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- Re: [HP Z240] PCIe available slots utilization and recommend...
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10-20-2021 02:43 AM
Hi All,
I am scouting for a for an appropriate/supported internal SAS HBA/IT controller. I'd like to use SAS HDDs, but onboard support by the HP Z240 motherboard. I want to pool the SAS HDDs in Proxmox VE using ZFS's Software-based RAID.
As I need 4 SAS drives, I consider either a PCIex4 or a PCIex8 SAS HBA/IT controller (depending on availability and price).
Right now, I only have a graphics card on Slot#2-PCIex16. All other slots are available. My 3 questions:
- Can I connect a "PCIe x8" SAS HBA controller card in the available Slot#4-PCIe x16[x4]? I am confused because if I take the HP installation sequence recommendations literally (see image below or link here), I am supposed to install internal PCIe storage in the Native M.2 PCIe slot or in Slot#3-PCIe x4 (which wouldn't work?!?).
- Can I just connect a "PCIe x4" SAS HBA controller card in the available Slot#3-PCIx4, without installing anything in the Native M.2 Slot?? Again the HP installation recommendations are a bit confusing.
- Can I connect a "PCIe x4" SAS HBA controller card in the available Native M.2 (PCIe x4) Slot? I am not sure if this is possible without some kind of an adapter.
It seems to me that I could connect the HBA controller wherever it fits, but I just wanted to double check!
Thanks a lot!
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Accepted Solutions
10-20-2021 12:40 PM
if you don't plan on installing any other cards except for the HBA card then yes any slot is fine
however if you plan on adding a video card or any other card, then following HP's recommended card slot assignment will usually produce the best results which is what "itsmy name" also pointed out
10-20-2021 11:11 AM
@bitsnbytes2 -- your chart seems to recommend the best order for physically inserting various components, along with specifying which slots are best for a specific card, e.g., use the X4/X16 slot for a ultra-high-speed PCIe 10 Gbit/second NIC.
10-20-2021 12:40 PM
if you don't plan on installing any other cards except for the HBA card then yes any slot is fine
however if you plan on adding a video card or any other card, then following HP's recommended card slot assignment will usually produce the best results which is what "itsmy name" also pointed out
10-20-2021 01:35 PM
I will probably install another PCIex4 Gb Ethernet card (4 ports x 1Gb) on slot 3 (x4) and then the PCIex8 HBA SAS card at slot 4 (x16[x4]). I expect the HBA SAS card will not reach maximum performance due to it being installed in an electrically smaller slot, but I hope it will be enough for my SAS HDDs nevertheless.
I know that this setup *usually* works, so fingers crossed!
10-20-2021 04:53 PM - edited 10-20-2021 04:56 PM
the adaptec 71605 series and most LSI SAS/SATA raid cards (but not all) will work in a 4x config instead of 8x
keep in mind that if only using 4 drives on the raid card instead of 8, or if only using a 4 port card, it will still allow full speed xfers using a pci-e x4 slot as the available drives connected to the raid card will not exceed the 4 pci-e lines max data speed
if all you want is to add more SATA ports then a LSI-92xx card with non raid firmware will be fine,.. if you need raid, skip this line
if you need JBOD/Raid,.. skip the LSI cards and use the adaptec 71605
i personally prefer the adaptec 71605 card as it allows RAID/JBOD at the same time unlike most LSI raid cards which are raid only...........important: the low-end LSI ROC 9240 based cards are no faster than the z840's onboard LSI raid chip due to them lacking a hardware parity processor and no ram cache/battery backup and are quite slow in any parity raid mode
highpoint also makes a HBA/Raid card in their rocket raid brand
https://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/main.htm
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