HPE ProLiant DL380 G6 Upgrade Guide
Maximize the performance and lifespan of your ProLiant DL380 G6 (G6). Every upgrade option below is verified compatible.
Verified Specifications
| Processor Options | 2 sockets; Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series (six-core X5670/X5660/X5650; quad-core X55xx/E55xx/L55xx); max 6 cores/CPU |
| Memory Configuration | 18 DDR3 DIMM slots (RDIMM or UDIMM); max 192GB RDIMM (12 x 16GB quad-rank; 144GB with 18 x 8GB); 48GB UDIMM |
| Drive Configurations | 8 SFF SAS/SATA hot-plug bays standard; optional second cage for 16 SFF total; optional 6 LFF cage; max 9.6TB SFF SAS (16 x 600GB) |
| Power Supply Options | HP Common Slot hot-plug, redundant optional (1+1): 460W HE, 750W CS HE, 1200W options (three right-size outputs) |
| RAID Controllers | HP Smart Array P410i embedded (Zero Memory Entry; 256MB Base; 512MB BBWC Performance; upgrades 256MB/512MB BBWC/512MB FBWC/1G FBWC) |
| Networking Options | Two HP NC382i Dual Port Multifunction Gigabit Server Adapters (4 x 1Gb ports) + iLO 2 |
| Specification Source | HPE official documentation (verified 2026-07-03) |
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.
07N8808 147-GB ULTRA320 SCSI HP 10K
07N8818 73.4-GB ULTRA320 SCSI HP 10K
07N9418 147-GB ULTRA320 SCSI HP 10K
07N9428 73.4-GB ULTRA320 SCSI HP 10K
08K0293 Hitachi 36-GB ULTRA320 SCSI HP 10K
08K0312 36-GB ULTRA320 SCSI HP 10K
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.
174225-B21 HPE 256MB RDIMM SDRAM-133 PC-133R ECC Memory
286763-B21 HP Modular Smart Array BL30P
310480-B21 HPE 512MB RDIMM DDR-266 PC-2100R ECC Memory
317093-B21 HPE 2GB RDIMM SDRAM-133 PC-133R ECC Memory
450259-B21 HPE 1GB RDIMM DDR2-800 PC2-6400R ECC Memory
459932-001 HPE 1GB RDIMM DDR2-800 PC2-6400R ECC Memory
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.
012760-002 HP Smart Array P400 256MB
124992-291 HPE Smart Array 5302/64 RAID Controller
124992-B21 HP Smart Array 5302/64 RAID Controller
124992R-B21 HP Smart Array 5302/64 RAID Controller (remanufactured)
158939-291 HP Smart Array 5304/128 RAID Controller
158939-B21 HP Smart Array 5304/128 Controller
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.
138662-001 HP ML570R P3 700MHZ 512MB G1
157825-001 HP Pentium III Voltage Regulator Module
167121-001 HP P3 Xeon 800MHZ ML530 G1
179616 HPE Intel Xeon Piii 700MHZ Processor DL580 DL570
180286-001 HP ML530R G2 Xeon 1-GB 2.4GHZ Rack
201201-001 HP DL580R G2 Xeon 1.4GHZ 1-GB Rack Server
More ProLiant DL380 G6 Resources
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