- IT Support
The Hidden Costs of Cheap IT Support
11 Mar, 2026

£2279.75 inc. VAT
AI-generated summary
If you’re paying £1,899.79 ex-VAT for a single **Lenovo Intel Xeon Silver 4116**, you need to be really clear what you’re building (or fixing). This is the kind of server CPU that makes sense in *older, compatible Lenovo enterprise boxes* where parts are scarce, service turnaround matters, and you just need stable, predictable performance for things like virtualization, basic consolidation, file/app servers, or light-to-medium workloads. In that scenario, it’s a “keep the system running” buy, not a “new build” buy—and the value mostly comes from avoiding downtime or refurbishment costs.
I’d be cautious if you’re thinking of it for a **greenfield server**, heavy virtualization, or anything that’s memory-/core-/newer-instruction-set-sensitive. At this price point, there are often better-value alternatives (newer Xeons in the used/refurb market, or even AMD options depending on platform) that deliver more performance per pound and less power inefficiency for comparable workloads. Basically: buy it if you *need this exact class of CPU* in a supported Lenovo platform and you trust the compatibility path. Skip it if you’re trying to stretch budget on performance—this is more “enterprise replacement part” than “best deal for performance.”

Lenovo
AMD EPYC 7302 - 3 GHz - 16-core - 32 threads - 128 MB cache - for ThinkSystem SR645 7D2X, 7D2Y

Lenovo
Intel Xeon Gold 6430 - 2.1 GHz - 32-core - 64 threads - 60 MB cache - for ThinkSystem SR650 V3

Lenovo
Intel Xeon Silver 4216 - 2.1 GHz - 16-core - 32 threads - 22 MB cache - for ThinkAgile VX Certified Node 7Y94, ThinkSystem SR550, SR590, SR650

Lenovo
Intel Xeon Silver 4309Y - 2.8 GHz - 8-core - 16 threads - 12 MB cache - for ThinkSystem ST650 V2 7Z74, 7Z75