Fans for IBM M1015 and HP SAS Expander

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mikehunt114

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May 2, 2012
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I've seen it mentioned a few times but nothing definitive, and I can't find a lot of those mentions again now. :p

I'm wondering how people have addressed any heat issues for the M1015 and HP Expander? Add fans? Replace heatsink with something better? What did you use? How effective is it?

I'm considering adding some 40mm-ish fans, but don't know exactly how to do that...
 
Both cards get to hot without proper airflow. These are designed for rackmount cases and those usually provide enough airflow. I replaced all fans from my Chenbro case with silent pwm fans controlled by hdd temperature and installed a silent 120mm fan on top of my PCIe section to cool my HBA, expander and 10ge card.
 
I've also replaced all fans in my Norco 4224 but I'm curious what people do for additional cooling if necessary. How did you install your fan on top of PCI-e?
 
I haven't needed to cool my m1015's yet.
But I have a video card, that is at the edge of the case, so hard for it to get fresh air, putting a fan ontop of it, solved the issue really easily, just a 800rpm fan. You just need air to move, no need to blast it.
 
mikehunt114 said:
I've also replaced all fans in my Norco 4224 but I'm curious what people do for additional cooling if necessary. How did you install your fan on top of PCI-e?
Click to expand...

Which fans did you get? I need to change mine out. They are the stock loud ones that come with it.
 
Zalman used to make a bracket that screwed into the top of the PCIe slots, using the screws that hold the PCIe cards in place. This held a 90mm fan that you could swivel around and position over card slots, chipsets, or a passive CPU cooler. I don't think they make them anymore though. Antec makes a gizmo called the Spot Cool but from what I've read it's poorly built and doesn't stay put.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to position a fan to cool a pair of m1015's too. Maybe replace one of the PCIe slot screws with an extra-long one and then screw down one corner of the fan. Either that or just lay an 80mm across the tops of the cards and use some elastic bands around the cards to hold it in place.
 
skwayb said:
Which fans did you get? I need to change mine out. They are the stock loud ones that come with it.
Click to expand...

I changed the middle fan plate out for the 3 x 120mm plate and installed "Scythe Slip Stream (Kaze-Jyuni) 120mm Case Fan, Medium Flow". I also changed out the back fans for "Scythe KAMA Flow-2 80mm Silent Case Fan". The server is more than quiet enough for me, it has been in my bedroom before and not been a problem, in fact I prefer it there because the small noise it does make drowns out any roommate noise. :)

Metaluna said:
Zalman used to make a bracket that screwed into the top of the PCIe slots, using the screws that hold the PCIe cards in place. This held a 90mm fan that you could swivel around and position over card slots, chipsets, or a passive CPU cooler. I don't think they make them anymore though. Antec makes a gizmo called the Spot Cool but from what I've read it's poorly built and doesn't stay put.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to position a fan to cool a pair of m1015's too. Maybe replace one of the PCIe slot screws with an extra-long one and then screw down one corner of the fan. Either that or just lay an 80mm across the tops of the cards and use some elastic bands around the cards to hold it in place.
Click to expand...

I was hoping to find something that looked a little nicer than just rigging something in there. :/
 
Well my fan just lies on top of the SFF-8087 cabling from the the expander and the metal protrusion the PCIe cards are screwed to. And fixed with a cable strap to case so it does not fall down. It may not be the nicest solution, but it works and you should not carry around a case with 16 running drives anyway.
 
Very nice Neme, I was hoping for something like that, but was also hoping I wouldn't have to custom make it. I also saw one guy had some custom water cooled adapter he used instead of the passive heat sink on the M1015, very nice but not exactly what I was hoping to find available.
 
Nice find mikehunt14! I ordered the magnetic one (couldn't see spending $20 on the other one). My case has a ventilation grille above the PCIe slot area, so what I might do is remove the magnets and just bolt it on through the grille holes. That way the fan should blow down over my two LSI cards.

The second one is similar to the old discontinued Zalman bracket I mentioned previously, but straight instead of curved.

http://zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=226

By the way, if someone just needs to cool a single card, "slot blower" coolers like the one below are much easier to find. As long as you get one where the air intake is facing the heatsink, it should give plenty of airflow. If you have multiple cards, they don't work so well.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...r_Slot_Fan_-_Black_AK-SB-BK.html?tl=g40c18s62
 
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I ordered the magnetic one as well. In a Norco 4224 I'm thinking it can either attach to the ventilation grille above the PCI-E slot area as you mentioned, or I could attach it to the side of the case in that area and still have enough reach to cover both cards I believe. Once it arrives I'll have a better idea, and can figure out what size fan to use. At first glance it seems to me that 80-120mm fans will be appropriate. I liked the magnetic idea because it gives you more options for where to mount it. In some cases you might want a straight bracket like the $20 one, or sometimes you might need a curved one like the Zalman to reach your target area. The magnetic one should give me two options for mounting as mentioned.
 
1) I have put 3 IBM HBAs at the bottom of the mobo; I was lucky that my case has 3 grids on side panel; two above PCIe cards can have fans, while big grid over 6 HDs has 2 fans on opposite side panel - anyhow - I managed to create some air stream to cool all a bit.... not perfect though....

2) It's pity that RAID and HBA and Expanders don't come with some kind of small fan. I see in MSM - that Expander or controller has label : number of fans: 0 - so it looks like there is a possibility to attach fan and take power from the board, just don't know how and where... If anyone knows pin layout of e.g. HP Expander or any IBM controller it would be good guideline to see where to hook up a fan connector !!
 
petar_b said:
1) I have put 3 IBM HBAs at the bottom of the mobo; I was lucky that my case has 3 grids on side panel; two above PCIe cards can have fans, while big grid over 6 HDs has 2 fans on opposite side panel - anyhow - I managed to create some air stream to cool all a bit.... not perfect though....

2) It's pity that RAID and HBA and Expanders don't come with some kind of small fan. I see in MSM - that Expander or controller has label : number of fans: 0 - so it looks like there is a possibility to attach fan and take power from the board, just don't know how and where... If anyone knows pin layout of e.g. HP Expander or any IBM controller it would be good guideline to see where to hook up a fan connector !!
Click to expand...

Why dont u just ghetto tune somekind of fan to it and call it a day? with clue or hot clue or zipties fan of your needs..

You dont really need those grids in ur side panel.. those helps but those also helps to put dust into your system way faster in your case if u dont get/have filters..
 
I've been running my m1015 without a dedicated fan for ~18mo now without issue. NAS case definitely gets a bit warm, especially when all my drives are spinning, but no untimely death yet. Guess I'll need to keep an eye on temps to see if that area of the case needs better airflow.
 
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