HP ProLiant ML350p Gen8 review

£5560
Price when reviewed

HP’s latest pedestal server, the ML350p Gen8, is one of a small group of ProLiant models to skip a generation. Out go the Xeon 5500/5600 CPUs of the ML350 G6, and in come Intel’s E5-2600 chips with their higher core count, faster QPI and extra memory.

HP offers two versions of this server. The “performance” model reviewed here supports E5-2600 Xeons, while the “efficiency” model uses lower-cost E5-2400 processors. Whichever model you choose, though, this floor-stander has a split personality: it has flip-out carry handles in its base and can be specified as a 5U rack server instead.

Internally its design is efficient, and the transparent air shroud covering the motherboard makes the server look like an exhibition model. The entire assembly slides out easily and behind it the two CPU sockets are mounted centrally and surrounded by 24 DIMM sockets.

HP ProLiant ML350p Gen8

The price we’ve quoted here buys you a pair of eight-core 2GHz E5-2650 Xeons along with 16GB of RDIMM memory. RDIMMs support up to 384GB for a dual-CPU server, but with more expensive LR-DIMMs you can max out at the full 768GB. If you opt for cheap UDIMM memory, the maximum supported in dual-CPU configurations is 192GB.

With both CPUs in place, all eight PCI Express Gen3 slots and the single Gen2 slot are activated – two more than the Dell PowerEdge T620 offers. The ML350 comes with four embedded Gigabit network ports, but if you want more there’s plenty of room and HP offers a good selection of Gigabit and 10GbE HBAs.

In storage terms, the ML350p can’t match the T620, though. Its three storage bays at the front can accommodate only up to 24 SFF hard disks, where the T620 can handle up to 32. The ML350p is a better choice if you want large-capacity LFF drives, though, since it can squeeze in 18 as opposed to 12 for the T620.

Warranty

Warranty 3yr on-site next business day

Ratings

Physical

Server format Pedestal
Server configuration Pedestal chassis

Processor

CPU family Intel Xeon
CPU nominal frequency 2.00GHz
Processors supplied 2
CPU socket count 2

Memory

RAM capacity 768GB
Memory type DDR3

Storage

Hard disk configuration 2 x 600GB HP SAS 10K
Total hard disk capacity 1,200GB
RAID levels supported 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60

Networking

Gigabit LAN ports 4

Power supply

Power supply rating 750W

Noise and power

Idle power consumption 96W
Peak power consumption 248W

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