December 31, 20205 yr I'm looking to upgrade a couple of my 8-port controllers (Dell H200's) with 16 port controllers, to free up some PCIe slots. 9201-16i's seem to be the recommendation - but from Australia the only place I can find to buy them from is China/HK - but I've seen advice to avoid these as they can be knock-offs. Does anyone have any recent experience with a seller in CN/HK they can share? (Or know another place to look for from AU?)
December 31, 20205 yr The Art of Server has a good reputation in this forum, but is in the USA. the Art of Server https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTbKzQZk21w Edited December 31, 20205 yr by peterg23
December 31, 20205 yr If the price seems to good to be true, then it is probably fake. Look for used server pulls, not brand new.
December 31, 20205 yr 14 hours ago, extrobe said: I'm looking to upgrade a couple of my 8-port controllers (Dell H200's) with 16 port controllers, to free up some PCIe slots. Before recommending a seller, I'd like to make sure we are seeking the best solution. Based on your system specs (mobo/cpu), you actually have 5 PCIe g3 x8 slots -- OR only 3 slots if one (or two) need to supply x16 lanes (each). If it is the latter case (you need to "free up" an x16 slot, then I'd suggest considering a SAS(/SATA) expander, which can use one of the soon-to-be x0 slots (expanders only use a PCIe slot for power (no signals/lanes) and a place to live). If it's the former case (you want to repurpose an x8 slot now used by an H200, then, yes, probably a 16 (or more) port HBA is the answer. Instead of a 9201-16i though, I'd go for an Adaptec ASR-71605 (or -72405). Less $$, it's faster PCIe Gen3 (vs Gen2 for 9201) and 4500+ MB/s (vs ~3000 MB/s), and it's low-profile (repurposing flexibility in future). Only negative is that its mini-SAS ports are 8643 (vs 8087 on H200/9201), so new breakout cables are needed. Quote Does anyone have any recent experience with a seller in CN/HK they can share? I recently bought a SAS expander to play with, and despite going for low cost, was pleasantly surprised. I bought a Lenovo 03X3834 on eBay for $15 shipped from CN/HK. Ordered on 23Nov, and it arrived (NH,USA) on 06Dec. Very well-packaged (anti-static + bubble-wrap + box) Works fine! The link for the seller's eBay store is JiaWen2108 sells lots of HBA, expanders, cables.
December 31, 20205 yr Author Thanks, I’ll check that option out! yes, it’s really so I can repurpose one of the slots (or maybe 2 by also using the onboard Sata) - I recently moved things around to add a gpu, so things are a little cramped now with one of the hba cards pretty much rubbing against the gpu which can’t be good for either, especially as these cards get pretty toasty!
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