NVMe Storage Servers

All-NVMe storage is the new tier-1. NVMe SSDs deliver 5-7× the IOPS of SATA SSDs and an order of magnitude lower latency. The catch is hardware — NVMe storage requires a server chassis with U.2 / U.3 backplanes, PCIe-switch-equipped storage controllers, and enough PCIe lanes to feed every drive without contention.

Pro Disk Network stocks the all-NVMe-capable platforms: Dell PowerEdge R750xs (24× SFF NVMe, dual Xeon Scalable Gen3), HP ProLiant DL380 Gen10 with NVMe Express Bay options, Supermicro Storage SuperServer SSG-2029P-E1CR24L (24-bay NVMe), and Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3 with NVMe direct-attach.

We carry the NVMe SSDs themselves: Samsung PM9A3 / PM1735 / PM1743 (data-centre TLC, mixed-use and read-intensive), Intel/Solidigm D7-P5500 / D7-P5600 / D5-P5316 (high-endurance), Micron 7450 / 9400, and Kioxia CD6 / CD8 / KCD8. Capacities from 480 GB to 30.72 TB per drive.

For NVMe-over-Fabrics (NVMe/TCP, NVMe/RDMA): Mellanox ConnectX-6 / ConnectX-7 100GbE / 200GbE NICs, the NVMe target software (SPDK, Linux nvmet, Windows Storage Spaces Direct), and the matching DAC / fibre transceivers. Per-target per-rack costs run $25-60K depending on density.

Featured NVMe Storage Servers

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a tri-mode HBA for U.3 NVMe drives?

Yes. U.3 backplanes accept SAS, SATA, AND NVMe drives in the same bay. To use them as NVMe, you need a tri-mode HBA (Broadcom 9500-16i, Dell PERC H965e) that can talk PCIe to the drive. Older SAS HBAs can only see SATA/SAS modes on a U.3 backplane.

What's the difference between PCIe Gen3 and Gen4 NVMe?

Gen3 NVMe drives top out at ~3.5 GB/s sequential read; Gen4 doubles to ~7 GB/s. For random IOPS, Gen4 is 50-100% faster on the same NAND. Gen4 only matters if your CPU and motherboard also support Gen4 — Xeon Scalable Gen3 (Ice Lake), EPYC Rome / Milan, and newer.

How much does an all-NVMe 24-bay server cost?

A new Dell R750xs with 24× empty NVMe bays runs $7-10K. Populate with 24× 3.84 TB Samsung PM1733 = ~$28-40K (mix-use Gen4 NVMe). Total ~$40-55K new, $20-28K refurbished. For dense capacity, Solidigm D5-P5316 30.72 TB drives drop the per-TB cost significantly.

Can I mix NVMe and SAS in the same server?

Yes if your backplane is U.3 / tri-mode. Many real-world deployments split drive slots: 4× NVMe for hot tier (database log, OS, cache), 12× SAS for capacity tier. This requires the right HBA / RAID controller as noted above.

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