Need some advice on which HBA to buy

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Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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I want to feed 16 drive bays from one slot so I need a 16i HBA. I'm looking on eBay but most sellers don't give enough info to properly identify what they're selling much less any detailed info like speed for instance. So what should I be looking for?

TIA :)

P.S. - Don't need RAID. Don't want RAID.
 

BLinux

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Jul 7, 2016
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This for the 836 you got recently? So HDD right? not SSDs?

I think the 9201-16i is the only option, but it's rather pricey; I usually see it for $140-200. It is based on SAS2116, 6Gbps/SAS-2/SATA-III card with PCIe 2.0 x8. As an alternative, you could get a IBM 46M0997 + a dual port HBA for < $100. If you're limited by PCIe slots, the 46M0997 doesn't really need a real PCIe slot, you can just get a powered PCIe extender to power it and mount it anywhere else.
 

Fritz

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Thank you sir. Yup, it's For the Dell Compellent SC 836. I'm putting together a cheap low power backup/ media server box. The MO will be a SM 8xSIL-F. It has only 4 slots and one is a PCI which is useless, 2 are PICe x8 and one is a PCIe x4 on x8. I also plan to use one of the slots for a 10G NIC.

EDIT - Just ordered a 9201 16i for $145 brand new. It's a much cleaner solution than using an expander.
 

nthu9280

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Feb 3, 2016
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Little late in my response and see you have already ordered the HBA.

Adaptec ASR-71605 also can be had for $70 range. They can be configured as HBA in the BIOS. You would need 8643 - 8087 or 8643-4xSATA depending on the backplane (A/TQ)
 
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sth

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Not the cheapest (circa $350) but the LSI 9305-16i or 24i are great. Ive run both for a couple of years now with zero issues under OmioOS. Both run cool as well unlike older generations.
If you want cheap (~$40) you could go with a 9206-16e and run the external ports back in an available slot.
Theres a few other options too but those book end the price ranges.
 

Fritz

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Little late in my response and see you have already ordered the HBA.

Adaptec ASR-71605 also can be had for $70 range. They can be configured as HBA in the BIOS. You would need 8643 - 8087 or 8643-4xSATA depending on the backplane (A/TQ)
You're a little late and I jumped the gun, LOL.
 

Fritz

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Not the cheapest (circa $350) but the LSI 9305-16i or 24i are great. Ive run both for a couple of years now with zero issues under OmioOS. Both run cool as well unlike older generations.
If you want cheap (~$40) you could go with a 9206-16e and run the external ports back in an available slot.
Theres a few other options too but those book end the price ranges.
I considered going with an external since they're much cheaper but the thought about how gaudy the back of the rack would look.

There was a time when 836 SAS2 backplanes were reasonably price but not any more. SM SAS2 backplanes are hella expensive these days.
 

BLinux

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Little late in my response and see you have already ordered the HBA.

Adaptec ASR-71605 also can be had for $70 range. They can be configured as HBA in the BIOS. You would need 8643 - 8087 or 8643-4xSATA depending on the backplane (A/TQ)
I had the 71605H (HBA only version), and it had some problems when connecting all 16x SAS lanes; on warm reboot, a few of those SAS lanes would not work. But if you cold reboot, everything shows up again. When was I looking into that issue, I found several other mentions of the same problem with > 12 HDDs mentioned in various reviews of the 71605H. I had other priorities so never found a resolution to the problem... but it sure makes me hesitate to use it.
 
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Fritz

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Well, it arrived and it's obviously a counterfeit. Plain brown box, burned driver disk and no mfg markings to be found anywhere.

But it's detected properly by Server 2012 R2 and works flawlessly so I think I'll keep it. For what I paid I feel I'll get my money's worth out of it...... I hope.