See the full list of Top Blade Servers
Read user reviews of Cisco UCS B200 M5
For those committed to Cisco networking or Cisco platforms in general, Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) blades make perfect sense. They are also among the cheapest blades in this guide, although the UCS framework will add to costs.
The truly affordable price point is compelling because the UCS blades offer significant scalability. An SMB interested in launching with a more modest platform and later building out will find the UCS to be a workable choice.
With high user ratings, these blades are on plenty of shortlists for companies looking to expand compute power.
Cisco UCS B200 M5 Blade Server delivers performance, versatility, and density for workloads ranging from web infrastructure to distributed databases. Stateless physical and virtual workloads can be deployed rapidly through programmable Cisco UCS Manager software. Simplified server access is available through Cisco SingleConnect.
The B200 M5 takes advantage of Xeon Scalable processors with up to 28 cores per socket, up to 24 DDR4 DIMMs for improved performance, and up to two GPUs. It can also accommodate up to two Small Form Factor (SFF) HDD/SSD/NVMe drives, or 2 SD cards or M.2 SATA drives. As much as 80 Gbps of I/O of throughput is available in this half-width blade. The 6U Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis can house up to eight blades.
Further features include a Modular LAN on motherboard (mLOM) card with Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC) 1340, a 2-port, 40-gigabit Ethernet (GE), and a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)–capable mLOM mezzanine adapter. Optional features include a rear mezzanine VIC with two 40-Gbps unified I/O ports.
“If I need a larger-scale virtualized environment, I prefer blades, and for the lowest OpEx as I scale out, I find Cisco’s UCS lets me manage a larger footprint with fewer people,” said a Technology Architect in the services industry.
2 Xeon Scalable/56 cores.
3 TB
Form factor:
Half width.
“Previous operations teams using HP and IBM servers required 4X more people to manage the same number of servers,” said a CIO in healthcare.
Starting from $1,840
|
Product |
Cisco UCS B200 M5 |
|
Max Processors |
2 Xeon Scalable |
|
Max Cores |
56 |
|
Max RAM |
3 TB |
|
Form Factor |
Half width |
|
Starting Price |
$1,840 |
|
Key Differentiator |
Excellent for Cisco networks |
Drew Robb has been a full-time professional writer and editor for more than twenty years. He currently works freelance for a number of IT publications, including eSecurity Planet and CIO Insight. He is also the editor-in-chief of an international engineering magazine.
ServerWatch is a top resource on servers. Explore the latest news, reviews and guides for server administrators now.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
