The Lenovo ThinkSystem ST650 V3 is an ideal 2-socket 4U tower server for small businesses up to large enterprises that need industry-leading reliability, management, and security, as well as maximizing performance and flexibility for future growth. The ST650 V3 is based on the 5th Gen and 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor families.

The ST650 V3 is designed to handle a wide range of workloads, such as databases, virtualization and cloud computing, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), infrastructure security, systems management, enterprise applications, collaboration/email, streaming media, web, and HPC.

Key features

The ThinkSystem ST650 V3 is a high-performance dual-socket tower server based on the 5th Gen and 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, supporting a wide range of processors to suit a wide range of budgets and application requirements.

Scalability and performance

The ST650 V3 offers numerous features to boost performance, improve scalability and reduce costs: 

• Supports one or two 5th Gen Intel Xeon Processor Scalable processors
  • Up to 32 cores and 64 threads
  • Core speeds of up to 3.9 GHz
  • TDP ratings of up to 250 W
• Supports one or two 4th Gen Intel Xeon Processor Scalable processors
  • Up to 32 cores and 64 threads
  • Core speeds of up to 3.7 GHz
  • TDP ratings of up to 250 W
• Support for DDR5 memory DIMMs to maximize the performance of the memory subsystem:
  • Up to 32 DDR5 memory DIMMs, 16 DIMMs per processor
  • 8 memory channels per processor (2 DIMMs per channel)
  • Supports 1 DIMM per channel operating at 5600 MHz (5th Gen processors) or 4800 MHz (4th Gen processors)
  • Supports 2 DIMMs per channel operating at 4800 MHz (5th Gen processors) or 4400 MHz (4th Gen processors)
  • Using 128GB 3DS RDIMMs, the server supports up to 4TB of system memory
• Supports up to eight single-width GPUs or four double-wide GPUs, for substantial processing power in a tower system.
• Supports a variety of front-accessible drive bays:
  • Up to 32x 2.5-inch hot-swap drive bays with two 5.25-inch media bays
  • Up to 12x 3.5-inch hot-swap drive bays with two 5.25-inch media bays
  • Up to 16x 3.5-inch hot-swap drive bays without the media bays
• Supports up to 24x NVMe drives to maximize drive I/O performance, in terms of throughput, bandwidth, and latency.
• Supports up to 12x SATA drives using the onboard SATA controller (no additional adapter needed), enabling lower cost, high capacity storage solution.

• Supports high-speed RAID controllers from Broadcom providing 12 Gb SAS connectivity to the drive backplanes. A variety of PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 RAID adapters are available, including custom form factor (CFF) adapters that are cabled and don’t occupy a PCIe slot.
• Supports M.2 drives for convenient operating system boot functions or data storage. Available M.2 adapters support either one M.2 drive or two M.2 drives.
• The server has two integrated 10GBASE-T ports for 10 GbE networking as well as support for additional network adapter cards.
• The server offers PCI Express 5.0 I/O expansion capabilities that doubles the theoretical maximum bandwidth of PCIe 4.0 (32GT/s in each direction for PCIe Gen 5, compared to 16 GT/s with PCIe Gen 4 and 8 GT/s with PCIe Gen 3). A PCIe 5.0 x16 slot provides 128 GB/s bandwidth, enough to support a dual-port 200GbE network connection.
• Up to nine PCIe slots, five of which are PCIe 5.0.

Availability and serviceability

The ST650 V3 provides many features to simplify serviceability and increase system uptime:

