Inspur-branded LSI9300-8i for $50

[Cruzader]

Looks like the seller is trying to create an artificial impression of scarcity. Yesterday the description said they had 5 available with 6 sold. Today it says there are 4 available with 28 sold. They have 70+k feedback score, so there is a chance I'll get what's advertised.

Its just how ebay works with limits, you see this with pretty much every large seller.
Unless you stop expanding the business or have very few items you will keep having this issue into eternity.

Listing qty 1000 uses 1000 of your monthly sales limit at listing not at selling.
So instead you put 10-20-30-50 depending on how capped you are and your listing tool shift it around lowering stuff not selling to allocate more to those selling.

 

[LoneGeek]

Offer of $40 was rejected.
$45 - accepted.

 

[Whaaat]

I am not talking about HP H240. I mean major OEM brand with LSI SAS3 chipset and SFF8643 connectors. I would not pay more than $30.

Sure, $30 is a justified price for SAS3, sometimes you can even get SAS3.5 with cable for a couple hundred dollars more

Spoiler: hba

 

[BeTeP]

I'm having a hard time finding anything anywhere near that low a price that isn't a mezzanine or Dell mini-mono form factor. Maybe I'm just searching wrong/poorly. Can you share any listings where you find cards at that low a price? Thanks!

the cards I am talking about are technically mezzanine boards - they come without brackets and sometimes have a steel backplate attached. I do not discriminate. I do not mind spending an extra minute to remove the backplate and install a $1 bracket.

 

[Bert]

the cards I am talking about are technically mezzanine boards - they come without brackets and sometimes have a steel backplate attached. I do not discriminate. I do not mind spending an extra minute to remove the backplate and install a $1 bracket.

A link would be most useful

 

[Cruzader]

Id say mezzanine with adapter is generaly not talked about in "generic homelab" much since people tend to order the wrong adapters and burn cards.

Same with the adapters for cisco/dell/hp nic formfactors in regular pci-e slot that has a few models of adapters with simular formfactors/slots, people order the wrong one and burn their card.
Then turn around and blame the guide/thread/project they ignored docs of or just leap directly to "must be since adapter was from china"

 

[piranha32]

Its just how ebay works with limits, you see this with pretty much every large seller.
Unless you stop expanding the business or have very few items you will keep having this issue into eternity.

Listing qty 1000 uses 1000 of your monthly sales limit at listing not at selling.
So instead you put 10-20-30-50 depending on how capped you are and your listing tool shift it around lowering stuff not selling to allocate more to those selling.

I had no idea ebay was imposing limits on number of sales. Thanks!

 

[Markess]

I'm having a hard time finding anything anywhere near that low a price that isn't a mezzanine or Dell mini-mono form factor. Maybe I'm just searching wrong/poorly. Can you share any listings where you find cards at that low a price? Thanks!

the cards I am talking about are technically mezzanine boards - they come without brackets and sometimes have a steel backplate attached. I do not discriminate. I do not mind spending an extra minute to remove the backplate and install a $1 bracket.

Well, when I originally said mezzanine, I meant cards with an OCP or other non-PCIe edge connector. I don't mind picking up a cheap bracket, or more likely fabricating my own, but I'm still not seeing cards with a PCIe connector any cheaper than these were going for. I know there's OCP to PCIe adapters (or maybe its PCIe to OCP?) on ebay/ali but it doesn't sound like that's what you're talking about here if you're paying $1?

Id say mezzanine with adapter is generaly not talked about in "generic homelab" much since people tend to order the wrong adapters and burn cards.

Same with the adapters for cisco/dell/hp nic formfactors in regular pci-e slot that has a few models of adapters with simular formfactors/slots, people order the wrong one and burn their card.
Then turn around and blame the guide/thread/project they ignored docs of or just leap directly to "must be since adapter was from china"

Yeah, even when you get the right part, you're still in the ~$30+ range once you get the adapter and the HBA/RAID card, at which point a card like the one listed here (at least at the original price) is a safer option.

 

[Cruzader]

Yeah, even when you get the right part, you're still in the ~$30+ range once you get the adapter and the HBA/RAID card, at which point a card like the one listed here (at least at the original price) is a safer option.

For storage id not expect to save much indeed.
On nics it can be a 30-80$ vs 200-300$ diffrence and far more interesting.

Tho i suppose we will be seeing ALOT more of the adapter cards over the next few years in "generic homelab" use.
With pretty much every vendor abandoning their own formfactors + mezzanine for networking and going OCP on this/future gens.

