HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 vs Gen11: Full Comparison — CPU, Memory, Storage, Price
The DL380 Gen10 runs Intel Xeon Scalable 1st/2nd Gen (Skylake/Cascade Lake) with DDR4-2933 and supports up to 3TB RAM. The Gen11 moves to Xeon 4th Gen (Sapphire Rapids) with DDR5-4800 and 8TB RAM ceiling. Here is every spec difference and which generation to buy in 2026.
Side-by-Side at a Glance
| Feature | DL380 Gen10 | DL380 Gen11 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Socket | LGA3647 (Skylake / Cascade Lake) | LGA4677 (Sapphire Rapids) |
| Max CPUs | 2 | 2 |
| CPU Generation | Xeon SP 1st/2nd Gen | Xeon SP 4th Gen (also 5th Gen via BIOS update) |
| Max cores (2S) | 56 cores (2× Platinum 8280) | 128 cores (2× Platinum 8592+) |
| Memory type | DDR4 RDIMM/LRDIMM/3DS | DDR5 RDIMM/3DS RDIMM |
| Memory speed | DDR4-2933 | DDR5-4800 |
| DIMM slots | 24 | 32 |
| Max RAM | 3TB | 8TB |
| PCIe version | PCIe 3.0 | PCIe 5.0 |
| Drive bays (SFF) | Up to 24× SFF (2.5") | Up to 24× SFF (2.5") |
| NVMe support | Up to 20 NVMe | Up to 24 NVMe |
| USB front | 1× USB 3.0 | 1× USB 3.2 Gen1 |
| iLO version | iLO 5 | iLO 6 |
| HPE OneView | Yes | Yes (enhanced) |
| OCP 3.0 mezzanine | No | Yes (replaces FlexibleLOM) |
| Launch date | 2017 | 2023 |
| Status | End of Sale | Current |
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CPU: Ice Lake is Gone, Sapphire Rapids Changes Everything
The Gen10 landed with 1st Gen Skylake-SP CPUs and was later refreshed to support 2nd Gen Cascade Lake. The highest-end Gen10 configuration uses dual Platinum 8280 (28-core, 2.7GHz base) giving you 56 cores total at ~205W TDP each.
The Gen11 ships with 4th Gen Sapphire Rapids or 5th Gen Emerald Rapids. The flagship 5th Gen Platinum 8592+ delivers 64 cores at 350W TDP — dual socket gives you 128 cores. More practically, the mid-range Platinum 8460Y+ (40-core, 300W) is the workhorse CPU for Gen11 vSphere builds.
Key differences in CPU architecture:
- AVX-512 VNNI (Gen10+) vs AMX — Advanced Matrix Extensions (Gen11): Gen11 CPUs can accelerate AI inference workloads (INT8/BF16 matrix multiply) natively. If you are running TensorFlow Serving or OpenVINO on CPU, Gen11 is materially faster.
- PCIe 3.0 (Gen10) vs PCIe 5.0 (Gen11): PCIe 5.0 has four times the per-lane bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 — critical for 100GbE NICs (100Gb PCIe 5.0 NIC uses just 8 lanes vs 16 lanes on PCIe 3.0) and NVMe Gen5 SSDs.
- UPI 2.0 (Gen11): CPU-to-CPU interconnect jumps from 10.4 GT/s to 16 GT/s (20 GT/s with 5th Gen Xeon) — critical for NUMA-heavy workloads like large databases that frequently access remote memory.
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Memory: DDR5 is Not Backwards Compatible
This is the most common migration pain point. Every Gen10 DIMM is incompatible with Gen11. The physical key is different; DDR5 physically cannot insert into a DDR4 slot.
| Gen10 | Gen11 | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | DDR4 ECC RDIMM / LRDIMM / 3DS | DDR5 ECC RDIMM / LRDIMM |
| Max speed | DDR4-2933 (1 DIMM/channel) | DDR5-4800 |
| Slots | 24 | 32 |
| Max capacity | 3TB (128GB 3DS LRDIMM × 24) | 8TB (256GB 3DS RDIMM × 32) |
For a 512GB Gen11 build (8× 64GB RDIMM), expect higher memory cost versus the equivalent Gen10 DDR4 config. Budget accordingly.
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Storage: Gen11 Finally Goes NVMe-First
Gen10 was designed in the SATA/SAS era. It supports up to 20 NVMe drives — not a 24-bay all-NVMe backplane.
Gen11 ships with a redesigned backplane that supports up to 24 hot-plug NVMe drives in the standard 24-SFF chassis. Every bay can be SFF SAS/SATA or NVMe — you configure the backplane type at order time. This eliminates the "NVMe retrofit" complexity that plagued Gen10 deployments.
For NVMe OS drives: Gen11 supports the optional HPE NS204i-u boot device (2× hot-plug M.2 2280 NVMe), separate from the drive bays.
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Networking: OCP 3.0 Replaces FlexibleLOM
Gen10 uses HPE's FlexibleLOM slot for the mezzanine NIC — a proprietary connector. Gen11 replaces this with OCP 3.0, an industry-standard mezzanine form factor.
What this means in practice:
- Gen10 FlexibleLOM cards do NOT fit Gen11.
- OCP 3.0 gives you more NIC options at competitive pricing.
- Standard OCP 3.0 25GbE NICs are now commonly available refurbished.
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iLO 5 vs iLO 6
| Feature | iLO 5 (Gen10) | iLO 6 (Gen11) |
|---|---|---|
| Remote console | HTML5 KVM | HTML5 KVM (improved latency) |
| Virtual media | Yes | Yes (USB 3.0 speed) |
| RESTful API | iLO RESTful API (Redfish) | iLO RESTful API (Redfish) |
| Security | Gen10 silicon root of trust | Enhanced silicon root of trust + firmware recovery |
| Telemetry | Basic sensors | Advanced streaming telemetry |
iLO 6 adds streaming telemetry that feeds directly into tools like HPE InfoSight, Grafana, or custom dashboards. For large-scale deployments, this is a meaningful operational improvement.
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Which Should You Buy in 2026?
Buy Gen10 (refurbished) if:
- Budget is the primary constraint
- Your workload is Gigabit networking and doesn't need PCIe 5.0 bandwidth
- You are replacing a failed Gen10 in an existing environment and want to maintain homogeneity
- Lifespan target is 3–4 years
Buy Gen11 (new or refurbished) if:
- You need DDR5 bandwidth for large in-memory databases
- All-NVMe storage is a requirement
- You plan to run AI inference workloads (AMX)
- You want 5+ years of active HPE support
- PCIe 5.0 GPUs or 100GbE+ NICs are in scope
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can Gen10 memory be reused in Gen11?
No. DDR4 (Gen10) and DDR5 (Gen11) use different physical slots and are not interchangeable.
Is the Gen10 still a good server in 2026?
Yes for most workloads. Cascade Lake Xeons are mature, well-supported, and available cheaply refurbished. A dual Platinum 8280 Gen10 with 512GB DDR4 and 10Gb networking covers the majority of production virtualization workloads through 2028.
Does the Gen11 support older SAS/SATA drives?
Yes — Gen11 supports SAS and SATA in all hot-plug bays. The backplane is configurable at the bay level.
What is the form factor of the DL380?
Both Gen10 and Gen11 are 2U rack servers, mechanically compatible with standard 4-post racks.
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Pro Disk Network stocks both HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 and Gen11 servers — new, refurbished, and as individual CTO components (CPUs, memory, drives, NICs). Same-day shipping on in-stock items ordered before 3pm ET. Browse HPE ProLiant servers or contact us for a configuration quote.
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