IBM Power E850 (8408-E8E)
You have an E850 8408-E8E. Here's what that means in 2026: a 4-socket enterprise Power8 consolidation platform, the first Power8 model to lose IBM support, out of standard support since October 2023.
The Power E850 (8408-E8E) was IBM's 4-socket Power8 enterprise consolidation platform: a 4U chassis scaling to 48 total cores and up to 2 TB of DDR3 CDIMM memory, built for private-cloud and heavy virtualization deployments that needed more headroom than a scale-out S-series box could offer in one enclosure.
Because the E850 consolidates multiple partitions onto shared 4-socket hardware, its risk profile compounds: a single unsupported hardware failure can take down every workload on the box at once. See our risk page for what this actually exposes you to.
Sources
- IBM Power8 end of service announcement — IBM
- IBM Power End of Life Dates: Every Server and Release — Power Systems Advisors
Specifications
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | 4-socket, 4U rack |
| Max Cores | Up to 48 cores (4 sockets x up to 12 cores, 3.3-3.7 GHz depending on feature) |
| Max Memory | 128 GB to 2 TB DDR3 CDIMM memory (up to 32 CDIMM slots) |
| Max Internal Storage | Integrated SAS backplane, up to 11 hot-swap PCIe Gen3 slots |
| Software Tier | P30 |
Lifecycle and support status
| Attribute | Status |
|---|---|
| Withdrawn From Marketing | July 14, 2017 |
| EOS Date | October 31, 2023 |
| EOS Status | Past standard IBM hardware support since October 2023 ... longer than any other current Power8 model. |
| IBM i Ceiling | IBM i 7.4 (IBM i 7.5 does not support Power8 hardware at all) |
| IBM i 7.4 Support Ends | September 30, 2026 |
Best fit
A 4-socket enterprise consolidation platform built for private-cloud and heavy virtualization workloads. It was the first Power8 model IBM withdrew support for, so any E850 still in production has been unsupported the longest of any model in this family.
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Related Reading
What IBM Power8 End of Support Actually Means
End of support is not a shutdown switch. Here is exactly what changes ... and what doesn't ... when an IBM Power8 model passes its IBM end-of-service date.
Backup, HA, and DR on an Unsupported Power8 System
With IBM no longer shipping parts or firmware fixes, your backup and disaster-recovery posture becomes the thing standing between a hardware failure and real downtime.
Third-Party Maintenance for Power8, Explained
What a TPM contract actually covers, what it does not, and how to evaluate whether it is the right bridge for your Power8 system.