Intel EXPX9501AT (XR977) experiences

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mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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Intel EXPX9501AT (XR997) experiences

2x Single 10Gbe cards arrived today in the mail, ta very much Patrick.

Plugged one into my system (ASUS P8Z77 WS)
Switched on machine, WOW what a racket, high pitched squeal from tiny little fan spinning way too fast for its own good.
I can't live that racket.
Sticking finger on fan to slow it down, brings up error if fan went too slow and this switches the LAN interface off, not the controller.
Only a power down will reset this, soft reboot = no good.
But I was able to slow down the fan speed, giving me hope for evil plan below.

Luckily for me, I did some fan mods a while back on a few 120mm 2000RPM fans, which also were noisy
I bought some resistors to put inline with the fan 12v in.

I went straight to my highest resistance one, 39ohm, cut the red cable, and soldered in the 39ohm resistor.
Luckily there is some room to move, so it fitted.
The terrible squeal is now an audible drone, still not good to sit near, but would be livable with.
I have ordered another selection of resistors 75,100,150,200 and 300ohm
Also ordered the smallest terminal barrier so I can test without more soldering.

Once these arrive and I find the highest resistance with lowest RPM that works, I'll do some piccies.
I should be able to do a comparison with noise levels also.

Other than that, Windows 8 had driver built it, autosearched for newer driver, installed driver from 2011, newest that there seems to be.
Everything works as it should.

Not actual card, but looks just like it, but with blue capacitors
 
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mobilenvidia

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That would be good if we have an option of choices.

The insert a resistor is working, just need to find one that does the best job, while still cooling.

Another option is to find a 3 pin header that fits in the socket, then wire in a 3 wire slower spinning fan. I have a 1" thick fan that would be ideal

Or a 555 timer chip connected to the RPM detector wire, more work involved and somewhere to put the circuit.
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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See here and the next 10 posts from that thread for another STH member's approach with this card. Basically remove the fan, add heatsinks, and then fake out fan-sense lead facing the card.

Another alternative would be to use a larger, quieter mounted near the card and connect the fan's sense lead to the card.
 

mobilenvidia

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See here and the next 10 posts from that thread for another STH member's approach with this card. Basically remove the fan, add heatsinks, and then fake out fan-sense lead facing the card.

Another alternative would be to use a larger, quieter mounted near the card and connect the fan's sense lead to the card.
I've got a few fans of varying sizes, but the 3 pin plug on the NIC is an awkward size, I have nothing that matches it.
Would have to butcher all 3 cables to get another fan
Tempting if I had 2 fans the same size.

555 timer route, not too keen on, I prefer to keep a fan spinning but slower and use original HS
But a clever idea to get round the fan speed sensor.

I think I've 1/2'd the speed of the fans, I think I can halve it again before the LED comes on.
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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Should be able to get a short cable to adapt it. Check fan cables/connectors at places like FrozenCPU.com. They've been a favorite supplier of mine for fans & cooling accessories for years.
 

cactus

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Jan 25, 2011
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In the 10G thread there are some links to 555 timers that will trick the tach signal so you can remove the 40mm fan all together. I had also used an ATMega with PWM to trick it, but it had to be repurposed. I still use my card for testing and use a 80mm fan's tach signal. I had posted the specific fan somewhere, I am away this week so I can look through posts later. Also in the 10G thread, I had some pictures of the PHY chip and the new heat sink I put on one of mine.
 

cactus

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does the fan sense require a certain fan speed to not shut itself off? cuz I would think one could just get a taller 40mm fan that doesn't spin so hard to cool it down properly

btw what speeds are you getting? MB/s
It uses a simple threshold for the fan and once you drop below, enable for the PHY chip is disabled. As MV stated, you have to power cycle to turn off the warning.

So P2P I got 9.4Gbps using MTU 1500 and iperf. Going up to MTU 9k gets 9.9Gbps, MTU 9.6k 9.91Gbps, and MTU 16k 9.95Gbps. Also note, these are about the same speed as IPoIB on a SDR IB card and slower than IPoIB on DDR or QDR.
 

mobilenvidia

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I have a couple of cannibalized laptop fans that have that connector, though you can't use the fan itself (3.3volt).
i tried that, but my Toshiba GPU fan plug is too small, would have been ideal

Ah, but my Dell has 2 fans which looks more promising, must give this a try tonight when I get home
 

mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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Dell Inspiron e1705 fans are 5v :( but fit

Looked up the specs on this fan, you can find PDF here
9000RPM ouch no wonder it screams, I would too

Specs
1-1 Part Number F-4008H12B-08 (part # on label will be F-4008H12B)
1-2 Outline Dimensions 40 x 9.6mm
1-3 Bearing System 2 Ball Bearing
1-4 Rated Voltage 12 VDC
1-5 Operating Voltage 9 – 13.8 VDC
1-6 Input Current 0.18 A
1-7 Input Power 2.88W
1-8 Speed 9000 R.P.M.
  • a. 25°C, 65% RH,
  • b. Free Air
  • c. Rated Voltage
1-9 Max. Air Flow (At zero static pressure) 8.91 CFM 0.252 CMM
1-10 Max. Air Pressure (At zero airflow) 0.183 in H2O 4.64 mm H2O
  • a. Rated Voltage
  • b. AMCA Standard
  • c. Rated Current
1-11 Acoustical Noise (Avg) 35.5 dBA
  • a. Rated Voltage
  • b. Measured in a Non-Echo Chamber
  • c. CNS 8753 Standard
  • d. ISO 3744 Test Condition
1-12 Life Expectance 257,391 L10 Hours 91,002 L10 Hours
  • a. 25°C (MTBF of 1,801,739 Hours)
  • b. 40°C (MTBF of 637,011 Hours)
1-13 Insulation Type UL: Class A
1-14 Weight 9 Grams
1-15 Rotation Clockwise from label side
 

mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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300ohm resistor, fan no spin = RED LED
200ohm resistor, fan tries to spin but doesn't quite = RED LED
150ohm resistor, fan spins, can just hear it if you stick you ear beside it, can't hear it over other computer bits lying around.

39ohm as tested above, is audible over other equipment but no where near as much as with fan running at 9000RPM

I'll test the 150ohm resistor currently day time temps are around 30DegC so good time to test in NZ, will leave over night in my bare mobo
But so far so good, can't see the blades spinning so there would guess around 600RPM

Picture below is it working after an hour.
Excuse the soldering, I've not tidied it up, and will need taping up and the cable tucked away.
But it works and for less than a $1
 

mobilenvidia

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Basically anything up to 150 Ohm will make a difference in noise.
Higher Ohm less noise = less air being moved.

I'll do a couple of vids later with difference in noise.

Then it will be time to take these puppies for a spin and see how fast I can get them
 
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nitrobass24

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Dec 26, 2010
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Cool. Now you just need to make adapters and resell these for people that want a budget entry into 10gbe.