Mounting SAS Expander

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Spritzup

Member
Mar 21, 2016
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Good Morning,

A bit of an odd question, but I'm looking for idea's of where I can mount an HP SAS expander in a Norco-4224 case. I have a Intel S2600CP mobo, which takes up most of the available real-estate... and I have no free slots.

Anyways, just looking for ideas.

Thanks!

~Spritz
 

rubylaser

Active Member
Jan 4, 2013
846
236
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Michigan, USA
If the HP expander can be powered by molex like my Intel one can, how about putting it up on the "shelf" where the 2.5" drives go inside the case? If you need that shelf for SSDs for the OS, just mount them to the side wall with two-sided tape or Velcro.

Also, what cards do you have in the S2600CP that you have no slots available. I have 3 H310s + a ConnectX-2 card in mine and I still have slots available.
 

Spritzup

Member
Mar 21, 2016
34
5
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42
Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I have an older 4224 that does not have the shelf (and in any case I also have 120mm fan bracket).

I wasn't sure if velcro was safe to use (I couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't be though), so that makes my life easy :)

As for what I'm running in the slots, I run unRaid and intend to run both mine and my wife's PC virtually from the server... so in the slots I have -->

IBM M1015
GTX (960) - covers a slot)
4 Port NIC
Low Powered Single Slot video card (not yet purchased)
USB 3.0 Card

Using the server for double duty rapidly reduces the number of slots :)

~Spritz
 

DavidRa

Infrastructure Architect
Aug 3, 2015
329
152
43
Central Coast of NSW
www.pdconsec.net
I have Intel expanders in mine - the first I mounted on the side, but for the second (which is much better!) I drilled three holes in the top of the fan bracket, corresponding to the mounting holes on the expander. In both cases, I used motherboard standoffs on each side of the board - OT: they generally screw in back to back so you can create a long chain of them - then I screwed in from the front of the case, through the holes, into the standoffs.

Like this:

SASExpanderMount.png

It works really well for the Intel expander, but I suspect for the HP you might be better with a side mount (through the outside of the chassis, but using the same approach as I've detailed).
 

rubylaser

Active Member
Jan 4, 2013
846
236
43
Michigan, USA
Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I have an older 4224 that does not have the shelf (and in any case I also have 120mm fan bracket).

I wasn't sure if velcro was safe to use (I couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't be though), so that makes my life easy :)

As for what I'm running in the slots, I run unRaid and intend to run both mine and my wife's PC virtually from the server... so in the slots I have -->

IBM M1015
GTX (960) - covers a slot)
4 Port NIC
Low Powered Single Slot video card (not yet purchased)
USB 3.0 Card

Using the server for double duty rapidly reduces the number of slots :)

~Spritz
The shelf fits behind the 120mm fan wall. I have a new 4224 that came with the 120mm fan wall, and I have the shelf that holds the disks behind it. You dinfitely do NOT want to velcro the expander to the side of the case as it would probably short out. You would need to drill holes and provide standoffs to mount the expander safely in any scenario. The velcro or tape option was to mount the OS SSD to the side of the case.

You can see my server here with the exact same mobo and case. The shelf mounts on the three holes on the top of the left side of the 120mm fan wall. Also, you can see my SSD temporarily taped to the side of the case by the PSU (I needed more two sided velcro to mount it better than the painters tape I had handy).

Norco 4224 + C2600CP Motherboard
 

rubylaser

Active Member
Jan 4, 2013
846
236
43
Michigan, USA
I have Intel expanders in mine - the first I mounted on the side, but for the second (which is much better!) I drilled three holes in the top of the fan bracket, corresponding to the mounting holes on the expander. In both cases, I used motherboard standoffs on each side of the board - OT: they generally screw in back to back so you can create a long chain of them - then I screwed in from the front of the case, through the holes, into the standoffs.

Like this:

View attachment 2130

It works really well for the Intel expander, but I suspect for the HP you might be better with a side mount (through the outside of the chassis, but using the same approach as I've detailed).
These are great directions. My only concern with putting the Expander there was airflow for the heatsink. How cool does the heatsink stay with it out of the path of the fans' airflow?
 

Spritzup

Member
Mar 21, 2016
34
5
8
42
I have Intel expanders in mine - the first I mounted on the side, but for the second (which is much better!) I drilled three holes in the top of the fan bracket, corresponding to the mounting holes on the expander. In both cases, I used motherboard standoffs on each side of the board - OT: they generally screw in back to back so you can create a long chain of them - then I screwed in from the front of the case, through the holes, into the standoffs.

Like this:

View attachment 2130

It works really well for the Intel expander, but I suspect for the HP you might be better with a side mount (through the outside of the chassis, but using the same approach as I've detailed).
Perhaps I'm just being daft, or the brain isn't quite working today, but I can't quite picture what you're saying...

~Spritz
 

BlueFox

Legendary Member Spam Hunter Extraordinaire
Oct 26, 2015
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The HP SAS expander is powered through the PCIe slot, so you can't really mount it wherever you please. It pretty much has to go into the motherboard (though industrial backplanes with PCIe have been used as well).
 

Spritzup

Member
Mar 21, 2016
34
5
8
42
I think another poster around here suggested using these USB PCIe extenders (that were used when mining bitcoin and the like were able to be done with GPUs) for the HP expander Amazon.com: PCIe x1 to x16 Powered Extender for Litecoin/Bitcoin Mining (Over 1m USB 3.0 Cable) (USB 3.0 A with Molex): Computers & Accessories

You don't have to plug in the USB/PCIe part, just the SATA/molex power
That's exactly what I'm doing. That way I can mount the card anywhere I please :)

~Spritz
 

dragonme

Active Member
Apr 12, 2016
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what about a 1x to 8x ribbon cable... that would carry the power needed and the card could still talk to the motherboard if need for a flash etc.. the card I dont believe send actual data through the pic-e slot?

1x -16x should not make a difference.. the power are the short section of the pins forward of the divider no?

everything on the backside of the slot 1x - 16x is just data...