HBA
01KPGF Dell Sanblade FC DP PCI-E HBA
01NNXD Dell Lsi 9300-8E 12GB/S PCI-E HBA
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.
011JPY Dell R750XS High Performance Fan
02PVRX Dell Precision T5820 Cooling Fan
050G83 Dell Poweredge R340 R350 Server CPU Cooling Fan
08PMK Dell Titanium 2800W Rpsu 200-240V (50/60HZ)
08PXM2 Dell Precision T5820 Cooling Fan
090XRN Dell CPU Fan for Pe R710
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.
338-CBXW Dell Intel Xeon Platinum 8452Y 2.0GHZ 36C/72T 300W
338-CHOV Dell Intel Xeon Platinum 8468 2.1GHZ 48C/96T 350W
338-CHSL Dell Intel Xeon Gold 5416S 2.0GHZ 16C/32T 150W DDR5-4400
338-CLVY Dell Intel Xeon Gold 5416S 2.0GHZ 16C/32T 150W DDR5-4400 (customer Install)
338-CLVZ Dell Intel Xeon Gold 6438Y+ 2.0GHZ 32C/64T 205W DDR5-4800
Dell Intel Xeon Gold 5415+ 8C/16T 2.9GHz 150W FCLGA4677 (Gen4 (Sapphire Rapids))
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.
370-AGRG Dell 128GB 2Rx8 RDIMM DDR5-4800 PC5-38400R ECC Memory
370-AGYZ Dell 32GB 2Rx8 RDIMM DDR5-4800 PC5-38400R ECC Memory
370-AGZN Dell 16GB 1Rx8 RDIMM DDR5-4800 PC5-38400R ECC Memory
370-AGZO Dell 16GB 1Rx8 RDIMM DDR5-4800 PC5-38400R ECC Memory
370-AGZP Dell 32GB 2Rx8 RDIMM DDR5-4800 PC5-38400R ECC Memory
370-AGZQ Dell 64GB 2Rx4 RDIMM DDR5-4800 PC5-38400R ECC Memory
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.
00M95 Dell Intel XXV710 DA2 2 Port 25GB Ethernet Network Adapter
06WMMV Dell Broadcom 57414 25GB DUAL-PORT Network Card
20NJD Mellanox CX4121C 25GBE Dual Port Low Profile Network Card
24GFD Dell/Broadcom 57414 Dual Port 25GB SFP PCIe NIC (low Profile)
275YF Dell Broadcom 57414 Dual Port 10/25GBE SFP28 Adapter, PCIe Low Profile V2
406-BBLC Dell Mellanox CONNECTX-4 Lx Dual Port 25GBE SFP28 Network Adapter Low Profile
More PowerEdge R960 Resources
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