dmiles34

Is there any general guidance on minimizing power? I'm talking about UEFI settings, different firmware versions of PCIE cards, HDDs, etc. I've read here that some ASM1166 cards consume ~4W. Do all of cards with the same Asmedia chips consume the same amount of power? And do all HBAs consume more power (edit: per SATA port) than any Asmedia based card?

The motherboard only has one PCIE 3.0 x16 slot. The rest are PCIE 2.0 x1. I was pursuing the HBA card since it's tried and true with the maximum capacity. But if there are other PCIE SATA controllers that work on PCIE 2.0x1, then I'm happy to reduce power consumption going with the ASM1166 option. With either option, are there ever any "gotchas" where the maximum stated SATA ports aren't available? Perhaps there's some obscure limitation on a motherboard I haven't read about? Looking forward, I'm hoping for the maximum possible at the lowest $/TB. In the immediate term I'm just eyeing four or more refurbished enterprise HDDs in the $8-9/TB range. I saw some Western Digital Recertified Ultrastar DC HC530 14TB in that price range recently. But I'd like to have the extra headroom to add more down the line.

Thanks. I'm grateful for everyone's insight. I should have mentioned that I'm using an old system that only has 4 SATA ports. I haven't acquired an Unraid license, the HBA SAS controller, or any planned HDDs. I'm hoping that some decent sales will be coming up this holiday season. But I'm worried about getting thrown in the deep end all at once and on the clock to test everything out during the busy holiday season before return periods expire. I'm wondering if I should just get the HBA card now and if it can be sufficiently tested with what I have on hand.

Hello, Unraiders. I'm building my first Unraid server and would consider myself very new to this space. How do you all test your HBA SAS controller cards? I have some of the basic PC components available including a chassis supporting 8+ HDDs. What I haven't bought are storage devices, an Unraid license, and a SAS HBA (likely just a IT mode Dell PERC H310 flashed by ArtOfServer). I's unlikely that I'll have 8 storage devices anytime soon. But, I want to ensure that all 8 SATA connections are fully functional.