• Designed to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• The server offers Single Device Data Correction (SDDC, also known as Chipkill), Adaptive Double-Device Data Correction (ADDDC, also known as Redundant Bit Steering or RBS), and memory mirroring for redundancy in the event of a non-correctable memory failure. Note: ADDDC in not supported with 9×4 RDIMMs.
• The server offers hot-swap drives, supporting RAID redundancy for data protection and greater system uptime.
• Available M.2 adapters support RAID-1 (Intel VROC) which can enable two SATA or two NVMe M.2 drives to be configured as a redundant pair.
• The server has up to two hot-swap redundant power supplies and up to four large hot-swap redundant fans to provide availability for business-critical applications.
• The power-source-independent light path diagnostics uses LEDs to lead the technician to failed (or failing) components, which simplifies servicing, speeds up problem resolution, and helps improve system availability.
• Solid-state drives (SSDs) offer more reliability than traditional mechanical HDDs for greater uptime.
• Proactive Platform Alerts (including PFA and SMART alerts): Processors, voltage regulators, memory, internal storage (SAS/SATA HDDs and SSDs, NVMe SSDs, M.2 storage, flash storage adapters), fans, power supplies, RAID controllers, server ambient and subcomponent temperatures. Alerts can be surfaced through the XClarity Controller to managers such as Lenovo XClarity Administrator, VMware vCenter, and Microsoft System Center. These proactive alerts let you take appropriate actions in advance of possible failure, thereby increasing server uptime and application availability.
• The built-in XClarity Controller continuously monitors system parameters, triggers alerts, and performs recovery actions in case of failures to minimize downtime.
• Built-in diagnostics in UEFI, using Lenovo XClarity Provisioning Manager, speed up troubleshooting tasks to reduce service time.
• Lenovo XClarity Provisioning Manager supports diagnostics and can save service data to a USB key drive or remote CIFS share folder for troubleshooting and reduce service time.
• Auto restart in the event of a momentary loss of AC power (based on power policy setting in the XClarity Controller service processor)
• Offers a diagnostics port located at the rear of the server to allow you to attach an external diagnostics handset for enhanced systems management capabilities.
• Support for the XClarity Administrator Mobile app running on a supported smartphone and connected to the server through the service-enabled USB port, enables additional local systems management functions.
• Three-year or one-year customer-replaceable unit and onsite limited warranty, 9 x 5 next business day. Optional service upgrades are available.

Manageability and security

Systems management features simplify local and remote management of the ST650 V3:

• The server includes XClarity Controller 2 (XCC2) to monitor server availability. Optional upgrade to XCC Platinum to provide remote control (keyboard video mouse) functions, support for the mounting of remote media files (ISO and IMG image files), boot capture, power capping and new XCC2 Platinum features. New XCC2 Platinum features include System Guard, new security modes including a CNSA-compliant mode, FIPS 140-3 and NIST 800-193 support, and a new Neighbor Group feature.
• Toolless cover removal provides easy access to upgrades and serviceable parts, such as CPU, memory, and adapter cards.
• Lenovo XClarity Administrator offers comprehensive hardware management tools that help to increase uptime, reduce costs and improve productivity through advanced server management capabilities.
• UEFI-based Lenovo XClarity Provisioning Manager, accessible from F1 during boot, provides system inventory information, graphical UEFI Setup, platform update function, RAID Setup wizard, operating system installation function, and diagnostic functions.
• Support for Lenovo XClarity Energy Manager, which captures real-time power and temperature data from the server and provides automated controls to lower energy costs.
• An integrated industry-standard Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) enables improved setup, configuration, and updates, and simplifies error handling.
• Support for industry standard management protocols, IPMI 2.0, SNMP 3.0, Redfish REST API, serial console via IPMI
• Available physical security features include a lockable front door and a chassis intrusion switch to help prevent unauthorized access and notify administrators when the server cover has been removed.
• An integrated hardware Trusted Platform Module (TPM) supporting TPM 2.0 enables advanced cryptographic functionality, such as digital signatures and remote attestation.
• Administrator and power-on passwords help protect from unauthorized access to the server.
• Supports Secure Boot to ensure only a digitally signed operating system can be used. Supported with HDDs and SSDs, as well as M.2 drives.
• Industry-standard Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) NI support for faster, stronger encryption.
• Intel Execute Disable Bit functionality can prevent certain classes of malicious buffer overflow attacks when combined with a supported operating system.
• Intel Trusted Execution Technology provides enhanced security through hardware-based resistance to malicious software attacks, allowing an application to run in its own isolated space, protected from all other software running on a system.

Energy efficiency

The ST650 V3 offers the following energy-efficiency features to save energy, reduce operational costs, and increase energy availability:

• Energy-efficient planar components help lower operational costs.
• High-efficiency power supplies with 80 PLUS Platinum and Titanium certifications
• Solid-state drives (SSDs) consume as much as 80% less power than traditional spinning 2.5-inch HDDs.
• The server uses hexagonal ventilation holes, which can be grouped more densely than round holes, providing more efficient airflow through the system and thus keeping your system cooler.
• Optional Lenovo XClarity Energy Manager provides advanced data center power notification, analysis, and policy-based management to help achieve lower heat output and reduced cooling needs.

Comparing the ST650 V3 to the ST650 V2

The ThinkSystem ST650 V3 improves on the previous generation ST650 V2, as summarized in the following table.