The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/incognito_wizard on 2024-09-28 23:59:39.
I'm looking to jam a few hard drives into my current linux PC. It's in a Fractal Design XL Silent and if I swap the front fans out with slim ones I should be able to fit a couple HDD cages in there to store 10 drives between the GPU and the front of the case. To connect those HDDs I'd need an additional card (mobo only has 6, and some of those are shared). I was considering an HBA for this.
When looking at HBAs it seems that to get one capable of connecting all 10 drives I'd need at least a 16i one, and from what I've been reading those tend to run hot. The only slot left on my mobo in the last one, PCIE 3.0x2 and it'll be a close fit to the thunderbolt card I have above it. The thunderbolt card is in a metal shell so little to no airflow will get getting around it. The front fans will be both thinner (and therefore presumably less effective) and there will be HDDs in cages between them and the card, so it won't be able to get consistent airflow that way either.
My concern is that if I go with something like the LSI 9300-16i that I won't be able to keep it cool enough, it's become a pretty cramped case and has other hot components in it (an 7950X and 7900XTX, as well as the thunderbold card which doesn't get that hot but it's still contributing to the problem). Am I overly concerned about this (it'll still have 3 slim front fans on the front, a fan on the back rather far from the PCI slots, and a fan+radiator AIO out the top) or should I be looking for alternate solutions to connecting 10 (or potentially more but I figured I'd start with 10).