Lenovo ThinkSystem 430-8I SAS/SATA HBA 12Gb/s PCIe 3.0 x8 8-port

Host interface and controller

The Lenovo ThinkSystem 430-8I is a 12Gb/s SAS HBA that installs in a PCI Express 3.0 x8 slot. It provides eight SAS ports through two SFF-8643 connectors on a full-height plug-in card. The board is designed for PC platforms and carries RoHS and WEEE environmental certifications.

Replacing an older HBA

This card upgrades a system that currently uses a 6Gb/s SAS or SATA controller and needs the higher 12Gb/s link rate. The jump is worth it when the attached drives or enclosures support 12Gb/s SAS and the workload can saturate the faster interface. A low-profile bracket is included for 2U chassis installations.

Capacity and headroom

Eight ports allow direct connection of up to eight SAS or SATA drives or the use of expander backplanes for larger arrays. The 12Gb/s controller handles mixed SSD and HDD workloads with headroom for sequential and random I/O. Performance scales with the number of active drives until the PCI Express 3.0 x8 bus becomes the limiting factor.