The 8240 brings quad Opteron computing capability onto a compact 2U form factor, allowing users to deploy RAM- and CPU-intensive applications compactly. The 8240 houses four processors, either the single-core 848, 850, 852, or 854 models, or the newer dual-core 865, 870, 875, or 880 processors. The computational efficiency of dual-core processors depends upon the applications being executed.

The 8240 also boasts an impressive memory subsystem, including the ability to house and address 32GB of system RAM or 16GB of RAM using economical 1GB RAM modules. Processes can addrerss all physical RAM, so applications needing large memory footprints are well served by the 8240. Typical customers are executing RAM-hungry databases or engineering modeling or design applications.

The 8240 houses up to three SATA disks with built-in mirroring or optional RAID-5 capability. Expansion cards may be added in the 8240's low-profile PCIe x16 slot, a PCIe x16 slot with x4 signals, or one of three PCI-X slots.