R740xd – A40 Build, Refurbished

Dell PowerEdge R740xd 24SFF Rack Server – A40 GPU Build (Refurbished)

Powerful 2U Rack Server with NVIDIA A40 48GB GPU – Ready for AI, Virtualization & Compute Workloads

This fully configured Dell PowerEdge R740xd is a high-performance 2U rack server built for demanding applications. Equipped with a NVIDIA A40 48GB GPU, dual Xeon Silver processors, and enterprise-grade networking, it delivers excellent performance for AI inference, deep learning, VDI, rendering, and virtualized environments.

Key Specifications:

• Server Model: Dell PowerEdge R740xd 24SFF (24x 2.5" Small Form Factor bays)
• Processors: 2x Intel Xeon Silver 4210R (2.4GHz base, 10 cores / 20 threads each) – 20 Cores / 40 Threads total
• Memory: 128GB DDR4 ECC Registered (expandable)
• GPU: 1x NVIDIA A40 48GB GDDR6 (professional/data center GPU) with GPU Enablement Kit
• Storage: 1x Dell 960GB 6G SATA 2.5" SSD
• RAID/Controller: PERC HBA330 (Non-RAID / Pass-Through)
• Networking: Intel X710 2x 10Gb SFP+ + I350 2x 1Gb Base-T rNDC
• Remote Management: iDRAC9 Enterprise (with dedicated management port)
• Power: 2x 1600W AC Hot-Plug Power Supplies (redundant)
• Cooling: High Performance Fan Kit
• Rails: Included Rail Kit
• Condition: Professionally refurbished and tested
• OS: No OS included (supports Windows Server, Linux, VMware ESXi, etc.)

Highlights:

• NVIDIA A40 48GB GPU – Ideal for AI/ML workloads, inference, professional visualization, and compute-intensive tasks
• 24-bay 2.5" SFF chassis with room for massive storage expansion
• Strong dual-socket performance with 20 cores / 40 threads
• Enterprise remote management via iDRAC Enterprise
• High-bandwidth 10Gb SFP+ networking included
• Redundant 1600W power supplies + high-performance cooling for 24/7 reliability

Perfect For:

• AI / Machine Learning inference
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
• Rendering and 3D graphics
• High-density virtualization
• Scientific computing & HPC

This server has been fully tested and is ready to deploy. Ships with all necessary power cables, rails, and bezel (where applicable).

Note: This is a refurbished unit in excellent cosmetic and functional condition. Minor signs of previous rack use may be present.

Compare Our R740xd Builds:

All of these builds share the same GPU-ready platform (24SFF chassis, 128GB RAM, Intel X710/I350 networking, iDRAC Enterprise, GPU enablement kit, high-performance fans, 2x 1600W supplies) — they differ in CPU, storage controller and GPU:

• R740xd – GPU Ready (No GPU Included) – $2,995 – 2x Silver 4210R, HBA330 pass-through. The lowest-cost GPU-ready host; bring your own card.
• R740xd – GPU Ready, Gold 6248 / H740p – $3,493.33 – 2x Gold 6248 (40 cores), PERC H740p RAID. More CPU and hardware RAID; bring your own card.
• R740xd – Dual T4 Build – $4,693 – Silver 4210R platform + 2x Tesla T4 16GB (32GB total), slot-powered.
• R740xd – Dual V100 Build – $5,849 – Silver 4210R platform + 2x Tesla V100 32GB (64GB total). Best value for multi-GPU training and parallel workloads.
• R740xd – A40 Build (this listing) – $10,959 – Silver 4210R platform + 1x NVIDIA A40 48GB. Best single-GPU performance for AI inference and visualization.

Want a second A40, or just the card? The NVIDIA A40 48GB is sold on its own for $5,490 refurbished or $6,495 new. A second card in this server gives you 96GB. Each A40 needs its own Dell 4VPD3 EPS-12V GPU power cable; the second one isn't in the box, but we sell the 4VPD3 cable for $47 (ships in about 7 days).

Need a custom configuration, more storage, or additional GPUs? Message us — we can build to your requirements.

What This Server Runs

The A40's 48GB of GDDR6 sets the model ceiling. Measured throughput on a single A40 at 4-bit quantization, single-stream:

• 14B models (Qwen2.5 14B) — ~9GB VRAM, ~44 tokens/sec
• 27–34B models (Gemma2 27B, Qwen2.5 32B, QwQ 32B, Llava 34B) — 16–20GB VRAM, 23–29 tokens/sec, GPU at 90%+ utilization. This is the sweet spot.
• 70B models (Llama 3.1 / 3.3 70B) — 39–43GB VRAM, 12–13.5 tokens/sec. Fits, with limited headroom for long context.
• 72B models — 47GB VRAM, 5.8 tokens/sec. Technically loads, but there is no room left for KV cache.

