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Dell R640 / R740 system boards have seven or eight onboard SATA and SAS connectors, presumably usable for connecting HDDs & SSDs without a PERC controller. In the "System board jumpers and connectors" diagram of the Installation and Service Manual, the three or four SATA connectors are #18, 24 & 25 (and #23, if present), and the four M1-M4 SAS connectors (NVMe NPIOs) are #14-17.

But the only one of those connectors which I've ever seen used is #18, to connect a DVD drive. What can be plugged into the others? Can they be used to connect HDDs without a PERC controller? Do those strange connectors take some sort of standard cables? If not, does Dell sell cables for them (DP/Ns, please)?

Here is Dell's diagram, which I've annotated: https://geeksalive.com/R640_Installation_and_Service_Manual_vA09_2020_Fig120_p133-134_SATA_and_SAS_connectors.png

Note: that "System board jumpers and connectors" diagram is in different places in different versions of the Installation and Service Manual. In version A01 it was Figure 118 on p.162. In version A09 it was Figure 120 on p.133. In version A17 it is Figure 127 on p.137. But the diagram and title don't seem to change, so the surest way to find it in the manual is to search for "System board jumpers and connectors". Dell R640 Installation and Service Manual A09 Fig.120 System board jumpers and connectors, annotated

Dave Burton
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The SATA ports should work with the bare mainboard (if you really want to use them), but the SAS ports do require a PERC - they're just wired to the PERC slot so you don't have to cram the cabling onto the controller card. (If the PERC permits you can wire directly to the controller as well, of course.)

The connectors look very proprietary, likely you can get them from Dell only.

Zac67
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  • Thanks! That's surprising to me, because every R640 I've ever seen has cables running directly from the PERC to the drive backplane. It's also unfortunate for me, because my system board has a dead PERC slot (which is how I ended up with it). How about those odd SATA connectors - do you know where to get cables for them? – Dave Burton Sep 06 '22 at 00:07
  • (Caveat - I work for Dell) To elaborate on this, I asked a friend for his thoughts on this and he pointed out that in the sourcebook there are two no PERC configs listed for the R640 and both are for 8 SATA drives. We could be wrong, I didn't take it all the way back to product management to ask for an authoritative answer, but we suspect those are for the 8 SATA drive configs. You would use slots 14-18 and then 23-25. As @Zac67 mentioned, it's unlikely they will run SAS - I think the labeling in the diagram is misleading. I'm not sure where you would buy those cables on the customer side TBH – Grant Curell Sep 07 '22 at 16:46
  • Thank you, Grant. I looked up Intel's C620 chipset, and it says the SATA controllers can handle up to 14 devices, but there's no mention of them being able to handle SAS devices. The cable might be JHVNC. (I wish Dell would mention DP/Ns in their diagrams!!) Have you ever seen an R640 with the "J1" SATA connector installed? What is "the sourcebook" and where can I find a copy? – Dave Burton Sep 08 '22 at 17:26