2U chassis with hotswap SATA/NVMe for H12SSL

[hmw]

Looking for a *reasonably* priced 2U chassis for my H12 SSL. Anything with hotswap SATA & NVMe. Ideally looking for 8 x SAS/SATA and 4x NVME.

So far I've found the LA26AC12-R920LP1 for $900 so anything below that would be great. Anything with half and full size expansions slots would be awesome - I know some of the SC213 models have full height expansion slots but the ones I seem to find all have proprietary motherboard form factors

There's the SuperChassis 213LT-600LPB for $400 but I don't see any NVMe options in that sadly ...

Surprisingly enough - all the available Supermicro chassis are 3.5" instead of 2.5" - wonder if there's a shortage of 2.5" chassis ...

 

[bitbckt]

NVME support on the CSE-213 chassis needs the BPN-SAS3-213A-N8 backplane, which you're either willing to spend ~$400 dollars on top of a chassis with the older backplane, or spend upwards of $1300 on a new chassis which has one pre-installed.

 

[hmw]

NVME support on the CSE-213 chassis needs the BPN-SAS3-213A-N8 backplane, which you're either willing to spend ~$400 dollars on top of a chassis with the older backplane, or spend upwards of $1300 on a new chassis which has one pre-installed.

Ouch - so it comes to roughly the same cost as the LA26AC12-R920LP1 ...

 

[mattventura]

Are we talking new prices only? Or is secondhand okay?

I see the CSE-829HE1C4-R1K02LPB on eBay for $550 + shipping. 12 front bays, 4 of which support NVMe, plus 4 more bays on an internal backplane. There's also a CSE-826BE1C-R920LPB for $50 less, but I'd message the seller to confirm the details, as it seems it has been upgraded after-the-fact with the NVMe backplane (that P/N shouldn't come with one). Both of these also support the extra 2x 2.5" rear bays.

As a general note, the 4x NVMe + 8x non-NVME 2U 3.5" backplane is about $220 on its own, so as long as you make sure it's compatible, you may even be able to buy a cheapo 2U for ~$150, backplane for $220, and come out ahead, though the older chassis lack a few features like the extra rear bays (that can also be hacked in, but we're talking power tools at that point...).

 

[hmw]

Are we talking new prices only? Or is secondhand okay?

secondhand is perfectly okay - I was actually hoping not to spend too much on the case

There's also a CSE-826BE1C-R920LPB for $50 less, but I'd message the seller to confirm the details, as it seems it has been upgraded after-the-fact with the NVMe backplane (that P/N shouldn't come with one). Both of these also support the extra 2x 2.5" rear bays.

That actually is a good catch - have messaged the seller. But thanks to that tip, I cannot just search eBay by chassis # because folks might have modified or upgraded those.


I guess the only difference is the backplane - the LA26AC12 has the BPN-SAS3-LA26A-N12 backplane which has SlimSAS x4 and SlimSAS x8 connectors. Whereas the BPN-SAS3-826EL1-N4 backplane has all Mini SAS-HD connectors

 

[mattventura]

I guess the only difference is the backplane - the LA26AC12 has the BPN-SAS3-LA26A-N12 backplane which has SlimSAS x4 and SlimSAS x8 connectors. Whereas the BPN-SAS3-826EL1-N4 backplane has all Mini SAS-HD connectors

The other big difference is that the -N12 supports NVMe on all 12 slots, and does not have an expander ('A' in the P/N), while the -N4 only supports NVMe on 4 slots, but has a single expander ('EL1').

 

[hmw]

Got hold of a Supermicro CSE-826BE1C-R920LPB for $400, including the BPN-SAS3-826EL1-N4 backplane for the H12SSL (thanks mattventura). Here's what I've found so far:

1. PSU cables are SHORT. The H12SSL has EPS 12v connectors at the far end of the motherboard and also the main PSU cable is 0.5" short



Had to get ugly extensions for the PSU and EPS 12V connectors.

2. The included FAN-0126L4 middle fans are NOISY. Replaced these with 3 x Noctua A8 80 x 80 x 25mm fans that do half the airflow (32 cfm) at 100%. You will need to cut notches in the Noctuas so that they can fit into the fan cages



(you need to push the clip towards the fan cage grill and if necessary insert a flat bladed screwdriver to push the clip towards the grill side)



(modded Noctua fans)

I am using a 2U Supermicro SNK-P0063AP4 heatsink with a 60mm screamer (Nidec H60T12BHA7-57). This does 43CFM at 8400 RPM and 52dBA !! Looking to replace this with something that does 20 ~ 30 cfm but at a reasonable SPL. Does anyone know the specs for the SanAce 9G0612P1M041?

