I am new to purchasing server components and would like to verify the authenticity of the HBA I bought. I purchased a refurbished 9500-16i and, after researching, I found that there are many counterfeit versions, particularly from China. I compared my card to images of genuine 9500-16i cards on the Broadcom website and noticed some differences. after digging around on eBay i found a card with the same small differences as mine:
The heat sink on this card has slightly more pins.
The UK CA logo is printed directly on the back of the PCB instead of being on a sticker.
There is a small blue dot on the chip on the back.
Additionally, my card arrived in a brown Broadcom-branded cardboard box, which resembles the packaging seen in many Chinese eBay listings (example images not my card)
Could try contacting their support with the serial number and photos to ask. Not sure how bad they are at responding as someone I worked with said they were bad several years ago
I have a 100 % genuine Broadcom HBA 9500-16i in my system of Broadcom shame, will make high-res photos of it when I can plug it out of the currently running system.
The packaging looks real but that can also be easily faked.
BUT The card in your photo is 100 % not a 9500-16i since that model has two SFF-8654-8i connectors, yours has only one, that means it’s a 9500-8i.
In any way be sure to update the HBA’s firmware to the latest release before actually using it for data handling, that is very important to avoid total system crashes in certain scenarios.
Thank you for your response! I apologize for any confusion. The two cards in the pictures I shared are not mine. They are images I took from some eBay listings to illustrate what my card looks like. The second set of pictures was intended to show the packaging, as I could not find what the official packaging looks like. My card looks identical to the one in the first two images, including the two SFF-8654 ports.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could take some pictures of your card or check whether the heat spreader on your card has pins surrounding it, as shown in the first image below, or if it features the small recess in the top left corner of the heat spreader, as depicted in the second image below. Thank you!
heat spreader that looks like the one on the card i received:
heat spreader that looks like the official version i could find:
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to upload these pictures, and I apologize for my late response. Unfortunately, this isn’t the same revision I bough but the official revision i found online (UK CA) sticker and the missing pin on the top left of the heat-sink.
According to this post, my success in flashing a new bios/firmware should mean that my card is “legit enough.” Since I have a two-year warranty from the seller and was able to flash new firmware and bios, I’ve decided to keep my card.
I did run into a bit of trouble with one specific drive I connected to the HBA though, as it kept aborting its journal. However, after reseating all the cables, that issue seems to have resolved itself. I will keep an eye on that and will update this post if my card starts acting up again.
