I've spent some time reading older posts, and between the 5.x beta and potential motherboard incompatibilities I thought it best to ask the experts for advice.

 

I am currently running a Biostar a760g M2+ motherboard http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=394 with a Sempron 140 CPU and a Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8. (unRaid 5.0-beta13).

 

I also have an Intel nic plugged into one PCI slot, so I have one free PCI slot, and one free PCIe x1 slot to play with.

 

Can you recommend expansion options for me that are not necessarily fast, but proven reliable over time?  Don't know if 3TB drives are possible on these small cards, but that would be an added bonus as well.  Many thanks.

I can't vouch for compatibility with your motherboard, but WD are/were shipping a Highpoint Rocket 620 card with their 3TB drives.  The 620 is PCIe2.0 x1, SATA 6Gb, and works with unRAID 4.7 or 5, and elkay14's little script, here.

Thanks Peter.  I took your advice and picked up a HighPoint Rocket 620 for the PCIe slot, and picked up this SIL3114-based PCI card to complete the order.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124024

 

 

Could have saved yourself a few bucks and got them from Monoprice. A lot of guys on here use them.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10407&cs_id=1040702

Hmm good point!  I always use Monoprice for cabling but don't think of them for hardware - will keep that in mind for next time.