A DL380 Gen10 8SFF barebone gives you the chassis, system board, fans, backplane and iLO 5 — and nothing you need to power on. You still need at least one Xeon Scalable CPU, a matching heatsink, DDR4 RDIMMs, a power supply, drive caddies and rails. Here is the exact list, in the order it will stop you.
What a DL380 Gen10 barebone actually includes
On this platform “barebone” usually means the 2U chassis with the 8-bay 2.5-inch backplane, the system board, the fan cage, the primary PCIe riser and iLO 5. It does not mean a working server.
Two listings on our site show the range. One DL380 Gen10 8SFF barebone chassis arrives with no storage controller at all. The other DL380 Gen10 8SFF with a P408i-a arrives with the controller already fitted.
| Component | What a DL380 Gen10 needs | In a barebone | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | 1–2× Xeon Scalable, 1st or 2nd Gen, LGA3647 | No | 3rd Gen parts are LGA4189 and will not seat |
| Heatsink | One per populated socket; high-performance type for top-bin CPUs | No | Wrong heatsink shows up as a thermal shutdown |
| Memory | DDR4 RDIMM or LRDIMM, 2666 or 2933 MT/s, 12 slots per CPU | No | DDR5 and DDR3 do not fit |
| Power supply | Flexible slot, 500W / 800W / 1600W, two for redundancy | Sometimes one | The rating has to cover GPU load |
| Drive caddies | 2.5-inch Smart Carrier, one per bay in use | Rarely | A bare drive without a carrier will not seat |
| Rack rails | Chassis-specific rail kit | Usually no | Check rack depth and round vs square holes |
| Riser | Primary PCIe riser | Usually yes | Secondary and tertiary risers are separate parts |
| iLO 5 | On the system board | Yes | Advanced features need a license |
CPU, heatsink and memory: the three parts that stop a POST
The DL380 Gen10 takes Intel Xeon Scalable on socket LGA3647 — first and second generation. It does not take third-generation Ice Lake parts; those are LGA4189 and belong to the DL380 Gen10 Plus. No firmware update fixes that. If a CPU does not drop in without force, it is the wrong generation.
One populated socket is enough to POST. The second is optional, but everything wired to CPU 2 stays dark until you fit it: its twelve DIMM slots and the PCIe slots on the secondary riser. If you plan a GPU or a 100GbE NIC, budget for the second CPU up front.
Heatsinks are almost never included, and there are two types. Standard heatsinks cover the lower TDP parts; high-performance heatsinks are needed for top-bin Gold and Platinum CPUs. Fitting the wrong one gives you a thermal shutdown that reads like a dead board. Send the exact CPU part number and we will match the heatsink — this is the most common mismatch on a self-assembled Gen10.
Memory is DDR4 only: RDIMM or LRDIMM at 2666 MT/s with first-generation Scalable, 2933 with second-generation. DDR5 does not fit and no adapter changes that. Each CPU has six channels with two slots per channel — 12 DIMMs per socket, 24 in a two-socket build.
The server will POST with a single DIMM in the correct slot, and that is the trap. One DIMM per CPU means one channel out of six is active, and memory bandwidth drops to roughly a sixth of what the platform can deliver — exactly the resource that 100GbE and InfiniBand workloads consume. Six 16GB RDIMMs will beat two 32GB RDIMMs in a NIC-bound workload.
Drives, caddies, and the controller decision
8SFF means eight 2.5-inch bays. It does not mean eight drives, and it usually does not mean eight caddies. HPE 2.5-inch drives mount in a Smart Carrier; a bare drive with no carrier will not seat. A 2.4TB 10K SAS 2.5-inch drive is the right form factor and interface for this chassis, but the carrier is a different part number.
The controller choice depends on what you intend to run.
| What you plan to run | Controller to fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ESXi or Hyper-V with hardware RAID | P408i-a (2GB cache) or 9460-8i | Cache plus a healthy energy pack keeps write-back enabled |
| TrueNAS, unRAID, any ZFS pool | 9300-8i or 9500-8i HBA in IT mode | ZFS wants raw disks, not a RAID volume |
| vSAN or other software-defined storage | HBA, passed through | The hypervisor owns the disks |
| Boot mirror only, no data array | Embedded S100i (SATA only) | Keeps both PCIe slots free for NICs |
If the listing includes a P408i-a, check the energy pack. The controller carries 2GB of cache but only uses it for write-back while the battery or capacitor pack is healthy. With a missing or aged pack it falls back to write-through, and write performance drops hard — a five-minute check that explains a lot of “slow” used controllers. For TrueNAS, unRAID or any ZFS build, skip the Smart Array and fit an HBA: a 9300-8i 8-port HBA flashed to IT mode is the standard answer on this generation, and being PCIe 3.0 it matches the Gen10 slots exactly. More on that trade-off in our MegaRAID 9361 vs 9460 vs 9560 comparison.
