Dell PowerEdge R720: Is It Still Worth Buying in 2026?

The Dell PowerEdge R720 is one of the cheapest capable 2U servers you can buy, and that price reflects real trade-offs. This covers what you get, what you give up, and when it is genuinely the right purchase.

What is the Dell PowerEdge R720?

A dual-socket 2U rack server using socket LGA 2011, supporting Intel Xeon E5-2600 v1 and v2 processors, with DDR3 memory across 24 DIMM slots and iDRAC7 remote management.

The DDR3 point is the important one. This is a generation older than the R730, and DDR3 and DDR4 are not interchangeable — different modules, different slots, different memory controller.

R720 vs R730: what is the difference?

Four things, and they compound.

Memory generation. R720 uses DDR3, R730 uses DDR4. Nothing transfers, in either direction.

Processor family and socket. R720 takes E5-2600 v1 and v2 on LGA 2011; R730 takes v3 and v4 on LGA 2011-3. Despite similar names these are different sockets.

Performance per watt. The R720 is meaningfully behind, which means higher running cost for the same work — our TCO guide covers why that accumulates faster than people expect.

Support runway. Being a generation older, the R720 loses operating system and hypervisor support sooner, and in some cases already has.

Against all that, the R720 costs considerably less to buy. The question is whether that saving survives contact with the running costs.

Is a PowerEdge R720 still worth buying?

Being straightforward, because this is the whole question.

Where it makes genuine sense:

Lab and test environments, where the machine is not on continuously and capability matters more than efficiency.

Backup targets and file servers, where the workload is modest and the machine mostly waits.

Matching an existing R720 fleet, where you already hold DDR3 memory, carriers and spares. This is the strongest case — parts you already own cost nothing.

Learning and home lab use, where the low entry price is the point.

Where it does not:

Anything running continuously under load. The power difference against a newer generation adds up, and over a few years it can exceed the purchase saving entirely.

Anything needing current operating system or hypervisor support. Check what your intended version supports before buying, not after — our compatibility guide covers checking against the version you are moving to.

Anything with per-core software licensing. Older cores deliver less work per licensed core, so the licence cost per unit of output is worse.

The honest test: work out the power cost over your intended ownership period and add it to the purchase price. If the total still beats a newer machine, buy it with confidence. Frequently it does for intermittent workloads and does not for continuous ones.

R720 memory: what type and how much?

24 DIMM slots taking DDR3 registered ECC memory, twelve per processor.

Three points specific to this platform.

DDR3 server memory is cheap, which is a real advantage. Where you need a large total on a budget, this platform delivers it for less than any DDR4 machine.

Desktop DDR3 does not work. This platform requires registered ECC modules — our module types guide covers the difference.

The usual population rules apply. A single-processor machine can populate only twelve slots, channels must be filled evenly, and speed can drop as slots fill — our memory guide covers this.

Which RAID controller does the R720 use?

Commonly a PERC H710 or H710P, and the check is the same as on any PERC machine.

The cache battery. Without a working one the controller runs write-through and write performance collapses with no error reported — no failed drive, no array warning, just a slow server. On a machine of this age the battery has very likely reached the end of its life, so treat it as a consumable to budget for rather than a component to hope about. Our PERC guide covers this.

Two further points. PERC controllers validate drive firmware, so Dell-coded drives are the safe choice. And older controllers may handle SSDs poorly, capping flash performance in ways that make an SSD upgrade pointless — check before spending on flash for this platform, as our controller guide covers.

What should I check before buying a used R720?

Five things, and the first two are age-specific.

The PERC cache battery. Very likely dead on a machine this old, and it is what makes the difference between a usable server and a slow one.

Power supply condition. Power supplies are the second most common failure after drives, and fans inside them wear out — a supply that is audibly loud is warning you. Our power supply guide covers this.

Rails, carriers and risers, which frequently do not come with used servers.

iDRAC licence, since remote console and virtual media generally need the Enterprise level and it does not always transfer.

Drive health across the whole machine, not just whether it boots. Drives installed together age together, so one at end of life usually means several — our drive health guide covers reading the indicators.

On a platform this age, holding spares matters more than on a newer one. Drives, a power supply and fans on the shelf turn a failure into a swap — our spares guide covers building that holding.

Frequently asked questions

Tell us what the machine will do and how many hours a day it will run, and we will tell you honestly whether the R720 saving survives the power cost.