For concurrent serving under vLLM, one A40 handles 100 concurrent requests on an 8B model at ~1,705 tokens/sec of aggregate output. If you are serving a team rather than one user, that is the number that matters. Full benchmark table, KV cache math and the FP8/MIG limitations: What can you actually run on a 48GB NVIDIA A40?

Configuration Requirements — Already Handled

The A40 is a 300W passively cooled card with no fan of its own. Dropping one into a stock R740xd does not work — Dell's installation guidance requires a specific set of parts, all of which are installed and tested in this build:

• GPU enablement kit (risers, GPU power cables, GPU air shroud, mylar insulation) — Dell 330-BBMO / 85CYN in the US, 490-BEIX / JKFGX in EMEA
• Low-profile heat sinks in both CPU sockets — standard heat sinks physically foul the GPU air shroud, and Dell requires both sockets populated
• High-performance fan kit — mandatory for any GPU configuration in this chassis, not optional
• Dedicated GPU power cable — required for any card above 75W; the A40 draws 300W
• 1600W power supplies — Dell sets an 1100W floor for GPU configurations; 1600W supplies provide real redundancy headroom rather than a nominal pair
• 30°C maximum inlet temperature — the thermal ceiling once a GPU is installed alongside 150W/8C, 165W/12C, 200W or 205W processors

Assembled from separate secondary-market purchases, that is seven line items, seven condition claims and seven return windows. Here it is one part number, one warranty and one place to call. The full breakdown, including the 330-BBMO vs 490-BEIX part-number confusion and the two mistakes that stop most self-assembled builds: Putting an NVIDIA A40 in a PowerEdge R740xd

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the largest model this server can run?
A 70B parameter model at 4-bit quantization, using 39–43GB of the A40's 48GB and delivering roughly 12–13.5 tokens/sec. For best performance, the 27–34B class at 4-bit is the sweet spot at 23–29 tokens/sec.

Does the NVIDIA A40 support FP8 or MIG?
Neither. The A40 is an Ampere GA102 card — FP8 tensor support began with Ada Lovelace and Hopper, and Multi-Instance GPU partitioning is limited to A100 and H100. The A40 does support SR-IOV for virtualization.

Can I add a second GPU later?
Yes. The R740xd supports up to three double-width accelerators, and Dell requires all installed GPUs to be identical in type and model. Two A40s bridged over NVLink present 96GB. We sell the A40 card on its own; the second card needs its own Dell 4VPD3 EPS-12V power cable, which we sell for $47. Contact us before ordering the second card, as the thermal, power and riser assignments change.

Does it come with an operating system?
No OS is included. The server supports Windows Server, Linux distributions, VMware ESXi and Proxmox. iDRAC9 Enterprise is licensed for remote installation and management.

Can I expand the storage?
Yes. The chassis has 24 x 2.5" SFF bays and ships with one 960GB SATA SSD, leaving 23 bays open. The PERC HBA330 runs in pass-through mode, which suits ZFS, Ceph and software-defined storage. Tell us your capacity target and we will quote the drives with the server.

What condition is it in and what warranty applies?
Professionally refurbished, fully tested and burned in, in excellent cosmetic and functional condition with minor signs of previous rack use possible. Backed by the Resilient Tec lifetime warranty, reachable directly rather than through a manufacturer ticket queue.

What networking is included?
An Intel X710 dual-port 10Gb SFP+ rNDC plus an Intel I350 dual-port 1Gb Base-T, with a dedicated iDRAC management port. We can supply matching 10G SFP+ DAC cables or transceivers with the server.

Further Reading

• Putting an NVIDIA A40 in a PowerEdge R740xd — every part the card needs, the enablement kit part numbers, and why a stock chassis throttles it
• What can you actually run on a 48GB NVIDIA A40? — benchmarked model sizes, tokens per second, and vLLM concurrency limits
• Why your GPU won't work in your server — the eight installation problems and the fix for each
• Custom Dell R740xd GPU servers: build options, prices, and the forum questions nobody answers — which GPU power cable (4VPD3 vs TR5TP), fans at 100%, LFF chassis limits, and all four builds compared
• The cloud sent you a bill — on-prem inference versus rented GPU time
• GPU servers & on-prem AI guide, GPU & AI infrastructure guide and enterprise servers guide