HBA cooling

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
411
62
28
Czech republic
I have LSI 2308-based HBA card in my home server and it's just running hot even these days and idle. The fact it's pretty much stuck against Intel X710 card that's also pretty hot doesn't help either.
Does anyone know about some sort of a PCI slot FAN bracket I could use to mount say, 92mm, FAN roughly over the HBA's heatsink? I found something from Akasa, but the FAN is mounted pretty much right at the back side of a case, and the heatsink is few cms further into the case, so it's not a solution.
 

zer0sum

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2013
849
473
63
I use these ones as you can slide the fan to a few different positions to suit your needs :)

 
  • Like
Reactions: fasting

Markess

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2018
1,146
761
113
Northern California
Depending on how DIY you want to be, you can mount a fan right on the card (depending on which actual card you have of course). Here's an LSI 9207 (SAS2308) with a 40mm fan mounted with long screws replacing the original push pin heatsink mounting. Need to use care not to torque the screws too much, but it works pretty well. I have one on a 2008 based controller, and also the integrated SAS3008 controller on one of my Supermicro boards. On the supermicro board, the push pin hole pattern was wrong, so I used machine screws to "friction fit" screw down between the pins on the heatsink (the way the really old AMD coolers did).

1641921639491.png
A picture really explains it better than words. I had no pics of my own setup, so I used this one from here: Cooling Suggestions for LSI SAS card? (LSI 9207-8i)
 

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
411
62
28
Czech republic
I use these ones as you can slide the fan to a few different positions to suit your needs :)

Oh, Amazon is usually out of question since I don't live in the U.S. Also this bracket is to mount a fan horizontally, but I want it to blow directly on the HBA, so it should be vertical.


Depending on how DIY you want to be, you can mount a fan right on the card (depending on which actual card you have of course). Here's an LSI 9207 (SAS2308) with a 40mm fan mounted with long screws replacing the original push pin heatsink mounting. Need to use care not to torque the screws too much, but it works pretty well. I have one on a 2008 based controller, and also the integrated SAS3008 controller on one of my Supermicro boards. On the supermicro board, the push pin hole pattern was wrong, so I used machine screws to "friction fit" screw down between the pins on the heatsink (the way the really old AMD coolers did).

View attachment 21096
A picture really explains it better than words. I had no pics of my own setup, so I used this one from here: Cooling Suggestions for LSI SAS card? (LSI 9207-8i)
That would be last resort. 40mm FAN, that's like having an aeroplane fly next to you. Hell no :D
I'm thinking 80 or 92mm.
 

Markess

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2018
1,146
761
113
Northern California
That would be last resort. 40mm FAN, that's like having an aeroplane fly next to you. Hell no :D
I'm thinking 80 or 92mm.
I use a Noctua just like what is shown in the picture (NF-A4x20 PWM). They don't move a ton of air like a 1U case fan does, so are pretty much totally silent (14.9db). I have mine set to 100% and can't hear it past a couple inches away, even with the cover off.

If the airflow is directed right on the heatsink you don't need a ton of it. Just enough to carry some heat away.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tinfoil3d

gb00s

Well-Known Member
Jul 25, 2018
1,175
586
113
Poland
Mounting a 40mm fan like that caused lots of fan failures here as motors died from direct contact (heat) with the heatsink. You better mount a fan blowing air from the end of the card and out of the case. Some other parts of the card get some airflow as well.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Markess

zer0sum

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2013
849
473
63
Oh, Amazon is usually out of question since I don't live in the U.S. Also this bracket is to mount a fan horizontally, but I want it to blow directly on the HBA, so it should be vertical.
The link is just an example as you can find those sorts of brackets all over Ebay/Alibaba/etc
I've found a 120mm or 140mm fan moves plenty of air, even in that orientation and is dead silent
 

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
411
62
28
Czech republic
Ebay is basically full of these
1642089460306.png

neither of which is what I'm looking for :(
The first one would be IF there was possibility to mount a fan further inside or away from the back side of a case.
 

Whaaat

Active Member
Jan 31, 2020
301
157
43
I made use of 45mm sunon fan for cooling, consider also fc-2000-b, there is a version with automatic thermal control - I found this the best option because you are wasting slot next to the controller anyway - why not use it as an exhaust for hot air from the controller instead of spreading heat all around.
 

Markess

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2018
1,146
761
113
Northern California
  • Like
Reactions: itronin

Fritz

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2015
3,371
1,375
113
69
I have a couple of X10SRH-CF MB's and was concerned about the high "Chip Temperatures reported by MRM. I attached Noctua 40mm fans the heatsinks and it lowered the temps considerably. I recently acquired a SM AOC-S3008L-L8E. The "Chip Temp" is way high. I had an old Slot cooler that aligns almost perfectly with the heatsink and thought it would do the trick but it hardly phased the temp at all so I'm looking for another solution. While the Noctua works reasonably well I'm thinking about maybe going with a 40mm case fan if It can be mounted with reasonable assurance that it won't fall off.

I can't help but wonder if the high temps of HBA's is perfectly normal but 80c to 90c seems excessive.
 

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
411
62
28
Czech republic
My bracket works. It fits the NF-A4x10 PWM perfectly, however I would have liked if the fan was spinning a little faster. It's only doing like 900rpm, and the heatsink is still pretty warm. It's nowhere near as bad as before and the heatsink on the network card that's sitting on the HBA's back is not even warm though, so I think it's fine. I guess the problem is the Supermicro's fan control on the board, but there's no way to configure the speed on per-fan basis.
 

Fritz

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2015
3,371
1,375
113
69
My bracket works. It fits the NF-A4x10 PWM perfectly, however I would have liked if the fan was spinning a little faster. It's only doing like 900rpm, and the heatsink is still pretty warm. It's nowhere near as bad as before and the heatsink on the network card that's sitting on the HBA's back is not even warm though, so I think it's fine. I guess the problem is the Supermicro's fan control on the board, but there's no way to configure the speed on per-fan basis.
Fans can probably be controlled individually using ipmitool. I have a Quanta server that's unbearably noisy as configured. It uses double 80mm fans. An Airbus A380 is quiet by comparison. I use ipmi tools to lower the fan speed of each individual fan. The commands are -

ipmitool -I lanplus -H 192.168.10.233 -U admin -P admin raw 0x30 0x39 0x01 0x0 0x0 0x16
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 192.168.10.233 -U admin -P admin raw 0x30 0x39 0x01 0x0 0x1 0x16
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 192.168.10.233 -U admin -P admin raw 0x30 0x39 0x01 0x0 0x2 0x16
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 192.168.10.233 -U admin -P admin raw 0x30 0x39 0x01 0x0 0x3 0x16

The next to the last group is the fan number and the last is the fan speed. I wouldn't be surprised if the same commands also work on a Supermicro server as ipmi is ipmi.

Strangely enough, Supermicro's Super Doctor works on the Quanta server. The only thing that it can't detect are the PSU's.

And BTW, I never could get ipmitool to work in Windows but it's a piece of cake in Linux. It doesn't matter whether these commands are run locally or over the network.