Cooling Suggestions for LSI SAS card? (LSI 9207-8i)

[bagpipes]

I recently had an LSI 9211 SAS card die on me and i'm fairly sure it's because cooling was inadequate. Despite the whole internet telling me they need decent airflow, I decided to chance it in a tiny case (U-NAS NSC-800) with limited airflow. So while a replacement (LSI 9207-8i) is en route, i'm scoping out options for custom cooling.

Does anyone have experience or suggestions for the best way to do it?

I'm thinking about grabbing a low profile heatsink+fan assembly and tapping new holes in the back of it to mount it to the card from behind..

I have ~40mm clearance from the card to the case, so candidates include:

Akasa AK-CC7122EP01 (large flower style heatsink with integrated fan)
Akasa AK-351 (copper heatsink with 60mm fan blowing down)
Dynatron i31G (smaller copper heatsink with 40mm fan blowing down)

Alternatively considering mounting a taller heatsink and try and fit a quieter 40mm x 20mm fan against it blowing parallel to the card in the direction of case airflow.

I haven't done something like this before so no idea if any of this is a good idea...

pipes

 

[rtangwai]

Not a lot of room in that case for more heatsinks/fans.

I had a similar issue, insufficient airflow for a M5016 which run incredibly hot. I'm using an E-ATX case w/22 drive bays so all I did was put a fan card right over the heatsink to pul hot air away from the card and out of the case.

Would you consider cutting a hole in the top of the case and mount a fan to blow air straight up and out?

 

[bagpipes]

Not a lot of room in that case for more heatsinks/fans.

I had a similar issue, insufficient airflow for a M5016 which run incredibly hot. I'm using an E-ATX case w/22 drive bays so all I did was put a fan card right over the heatsink to pul hot air away from the card and out of the case.

Would you consider cutting a hole in the top of the case and mount a fan to blow air straight up and out?

I'd rather not, i'm hoping a big enough heatsink & fan will disperse the heat enough without having to modify the case. You can get heatsinks with radial blowers which i could use to exhaust out the rear expansion slot... but I want to keep noise down and a radial fan would be louder.

Appreciate your thoughts though, ta!

 

[Abula]

Depending on the space you have available on your PCIe slots, you can use a 40mm fan on the original heatsink that comes with the LSI 9207-8i. I used Noctua NF-A4x20 PWM (20mm thick) but i did had consdierable space between cards, i also considered Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX (10mm) but wanted PWM to try to control it with Supermicro Bios, but its still is a work in progress, i leave you a couple of pics for you to see how the fans match the LSI 9207-8i.

 

[bagpipes]

Depending on the space you have available on your PCIe slots, you can use a 40mm fan on the original heatsink that comes with the LSI 9207-8i. I used Noctua NF-A4x20 PWM (20mm thick) but i did had consdierable space between cards, i also considered Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX (10mm) but wanted PWM to try to control it with Supermicro Bios, but its still is a work in progress, i leave you a couple of pics for you to see how the fans match the LSI 9207-8i.

View attachment 64010 View attachment 64011 View attachment 64012

AHA!! I did not know that, I think you might just have saved me a dangerous operation on my card! I suspect I might be able to fit a 40x10mm fan in with 20mm headroom... or a 40x20mm with 10mm headroom.... probably the former, but i would love to run one of those NF-A4x20's.

Thank you very much for posting, that's really helpful!

 

[Abula]

Thank you very much for posting, that's really helpful!

Np glad its helpful for you.

AHA!! I did not know that, I think you might just have saved me a dangerous operation on my card! I suspect I might be able to fit a 40x10mm fan in with 20mm headroom... or a 40x20mm with 10mm headroom.... probably the former, but i would love to run one of those NF-A4x20's.

One thing to keep in mind is you will need to go to the hardware store to grab some screws/nut/washer, the stock heatsink on the 9207-8i matches the hole separation with a 40mm fan (only has 2 holes but its enough), but the heatsink is attach from factory with some pins that you need to take off and replace with the screws, also recommended you get some nylon washers for the back so you the screw/nut wont make contact with the pcb/electronics.

 

[bagpipes]

Np glad its helpful for you.

One thing to keep in mind is you will need to go to the hardware store to grab some screws/nut/washer, the stock heatsink on the 9207-8i matches the hole separation with a 40mm fan (only has 2 holes but its enough), but the heatsink is attach from factory with some pins that you need to take off and replace with the screws, also recommended you get some nylon washers for the back so you the screw/nut wont make contact with the pcb/electronics.

Good point, I'll take my 40mm fan on a trip to B&Q.

Thanks again for you help!

 

[ari2asem]

any option to find a way of cooling hba-card that still takes 1 slot tickness? i have tried 10mm thick fan onto metallic heat sink, but that takes more that 1 slot and les than 2 slot. result is: i cann't put another card in the nest pci-e slot because of 10mm thick fan onto heat sink.

any solution for this? cooling hba-chip so it take just only 1 slot tickness?

 

[daglesj]

If I need an odd fan I just go looking up AGP Graphics cards on Ebay. They really went all out on shapes and sizes back then.

 

[Abula]

any option to find a way of cooling hba-card that still takes 1 slot tickness? i have tried 10mm thick fan onto metallic heat sink, but that takes more that 1 slot and les than 2 slot. result is: i cann't put another card in the nest pci-e slot because of 10mm thick fan onto heat sink.

any solution for this? cooling hba-chip so it take just only 1 slot tickness?

I would try to place a 80mm fan on the end of hbas/other pcie cards or on the top, not much you can do with 1 slots to add a fan directly on the heatsink.