Power, rails, and when a barebone is the wrong buy
Gen10 uses flexible-slot power supplies rated at 500W, 800W and 1600W. One unit boots the server; two give redundancy. Check the rating before adding GPUs — a 500W unit will not carry a pair of high-TDP cards, and mixing wattages leaves redundancy at the lower rating.
The rest is small and annoying. Rack rails are usually not included and are chassis-specific. Drive blanks matter for airflow when you populate fewer than eight bays. None of it is hard to source; all of it delays a build if you find out late.
Buy a barebone when you already own the CPUs, memory and drives, or when you are rebuilding from a decommissioned machine and can reuse its parts. Do not buy one if you need a running server this month and have no parts bin — a configured unit, or a 1U platform such as the Dell PowerEdge R650xs 8×2.5, will cost you less in time than assembling a 2U from scratch. Still deciding between chassis generations? Our HPE ProLiant vs Dell PowerEdge vs Supermicro comparison covers where the DL380 Gen10 sits.
FAQ
Can I use a DL380 Gen10 Plus CPU in a standard Gen10?
No. The Gen10 uses LGA3647 for first and second-generation Xeon Scalable. The Gen10 Plus uses LGA4189, so the third-generation CPU will not seat.
Do I need both CPUs to boot a DL380 Gen10?
No. One CPU in socket 1 is enough to POST. The second socket unlocks its twelve DIMM slots and the PCIe slots wired to it.
Will DDR5 memory work in a DL380 Gen10?
No. The platform is DDR4 only, RDIMM or LRDIMM, at 2666 or 2933 MT/s. DDR5 is keyed differently and will not fit.
How many DIMMs should I fit for a 100GbE workload?
Populate all six channels per CPU. Six DIMMs per socket gives full bandwidth. Fewer DIMMs cost throughput long before you run out of capacity.
Can I put 3.5-inch drives in an 8SFF chassis?
No. 8SFF is eight 2.5-inch bays. 3.5-inch drives need the LFF chassis with a different backplane and drive cage.
Send the part number and quantity and we will check availability. WhatsApp +86 13068616914 · zhongxindata.hk
What a barebone actually includes
- Typically the chassis, risers and front bezel, with the rear I/O and the base board assembly
- CPUs, memory, drives, the storage controller and the fan cage are usually not included
- Check the listing carefully — chassis bundles vary and the differences matter
The parts list to get to first boot
- Two processors on dual-socket configurations, with matching heat sinks
- Memory populated symmetrically across the channels, in the platform’s supported population pattern
- A boot drive or a boot-capable controller with at least one drive attached
The details that catch people out
- The P408i-a and similar controllers need their own cache and battery, and the fan cage is a separate line item
- Gen10 fan behaviour is different from Gen9, which matters if the unit sits in a home environment
- Third-party drives can push the fan curve to 100 percent — worth checking before buying
Related reading
- DL380 Gen10 8SFF barebone — the chassis this article is about
- Gen10 fan behaviour — the related fan article
- How to build a server — the general parts checklist
- Servers and barebones — category hub
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I need to buy to boot an HPE DL380 Gen10 barebone?
At minimum: CPUs with heat sinks, memory, a boot drive with a controller that can see it, and the fan cage if it is not included. In practice the parts people forget are the P408i-a or equivalent controller with its cache and battery, the fan cage assembly, and drive caddies. Check the exact listing for what is present, because chassis bundles differ.
Is a DL380 Gen10 barebone worth buying used?
It often is, because the chassis carries real value and its failure modes are the most visible — fans, power supplies and drive bays. It is a good fit when you already own the controller, memory and CPUs, or intend to. We test the chassis on our own line and report the fan and power-supply condition per unit.
Why do the fans run at 100 percent on a DL380 Gen10?
Gen10 fan control is more conservative than Gen9, and the curve reacts to ambient temperature, the drive configuration and the fan cage. If your chassis has third-party drives fitted, the controller may not recognise them and can hold the fans at full speed as a precaution. We will confirm the fan behaviour on the exact unit we ship.
How much memory does a DL380 Gen10 need?
The Gen10 platform supports 12 DIMM slots per socket, 24 in a dual-socket configuration, and higher-capacity modules than Gen9. Populate memory symmetrically across the channels for full bandwidth — an unbalanced set can leave channels partly unused, which is a common cause of a machine showing less memory than expected.
Which RAID controller should a DL380 Gen10 use?
The HPE Smart Array P408i-a is the common internal choice for the Gen10 SFF and LFF chassis, with a 2GB or 4GB cache and battery-backed write cache. Tri-mode options exist if the chassis has NVMe bays. We will confirm the exact controller, cache size and firmware level for the chassis you are buying.
How do you verify a used DL380 Gen10 before shipping it?
We clean, re-flash and bench-test on our own test line, then run the seven-point check — inspection, branding, load testing, firmware validation, error logs, thermals and a documented burn-in. The fan behaviour and power-supply condition are specifically reported on this platform. Ask for photos of the actual unit and the test notes.