Or anything 60mm that does > 25cfm and 30 to 40 dbA ? That way I can set the fan speed to standard and not muck around with ipmi and fan thresholds

But the PSU is the 'super quiet' one and has a PMBUS connector so that I can look at power in the IPMI page. The second PSU needs to be pulled out though - else the the alarm goes off, unlike the dell redundant PSUs that can work without power being applied to both

I have also ordered SuperMicro compatible SlimSAS 8i to 2 * SFF-8643 cables. Will try these on the mobo SlimSAS connectors and report back if they work with SAS and NVMe

 

[randalldeflagg]

Got hold of a Supermicro CSE-826BE1C-R920LPB for $400, including the BPN-SAS3-826EL1-N4 backplane for the H12SSL (thanks mattventura). Here's what I've found so far:

1. PSU cables are SHORT. The H12SSL has EPS 12v connectors at the far end of the motherboard and also the main PSU cable is 0.5" short

View attachment 26338

Had to get ugly extensions for the PSU and EPS 12V connectors.

2. The included FAN-0126L4 middle fans are NOISY. Replaced these with 3 x Noctua A8 80 x 80 x 25mm fans that do half the airflow (32 cfm) at 100%. You will need to cut notches in the Noctuas so that they can fit into the fan cages


View attachment 26339
(you need to push the clip towards the fan cage grill and if necessary insert a flat bladed screwdriver to push the clip towards the grill side)

View attachment 26340

(modded Noctua fans)

I am using a 2U Supermicro SNK-P0063AP4 heatsink with a 60mm screamer (Nidec H60T12BHA7-57). This does 43CFM at 8400 RPM and 52dBA !! Looking to replace this with something that does 20 ~ 30 cfm but at a reasonable SPL. Does anyone know the specs for the SanAce 9G0612P1M041?

Or anything 60mm that does > 25cfm and 30 to 40 dbA ? That way I can set the fan speed to standard and not muck around with ipmi and fan thresholds

But the PSU is the 'super quiet' one and has a PMBUS connector so that I can look at power in the IPMI page. The second PSU needs to be pulled out though - else the the alarm goes off, unlike the dell redundant PSUs that can work without power being applied to both

I have also ordered SuperMicro compatible SlimSAS 8i to 2 * SFF-8643 cables. Will try these on the mobo SlimSAS connectors and report back if they work with SAS and NVMe

I took a different route putting in Noctua on my 826. Just cut out that dimple on the fan cage. Then I can reuse the fans easily down the road. Never crossed my mind to cut the ears on the fan though.

 

[i386]

This does 43CFM at 8400 RPM and 52dBA !!

Did you check why it was running at 8.4k rpm? I'm using the same heatsinks (SNK-P0063AP4) for my tr pro and 7443p systems and even under prime95 the fans never runs faster than 6.3k rpm

 

[ano]

1) there is a different part number for the nvme to work on the slimsas style cable, so not sure, but great if you try
2) the cable to motherboard should be long enough, i have a bunch of thoose chassis with that motherboard. just stretch it a bit

letme know if you see gen3, or gen4 on the nvme ports

 

[hmw]

Did you check why it was running at 8.4k rpm? I'm using the same heatsinks (SNK-P0063AP4) for my tr pro and 7443p systems and even under prime95 the fans never runs faster than 6.3k rpm

Oh I meant it was running at 8400 rpm full speed. But even at 6400 rpm, it is annoying compared to the Noctua A8's. Hence I was searching for something that does 25cfm at less dBA

 

[hmw]

I replaced the stock SNK-P0063AP4 fan with an Everflow 60mm fan that does 24 CFM @ 4800rpm. It's much quieter and runs at 3100rpm when the BIOS Fan speed is set to 'Optimal'. I might add a 60x15mm fan for the Broadcom 10G NIC - this goes to 80c which I think is super high

 

[NPS]

Do you have a Shroud? If not, try to get hold of the MCP-310-82603-0B which could help (maybe even a lot).

 

[hmw]

Do you have a Shroud? If not, try to get hold of the MCP-310-82603-0B which could help (maybe even a lot).

Yep - there’s a shroud but the cabling for the backplane blocks the fans quite a bit. Will post temps and pics of the build tomorrow