The bench notes
Server guides & buying advice
Model comparisons, platform explainers and configuration advice — written from the hardware we refurbish, test and ship every day.
HPE ProLiant
HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen10: Small Chassis, Full Platform
The DL360 Gen10 fits a full two-socket Xeon Scalable platform into 1U: 24 DIMM slots, up to ten SFF bays, Smart Array RAID, and iLO 5....
DL380 Gen9
HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9: The Platform That Refuses to Age
The DL380 Gen9 is fully understood hardware with no surprises left in it. Here is what the E5-2600 v3/v4 platform still does well, where its four...
DL380 Gen10
HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10: Why It Became the Default 2U
A practical breakdown of the DL380 Gen10 platform: Socket P processors, six memory channels per CPU, drive cage choices, PCIe and FlexibleLOM layout, and iLO 5....
Buying guide
Dell R730 or HPE DL380 Gen9? A Straight Comparison
Same Xeon E5 v3/v4 silicon, same 24 DIMM slots, same PCIe 3.0. The choice between a PowerEdge R730 and a ProLiant DL380 Gen9 comes down to...
Buying guide
HPE DL360 Gen9 vs Gen10: The 1U Workhorse Compared
Both are 1U, two-socket ProLiants, but the socket, memory controller, NVMe support and management silicon are different. Here is what actually separates a DL360 Gen9 from...
Buying guide
HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 vs Gen10: What Actually Changed
The DL380 Gen9 and Gen10 look almost identical in the rack, but the socket, memory channels, storage controllers and management processor all changed. Here is what...
HPE ProLiant
When Blades Make Sense (and When They Do Not)
Blade systems compress astonishing compute into shared chassis - and bind every decision to that chassis afterward. The genuine cases for refurbished blade infrastructure, the assumptions...
HPE ProLiant
SAN Starter: What an MSA 2050 Actually Does
Entry SANs like the MSA 2050 solve one problem: shared block storage that survives a controller failure. What the dual-controller design means, how hosts connect, where...
HPE ProLiant
ML350 Gen9 vs Gen10: Tower Platform Steps
HPE's big tower moved from E5 v3/v4 to Xeon Scalable without changing its office-friendly nature. What Gen10 adds over Gen9 in practice - memory channels, NVMe...
HPE ProLiant
HPE DL560 Gen9: Four Sockets in 2U
The DL560 Gen9 compresses four E5-4600 sockets and 96 DIMM slots' worth of ambition into standard 2U depth. Who actually needs quad-socket, what the density costs,...
HPE ProLiant
HPE DL385 Gen10: The EPYC ProLiant Explained
The DL385 Gen10 swapped Xeons for AMD EPYC and changed the arithmetic: more cores, eight memory channels and a flood of PCIe lanes per socket. What...
HPE ProLiant
HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen9: Dense 1U on a Budget
The DL360 Gen9 packs the full two-socket Haswell/Broadwell platform into one rack unit - 24 DIMM slots included. Where the compact chassis shines, what it costs...
HPE ProLiant
iLO Advanced: Which Features Are Worth It
iLO Standard shows you the server; Advanced lets you run it from anywhere - graphical console past POST, virtual media, directory integration. What sits at each...