I'm thinking about buying new mobo ( http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=B75%20Pro3&cat=Specifications ) but have some doubts about using primary PCIe x16 slot with something different than graphic card. I've written to ASRock support:

Hello,

 

I'm thinking about buying ASRock B75Pro3 motherboard for my headless home file server based on unRAID system ( http://lime-technology.com/ ) so I'm not going to install graphic card in PCIe x16 slot. Instead I would like to use this slot for installing SATA add-on card like Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 ( http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/aoc-sas2lp-mv8.cfm ) or IBM ServeRAID-BR10i ( http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/tips0737.html ) - are that kind of expansion cards going to work in PCIe x16 slot or does this motherboard only supports graphic cards in this slot?

 

And that's their response:

Dear customer,

 

The PCIE slot is a normal PCIE slot, one PCIE 3.0 x 16 slot, and one PCIE 2.0 x4 slot.

I cannot guarantee if these cards will work since we haven’t tested them, but maybe the manufacturer can tell if they are compatible with a UEFI BIOS.

 

Kind regards/ mit freundlichen Grüßen,

ASRock Support

 

So I should be OK, right? Does anyone of you have some expirience with using controller cards in primary PCIe x16 slot on motherboard from ASRock and/or with UEFI BIOS?

My previous motherboard was an ASRock with UEFI and I had my AOC-SASLP-MV8 installed in the 16x slot with no problems. Same goes for the 16x slot in whatever the board I had before that was.

 

By the way,  if you go for an IBM card you want the IBM m1015. That BR10i is old and doesn't support 3TB and greater hard drives.