Are Supermicro cards strictly for sm motherboards & servers?

[discoeels]

Hi this is my first post here, I usually prefer to lurk a bit more but I haven't been able to Google any articles dealing with with using cards on hardware not on the hql

I found a cheap Adaptec ASR-3405 https://www.adaptec.com/en-us/products/controllers/hardware/sas/value/sas-3405/ however the shop also had a cheap Super Micro AOC-SASLP-H8iR with x8 ports Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Products | Accessories | Add-on Cards | AOC-USASLP-H8iR

I am on the hunt for a card with x8 ports but It seems like the only thing on the super micro hql. Should I avoid those cards using non hql hardware? Are there
any other cards to be wary of?

Eels

 

[Patrick]

What system do you have? I have put plenty of non-SM cards into SM motherboards.

 

[Chuckleb]

I think your question is if you can use SuperMicro cards in a non SuperMicro system and the answer is yes. They are just standard PCIe cards. All of the SuperMicro SAS cards are LSI cards and all their network cards are Intel cards (I think).

 

[discoeels]

Oh I meant putting a SuperMicro card in something other than a SuperMico build.This is going to be done (well attempted)on commodity hardware: low power phenomx4 with the 760g chipset Gigabyte 78LMT-S2.

The (other) hardware has been sittng around so I'm interested in what I can get working on it, I've been curious about hardware raid for a while now.

With that said, I still have been reading up on it. I'd like for it to work, if the test board doesn't take it I have some other options.

Should I avoid the SuperMicro card?

 

[discoeels]

I think your question is if you can use SuperMicro cards in a non SuperMicro system and the answer is yes. They are just standard PCIe cards. All of the SuperMicro SAS cards are LSI cards and all their network cards are Intel cards (I think).

It seemed that way when I was reading through the data sheets, I didn't notice anything
that directly stood out as a problem I just wanted to be double sure. I didn't want to make an unnecessary purchase. Also if things seem to work well id like to test some various servers.

 

[Patrick]

It seemed that way when I was reading through the data sheets, I didn't notice anything
that directly stood out as a problem I just wanted to be double sure. I didn't want to make an unnecessary purchase. Also if things seem to work well id like to test some various servers.

So this is very important if that is what you are doing. the "U" in USASLP means it is a UIO card. That is a proprietary format that Supermicro uses for some of its cards/ server motherboards. UIO cards are PCIe cards electrically, but the component are on the wrong side of the PCB. When you use a PCIe riser in a server chassis, this orientation makes some sense.

I got an adaptec 5805 style UIO card from ebay very inexpensively and ended up having a terrible time with it and never got it working.

If you just want inexpensive hardware RAID look at the IBM M5014 which can be had with a BBU of varying age for only $155-175 these days.

Also - you need to be careful when adding RAID cards (any type) to consumer motherboards. A lot of consumer motherboards have issues with RAID cards.

 

[discoeels]

I decided to pass on the Supermicro for a cheap($45) LSI 8708ELP. Hopefully they work on the board, if not have a few others
I can try to verify they are functioning. Maybe its time to invest in a basic server board and cpu thougn, it seems like its a good idea overall,Ill want HW passthrough anyways...or maybe I should be studying

 

[Chuckleb]

Also - you need to be careful when adding RAID cards (any type) to consumer motherboards. A lot of consumer motherboards have issues with RAID cards.

Yes... I had fun with this last week. A desktop board with a 9297-8e and various combinations of 9260/9280/9271 and lastly a cheap PCIe video. Ran out of channels and cards would not show even in bios. Had to go onboard video (that I forgot about)

You can only push them so far... Though one card should work in most cases. Lastly, done x16 slots on desktop boards only like to run video cards.

Mind you I have many desktop boards as servers, workstations, and it makes a great workbench computer for testing.

 

[discoeels]

Yes... I had fun with this last week. A desktop board with a 9297-8e and various combinations of 9260/9280/9271 and lastly a cheap PCIe video. Ran out of channels and cards would not show even in bios. Had to go onboard video (that I forgot about)

You can only push them so far... Though one card should work in most cases. Lastly, done x16 slots on desktop boards only like to run video cards.

Mind you I have many desktop boards as servers, workstations, and it makes a great workbench computer for testing.

Was that on an ATX size board? PCI-E seems like it can be a tricky beast on desktop boards from all tiers.Those game rigs with 3 cards in sli seem to work for the most part but when things dont go as planed it looks like a nightmare.

I'm only using the PCI-E slots on the board for the raid card(4x) and an Intel nic(1x)
So I should be OK.
Gotta love those Intel server NICs btw.