broadcom 9500-16e#

broadcom branded sas hba with 4 sff-8644 connectors

verdict#

they are not cheap nor common secondhand. other than that it’s easily the best card out of the several i tested. lowest power usage i found, even compared to several generations back. supported for at least several years, pretty good documentation, even has official windows 11 drivers.

the 9500 cards with internal ports share most of these traits. for the use cases presented here it made less sense.

general specs#

• chipset: broadcom sas3816
• host interface: pcie4 x8 (also supports x4, x2 & x1)
• connectors: 4 sff-8644
• sas 12, 6 & 3gb/s
• sata 6 & 3gb/s
• pcie via x4 switches

power and cooling#

• 8.5w power usage
• airflow 150lfm
• 55°c preferred temperature, storcli says it can do up to 115°c

opinion#

• pro
  • hba
  • 4 connectors
  • active support
  • windows11 24h2 support
  • pcie4
  • power efficient (compared to alternatives)
  • vented half & full size bracket included
  • supports sas & pcie on external ports
• con
  • not cheap
  • no built in internal connectors
  • no direct attach nvme support
  • to many steps to update onboard code (psoc, bios, uefi, those things)
  • external connectors leave little room for airflow through the bracket

images#