Precision 3660 adding Sata Drives

Question

I am anxiously awaiting my new 3660. I ordered it without Sata Drives, just the 2 SSD drives as I have three storage Sata drives from my old box I plan to use for storage. My old box was home built and definitely legacy built on a LGA1155 Motherboard package and technology has changed somewhat. I am beginning to realize I am not the expert I once was.

I just need to know if the Sata data cables and power cables will be there for use or do I need to supply the data cables. I guess another questions is the Power Supply Modular or do I need to power the extra drives with serial connectors? All in all I guess I am wondering if I need to be ready with data and/or power cables for the three extra drives I will be adding. I can’t wait to finally have really really fast email! Hehe….

WaialaeMathGuy · Accepted Answer

OK, here is the deal on the 3660 I received with NO 3.5” SATA Drives installed. The PSU is Modular in that the power cables for the drives do in fact plug into the PSU. While the PSU is the kind that runs on the bottom and not your conventional ATX Shaped PSU it did have Modular power cables which can be plugged in. There are only two slots for 3.5” SATA drives and while my build had no 3.5” SATA drives installed, the caddies were there as well is the power and SATA Data Cables which were run to the Hard drive slots as well. My only disappointment was that I thought there would be 3 places I could install 3.5” SATA Hard drives but there were only two places. The Mother board has 5 SATA Data ports.

Thank you all for your input!

jp_jackalope · Answer

I have the older T3650 and it didn't come with the SATA cables. I had to order cables with the correct right angle plug low profile enough to fit, and the blue hard drive caddies which for my T3650 are the same as those used on various XPS and Alienwares

Chino de Oro · Answer

Very likely that the power cable will be there. You may need to get proper sata cables.

As for the power supply, it won't be a modular, it's a Dell propriety one. Last time I looked, only the 3630 and 3640 using standard ATX power supply.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Precision's T1650, T1700, and 3620 also use standard ATX PSU's.

WaialaeMathGuy · Answer

Thank you for your reply!  I wasn’t sure with what you meant about the caddies, Did you have to order the caddies for the Hard drives or are they in the case and just empty?

Chino de Oro · Answer

It was just a response to OP's question about modular power supply. The comparison was to immediate precede models to the 3660 with similar chassis. It was not meant to refer to a whole product line.

Although ATX power supply may fit, the T1700 and 3620 did not use and were not shipped with standard ATX psu.

bradthetechnut · Answer

You're right.  I temporarily forgot about the 8-pin + 4-pin connections.

Chino de Oro · Answer

There is no reason for me to doubt your honesty but never seen Dell offers a Modular power supply in a real build or pictures before. Especially, on a non-ATX psu. Was it a full Modular or semi?

Dell offers 4 different power options: 300w, 500w, 750w, and 1000w. Which one did you get in your machine? A Dell part number would be helpful.

WaialaeMathGuy · Answer

You are right sir, the reason I thought modular is there is this plastic rack that is on the top of the PSU that four of these 8 pin connectors go to that are for cable management. I am guessing those eight pin connectors are for further expansion. As I stated in my original post I am an old tech and when I built my last computer that recently died on me, hence the purchase of this one, modular PSU’s were not something I was aware of. My last computer was on a ASRock LGA1155 MB model Z77 package. A lot of things have change since then. My apologies for the confusion. I have the 1000W PSU.

Chino de Oro · Answer

Well, thanks for the info regardless.  Also, that system should have x3 hard drive bays for 3.5' drives, so check again. Enjoy your new rig.

bradthetechnut · Answer

If you're interested, you might know two 2.5" HDD's/SSD's can fit (with the right adapter) where one 3.5" fits. Though top capacity may not be quite as large, when I Googled top capacity for 2.5" HDD's, I think 5TB is the norm for those. However, found a 16TB HDD for $2,499. Wowee. At least that's no wheres the norm for 2.5" drives.

There's also PCIe SATA port expansion cards if needed.

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Precision 3660 adding Sata Drives

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