For my video editing I’ve just added a 4 drive ssd pool to my TrueNAS Core system (i3 9300f, 32GB ecc ram, SM X11SCH-F 6x4TB raidz2 HDD, Define R6 case)
An 8 port SAS HBA would limit me adding a second hdd vdev in the future. I saw a nice ebay listing of a German seller selling more then a hundred LSI 9300-16i cards for €120 each (+ shipping).
I anticipated the cooling issue so I 3d-printed a fan shroud for the HBA. Unfortunately it doesn’t fit with the X520 10Gb NIC in the slot below. Put it the other way around (both slots are pcie x8) and the NIC doesn’t get cooling. The 40mm fan won’t fit in between on the heatsink.
Below the current situation. Half of the HBA heatsink is covered by the NIC.
Is this a problem and what would you do? I now have 3 spare noctua A4x20 FLX fans + the 120mm fan in the picture
I assume you have no other options so my possible solution would be to grab a pice of heavy weight paper or thin cardboard, make a vent duct to force the top of the fan air to blow into tha gap between the cards. Do not overthink it, some cardboard and tape.
Now check your temps, is all good?
Now you have a great opportunity to make this into a 3D printed item. Vice creating a new fan adapter, see if you can make it screw using the upper two fan screws. This will save a lot of filament.
I just bought a 3D printer. I have no idea what is good Simple design software. Fusion 360 is so advanced, i would be fine with a simple drawing program right now.
Anyway, if you do 3D print a small duct/deflector, drop a few photos.
Sharing from experience here from when I used my 9300-16i… If you could supply extra power to the HBA, then it doesn’t need to be in the 16x slot. But be very careful so that you supply extra power. Otherwise it will draw to much power from the PCI-slot (x16 is speced for 75W). But the <=8x slots typically are only 25W.
But lastly remember to heat management is actually about removing heat. So be sure that the heat is actively taken out of the case too. I have a small fan on the outside of the PCI-slots, sucking air out too. So it is just done around the CPU.