Would not be suprised to see some of the more common brands of generic/aftermarket-cards to enter the market.
The amount of cards that cant be moved over to next gen will be a flood of nics unlike anything before.

 

[unwind-protect]

Don't these have high power consumption, like 30 watts?

 

[Cruzader]

Don't these have high power consumption, like 30 watts?

Would assume more in the 13-14w area by the model.

 

[LoneGeek]

Don't these have high power consumption, like 30 watts?

LSI® SAS 9300-8i PCI Express® to 12Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Host Bus Adapter
Power values:
— Nominal = 13.0 W
— Worst case = 19.04 W

 

[Belson]

This is what mine shipped with

        Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0)

        Controller Number              : 0
        Controller                     : SAS3008(C0)
        PCI Address                    : 00:05:00:00
        SAS Address                    : 
        NVDATA Version (Default)       : 0b.02.00.00
        NVDATA Version (Persistent)    : 0b.02.00.00
        Firmware Product ID            : 0x2221 (IT)
        Firmware Version               : 12.00.00.00
        NVDATA Vendor                  : INSPUR
        NVDATA Product ID              : INSPUR 3008IT
        BIOS Version                   : 08.17.00.00
        UEFI BSD Version               : 14.00.00.00
        FCODE Version                  : N/A
        Board Name                     : INSPUR 3008IT
        Board Assembly                 : INSPUR
        Board Tracer Number            : N/A

 

[Kelvarr]

This is what mine shipped with

        Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0)

        Controller Number              : 0
        Controller                     : SAS3008(C0)
        PCI Address                    : 00:05:00:00
        SAS Address                    :
        NVDATA Version (Default)       : 0b.02.00.00
        NVDATA Version (Persistent)    : 0b.02.00.00
        Firmware Product ID            : 0x2221 (IT)
        Firmware Version               : 12.00.00.00
        NVDATA Vendor                  : INSPUR
        NVDATA Product ID              : INSPUR 3008IT
        BIOS Version                   : 08.17.00.00
        UEFI BSD Version               : 14.00.00.00
        FCODE Version                  : N/A
        Board Name                     : INSPUR 3008IT
        Board Assembly                 : INSPUR
        Board Tracer Number            : N/A

Does yours have a LSI logo anywhere? I saw these, but was concerned about counterfeit.

 

[piranha32]

My card was blocking system boot on BIOS initialization, what was caused by some incompatibility with EFI. Changing CSM mode in bios (as mentioned in https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/boot-problem-with-lsi-9300-16i.37114/post-343910) allowed to boot to the OS, but I could not access the card's setup menu. Later I found in the BIOS settings per-slot settings, which allow for much more granular control over the process.
But before I found it, I upgraded the firmware to IT and BIOS to the latest version downloaded from Broadcom's website. I followed the instructions from an STH post (https://www.servethehome.com/flash-lsi-sas-3008-hba-e-g-ibm-m1215-mode/), except the card doesn't have a jumper to enable firmware upgrade mode, so this step is not necessary.

 

[nasbdh9]

YZCA-00424-101=IT
YZCA-00424-102=IR
YZCA-00424-103=IMR

 

[Belson]

Does yours have a LSI logo anywhere? I saw these, but was concerned about counterfeit.

Seems legit?
Chip reads: LSI .... SAS3008-1 ....

Mine took the current rev 9300 firmware just fine. Fingers crossed as I begin to write 100tb over it. Guess I'll see what thermal grizzly paste does for temps.

I suspect it's kinda like a GFX card, they sell the chip and basic plans to vendors to implement. Vendors can add on functionality but LSI documents doing some kinda sanity checks during the firmware update. I can't find anything on what "Inspur" may have added so I suspect it's just an authorized LSI clone.

 

[Cruzader]

I suspect it's kinda like a GFX card, they sell the chip and basic plans to vendors to implement. Vendors can add on functionality but LSI documents doing some kinda sanity checks during the firmware update. I can't find anything on what "Inspur" may have added so I suspect it's just an authorized LSI clone.

Yeah pretty much like any vendor specific hba.

Either LSI makes them to their spec or the vendor makes themself with LSI spec in base, since inspur is as large as they are id assume its the 2nd option for them.

 

[gb00s]

... Guess I'll see what thermal grizzly paste does for temps ...

From my experience these small chips honor pads better than paste and constant reliable airflow is more important than both ... Good look with the transfer

 

[Belson]

From my experience these small chips honor pads better than paste and constant reliable airflow is more important than both ... Good look with the transfer

Temps underload are looking pretty good - also has a 40x40x10mm noctua screwed into the heatsink.
ROC temperature(Degree Celcius) = 39