Dell PowerEdge R7725xd delivers uncompromised Gen5 NVMe performance with 24 x4 U.2 bays and up to 3PB of flash in a 2U form factor.
During our visit to Dell Tech World 2025, we had the opportunity to get an early look at a new addition to Dell’s AMD-based PowerEdge server lineup: the PowerEdge R7725xd. While its name may sound like a small variant of the R7725, this new system signals a major architectural shift. With a focus on uncompromising storage performance, the R7725xd is designed to deliver maximum bandwidth and capacity with 24x Gen5 x4 NVMe SSDs.
The Legacy of “xd” in Dell Servers
The “xd” suffix in Dell PowerEdge servers has historically stood for “extra drives,” signifying configurations with enhanced drive density. Previous examples like the R740xd and R750xd traded features like GPU support or optical drives to pack more 2.5″ drives into a compact form factor. The R760xd2 took a different approach, squeezing in a double row of HDDs, useful for backup storage appliances.
With the R7725xd, Dell builds on that heritage but shifts the focus from density alone to performance density. Instead of simply increasing the number of drives, Dell ensures each of the 24 front-facing U.2 bays is wired for maximum performance.
At the heart of the R7725xd’s architecture is a commitment to full-bandwidth Gen5 NVMe storage. Each of the 24 U.2 SSD bays connects via a dedicated PCIe Gen5 x4 link. That means no oversubscription, no lane bifurcation, and no compromise on throughput per drive. With a theoretical per-drive throughput of around 15GB/s, the total front-end storage bandwidth is massive.
To enable this, Dell redesigned the Host Processor Module (HPM) to provide access to 160 PCIe Gen5 lanes from dual AMD EPYC 9005 processors. Of those, 96 lanes are dedicated to the 24 x4 NVMe drives. The remaining 64 lanes enable additional I/O expansion, including four x16 PCIe Gen5 slots and a Gen3-based OCP slot connected via spare lanes on the second CPU.
Storage Density: Up to 3PB in 2U
One of the most exciting prospects for the R7725xd is its potential storage density. Due to the decision to utilize the 15mm U.2 form factor, the R7725xd can deliver nearly 3PB of raw flash storage. Flash vendors can use a variety of tools, such as multiple PCBs and QLC NAND, to maximize SSD capacity in the U.2 form factor. Today, that means 122.88TB per drive, but it’s just a matter of time before we see another doubling and vendors popping out 256TB-class SSDs. This stands in contrast to the E3.S form factor, where a single drive is limited to 61.44TB.
Expansion Options and I/O
Despite dedicating the majority of its PCIe budget to storage, the R7725xd retains strong I/O flexibility. It supports up to four PCIe Gen5 x16 slots, allowing for high-speed NICs, DPUs, or additional storage controllers. The server also features a Gen3 OCP slot, which is enabled by spare lanes on the second CPU. This allows for a modular networking option while preserving the Gen5 slots for higher-bandwidth devices.
The expansion capabilities open the door to configurations with multiple 100GbE or even 400GbE NICs, enabling massive data movement in and out of the system. This is particularly valuable in SDS environments where the storage server must scale to meet the demands of high-throughput applications.
Implications for Dell Storage Platforms
The R7725xd could serve as the hardware foundation for Dell’s future storage platforms. Solutions like PowerScale, ObjectScale, and even PowerFlex could benefit from the high-density, full-performance flash this server provides. Dell has already announced that ObjectScale will support configurations leveraging the R7725xd, paired with NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs and high-speed networking via Spectrum-4 Ethernet switches. These enhancements are designed to enable features such as S3 over RDMA and deliver up to 800 Gb/s of aggregate network bandwidth per node.
Conclusion
The PowerEdge R7725xd is Dell’s most storage-focused server to date, prioritizing bandwidth and density with no compromises on NVMe performance. With 24 U.2 Gen5 SSDs, each connected via dedicated x4 lanes, this system can deliver multi-petabyte flash storage with consistent, full-speed access. Or customers can choose to deploy as a high-capacity node, getting up to 3PB of QLC storage.
This level of configurability enables the R7725xd to offer a wide range of deployment options, from performance-first use cases, such as AI training pipelines and high-throughput object storage, to cost-effective capacity nodes for SDS environments. Dell’s architectural choices here send a clear message: storage is not the sidecar to compute; with this platform, storage takes the wheel. We look forward to getting hands-on time in the lab to see how the R7725xd performs.
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