P18721-001 HPE Optional 1st/2nd PCIe Gen4 x16/x16 - DL380 Gen10 Plus, DL385 Gen10 Plus v2 Riser Board

HPE P18721-001 Optional 1st/2nd PCIe Gen4 x16/x16 Riser Board for DL380 Gen10 Plus and DL385 Gen10 Plus v2

The HPE P18721-001 Optional 1st/2nd PCIe Gen4 x16/x16 Riser Board is a high-performance expansion accessory engineered to unlock additional PCIe connectivity for modern data centers. This component is designed to fit seamlessly into HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 Plus and HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen10 Plus v2 servers, providing reliable infrastructure for compute-intensive workloads. Supporting dual PCIe Gen4 x16 slots, it ensures maximum throughput, scalability, and compatibility with full-height, full-length expansion cards.

Product Category Overview

Riser boards belong to a critical category of server expansion hardware. They allow administrators to install additional PCIe cards without compromising airflow or system design. The HPE P18721-001 is part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s extensive portfolio of server risers, engineered for performance, longevity, and simplified deployment. Positioned within the Gen10 Plus accessory ecosystem, it brings together robust connectivity with support for high-speed accelerators, networking adapters, and storage controllers.

Key Characteristics of the HPE P18721-001

• Dual PCIe Gen4 x16 lanes offering double the bandwidth of Gen3 risers.
• Full-height, full-length card compatibility to support a wide range of adapters.
• Specifically built for primary or secondary slot use within DL380 Gen10 Plus and DL385 Gen10 Plus v2 servers.
• Optimized for data-intensive workloads including HPC, virtualization, and AI-driven tasks.
• Provides balanced scalability for enterprises looking to future-proof IT infrastructure.

Technical Specifications

Interface Details

The riser board supports PCIe Gen4 technology, ensuring significant improvements in latency and throughput compared to PCIe Gen3. Each lane provides up to 16 GT/s, making it suitable for high-speed cards.

• Slots: Two PCIe Gen4 x16 connectors
• Slot Types: Top slot (full height, full length), Middle slot (full height, full length)
• Lane Speed: 16 GT/s per lane
• Form Factor: Full-height, full-length (FHFL)

Use Cases and Applications

Accelerated Workloads

Organizations deploying GPUs or AI accelerators rely on riser boards like the P18721-001 to enable high-bandwidth card installations. This allows for faster processing of machine learning, big data analytics, and HPC tasks.

Enhanced Networking

Enterprises seeking faster connectivity can leverage this riser for high-speed NICs supporting 25GbE, 40GbE, or even 100GbE. The dual x16 slots ensure low latency and high throughput, ideal for data center communication.

Advanced Storage Expansion

The riser provides sufficient bandwidth for NVMe controllers, RAID cards, and storage HBAs. Data-heavy environments, from cloud applications to enterprise SAN solutions, benefit from the added flexibility.

Benefits for Data Centers

• Increased scalability: Adds more PCIe slots for expansion as business needs grow.
• Performance optimization: PCIe Gen4 lanes minimize bottlenecks and boost overall system efficiency.
• Versatility: Compatible with GPUs, NICs, storage cards, and custom accelerators.
• Cost efficiency: Extends the lifecycle of existing HPE servers by enabling modern hardware integration.
• Future-proof design: Supports current and next-generation PCIe devices.

Comparison with Other Riser Boards

P18721-001 vs P08963-001

Both models share similarities in form factor and Gen4 x16 capability. However, P18721-001 is more closely aligned with DL385 Gen10 Plus v2, whereas P08963-001 is often positioned for DL380 Gen10 Plus in specific configurations. Choosing between them depends on the server chassis and revision.

PCIe Gen3 vs PCIe Gen4 Risers

Compared to Gen3 risers, the Gen4 version doubles throughput per lane, significantly boosting bandwidth for intensive tasks such as deep learning, database acceleration, and virtualization workloads.

Enterprise-Level Advantages

• Business continuity: Supports mission-critical workloads without disruption.
• High reliability: Built with enterprise-grade components and rigorous testing.
• Seamless integration: Matches HPE server engineering for consistent airflow and thermals.
• Optimized architecture: Dual-slot design maximizes server utilization without compromising expansion.

Workload Examples

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

AI and ML workloads require high-speed accelerators. The riser board enables the installation of NVIDIA and AMD GPUs, ensuring compute-heavy tasks are executed efficiently.

Virtualization and Cloud Services

Virtualized infrastructures demand bandwidth for multiple virtual machines. With PCIe Gen4 x16 risers, performance is enhanced, and bottlenecks are reduced, ensuring faster VM deployment and migration.

High-Performance Databases

Large-scale databases, both relational and non-relational, benefit from high-speed storage controllers and NVMe drives installed through the riser, improving query response times.