LSI 9361-8i RAID card too hot? Temperature / heat limit? Solutions?

[Ben Jobe]

I recently purchased an LSI MegaRAID 9361-8i controller card for my desktop computer. I have it connected to (8) 6TB internal hard drives in RAID 5 configuration. My concern is the temperature of the onboard processor, which starts at 44 Celsius upon boot up and quickly rises to 74 Celsius when in operation. Is 74 Celsius a stable operating temperature for this card?

I've read numerous product reviews that describe this overly-hot chip. It has a low-profile aluminum heat sink that doesn't seem to help. Virtually every product review recommends placing a small fan next to the card to cool it. I have two problems with this solution:

1. I don't have a spare PCIe slot next to the card for a fan.
2. Shouldn't the card be engineered to handle the heat it generates?

Does anyone else have a hot RAID card like this and what were your solutions for the heat?

My plan is to put some new Thermal Compound (Arctic MX-2) between the chip & heat sink. Also I am replacing the 500RPM case fan on the side wall next to the controller cards with a 1000RPM fan. I am hoping that these two modifications will lower the high temperature of the chip during operation.

Does anyone have any other ideas about this?

 

[Ben Jobe]

Update: a Tech Support from Avago (LSI) responded to my inquiry about the chip's temperature.

"The chip runs warm, it needs ample airflow to stay cool.

3.3.4.4 Operating and Nonoperating Conditions for MegaRAID SAS 9361 RAID Controllers

For the MegaRAID SAS 9361 RAID controllers, the operating (thermal and atmospheric) conditions are as follows:
- Relative humidity range is 20 percent to 80 percent noncondensing
- Airflow must be at least 200 linear feet per minute (LFPM) to avoid operating the LSISAS3108 processor above the maximum ambient temperature
- Temperature range: 10 °C to +55 °C (with or without the CVFM04 module attached)

The parameters for the nonoperating (such as storage and transit) environment for these controllers are as follows:
- Relative humidity range is 5 percent to 90 percent noncondensing. n Temperature range: –40 °C to +70 °

In my LAB system with a 9361, the chip temp. stays around 74-78 degrees."

 

[Ben Jobe]

Update: I installed the new case fan. Here's the product link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835352023

This is a 1200 RPM 118 CFM fan (the fan it is replacing was 1000 RPM 68 CFM) and it is positioned on the side panel of my PC case so that it blows directly onto the PCIe cards (two GPUs in SLI, an SSD for the OS, and the LSI RAID card). I moved the slower fan to the top of the case, blowing out, so that there are two of them up there now.

Here are my temperature readings:

Fan Speeds 100% 51 Celsius (124 Fahrenheit)
Fan Speeds 75% 58 Celsius (136 Fahrenheit)
Fan Speeds 50% 66 Celsius (151 Fahrenheit)
Ambient Room Temp 19 Celsius (67 Fahrenheit)

These temperatures are much improved from the previous 74 Celsius temps. According to the LSI Tech Support these temperatures are acceptable. Therefore I am not going to replace the thermal paste on the LSI card processor as this will only lower the temperatures 1 - 2 Celsius (according to online reviews).

The noise from the fans at 100% is annoying, so I'm keeping them at 75% which sounds better and seems to keep the card cool enough.

I hope this is helpful to others.