Side-by-Side Comparison
Lenovo ThinkSystem ST250 V3 vs Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11
Standardized 5-pillar engineering audit, thermal telemetry, verified longevity metrics, and complete technical specification diff.
● HIGHLY RATED
Composite Score:
4.4
/ 5.0
Quiet 4U-convertible tower server combining PCIe 5.0 bandwidth and dense multi-drive storage with robust XCC2 enterprise management.
★ Recommended Winner
● HIGHLY RATED
Composite Score:
4.5
/ 5.0
A highly versatile 2U dual-socket enterprise rack server delivering extensive PCIe Gen5 expansion and up to 36 EDSFF drives, counterbalanced by thermal routing trade-offs in dense midplane drive setups.
⚖️
Mizex Comparative Audit Verdict
The Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11 achieves the higher Mizex Composite Score (4.5 vs 4.4), leading across 3 of 5 engineering pillars. With an advantage in Engineering & Architecture, Build Quality & Materials, Buyer Value & Upgrades, it represents the stronger technical recommendation.
5-Pillar Engineering Telemetry
Detailed comparison across standardized normalized 1.0 – 5.0 engineering pillars.
Lenovo ThinkSystem ST250 V3
Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11
Engineering & Architecture
(30%)
Winner: Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11 (+0.3)
4.3
4.6
Build Quality & Materials
(20%)
Winner: Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11 (+0.2)
4.5
4.7
Thermal, Power & Acoustics
(20%)
Winner: Lenovo ThinkSystem ST250 V3 (+0.4)
4.5
4.1
Real-World Reliability
(20%)
Tie
4.6
4.6
Buyer Value & Upgrades
(10%)
Winner: Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11 (+0.4)
4.1
4.5
Lenovo ThinkSystem ST250 V3: Strengths & Caveats
✔ Advantages
- Whisper-quiet acoustic profile operating at 30.5 dBA idle and 33.2 dBA under typical 100% CPU load
- Dedicated high-bandwidth PCIe 5.0 x16 expansion slot alongside three full-height PCIe 4.0 x4 slots
- Extensive storage versatility supporting up to 16x 2.5-inch or 8x 3.5-inch drive bays plus dual 5.25-inch media bays
- Enterprise-grade remote server management powered by Lenovo XClarity Controller 2 (XCC2)
✖ Documented Caveats
- Single-socket LGA 1700 architecture restricts compute expansion to an 8-core ceiling
- Dual internal M.2 boot drive slots are limited to SATA transfer speeds instead of high-speed NVMe
- DDR5 memory operating speed is constrained to a maximum of 4400 MHz
Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11: Strengths & Caveats
✔ Advantages
- Unmatched front-panel storage density supporting up to 36 EDSFF NVMe, 24 SFF, or 12 LFF drives
- Extensive I/O bandwidth featuring up to eight PCIe Gen5 slots alongside two OCP 3.0 mezzanine bays
- Robust memory subsystem accommodating up to 8TB of high-speed DDR5 SmartMemory
- Broad compute support spanning both 4th and 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors
✖ Documented Caveats
- Midplane drive cage installation forces removal of the air shroud and mandates 1U performance heatsinks
- Populating rear dual-drive SFF bays consumes internal chassis space directly at the expense of PCIe expansion slots
Technical Specification Comparison
Side-by-side spec alignment. Rows highlighted with subtle shading denote differing specifications.
| Specification | Lenovo ThinkSystem ST250 V3 | Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant DL380 Gen11 |
|---|---|---|
| Brand DIFF | Lenovo | Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
| Model DIFF | ThinkSystem ST250 V3 | ProLiant DL380 Gen11 |
| Form Factor DIFF | Tower (convertible to 4U rackmount) | 2U Rackmount |
| Machine Types DIFF | 7DCE, 7DCF | — |
| Processor Socket DIFF | Single LGA 1700 | — |
| Supported Processors DIFF | Intel Xeon 6300 series, Intel Xeon E-2400 series, Intel Pentium | — |
| Max Processor Cores DIFF | 8 cores | — |
| Max Processor TDP DIFF | 95W | — |
| Memory Type DIFF | TruDDR5 4800 MHz / 5600 MHz ECC UDIMM | DDR5 SmartMemory |
| Memory Slots DIFF | 4 DIMM slots (2 channels) | — |
| Memory Capacity Range DIFF | 16 GB to 128 GB | — |
| Max Memory Operating Speed DIFF | 4400 MHz | — |
| PCIe Expansion Slots DIFF | 4 full-height slots (1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 3x PCIe 4.0 x4) | Up to 8x PCIe Gen5 slots |
| Storage Drive Bays DIFF | Up to 16x 2.5-inch hot-swap, up to 8x 3.5-inch simple-swap/hot-swap, or 8x 2.5-inch + 4x 3.5-inch | — |
| M.2 Boot Drive Support DIFF | Up to 2x SATA M.2 (form factors 2242, 2260, 2280, 22110) | — |
| Media Bays DIFF | 2x 5.25-inch media bays (optical drive or internal RDX dock) | — |
| GPU Support DIFF | Up to 1x GPU adapter | — |
| Systems Management DIFF | Lenovo XClarity Controller 2 (XCC2) | — |
| Idle Power Consumption DIFF | 141 W | — |
| Peak Power Consumption DIFF | 409 W | — |
| Acoustic Noise Levels DIFF | 30.5 dBA idle, 33.2 dBA typical operating load (100% CPU TDP), 35.9 dBA max | — |
| Processor Support DIFF | — | 4th and 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors |
| Maximum Memory Capacity DIFF | — | 8TB |
| Network Expansion DIFF | — | 2x OCP 3.0 mezzanine slots |
| Storage Interfaces DIFF | — | SAS4, SATA, EDSFF NVMe |
| Front Drive Capacity DIFF | — | Up to 12 LFF, 24 SFF, or 36 EDSFF drives |
| Rear Drive Capacity DIFF | — | Up to 3x dual-drive SFF bays |
| Midplane Drive Options DIFF | — | 4 LFF or 8 SFF midplane cage |
| Maximum SFF Drive Count DIFF | — | 30 SFF drives |
| Remote Management DIFF | — | HPE integrated remote management tools |
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