need 24-drive support

[captain_video]

I'm looking for a motherboard and CPU combo with the following criteria and would like recommendations from anyone that's using one with unRAID 5.0:

 

two PCI-e x16 slots (have two Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-port SATA controllers that require PCI-e x4 slots or better)

4 - 8 SATA II or III ports

2 - 3 PCI-e x1 slots (need at least one slot for an Intel NIC and additional slots for 2-port SATA controllers if the number of onboard SATA ports is less than 8 )

onboard video

 

The combo can be either AMD or Intel, but I'd like to keep the cost for the combo at around $125 or less.  As indicated, the combination of PCI-e x1 slots and the number of SATA ports must allow for a minimum connection of 8 SATA drives.  At some point I may want to add a cache drive and/or an optical drive, so 1 - 2 more SATA ports can't hurt, although I could use USB ports for an external optical drive.

[captain_video]

Never mind.  I think I found what I'm looking for in another thread.  It looks like the Gigabyte GA-F2A85XM-HD3 mATX board will work perfectly.  It's got two PCI-e x16 slots, one PCI-e x1 slot, and eight onboard SATA ports.  The two PCI-e x16 slots can handle the two 8-port SATA controllers and the onboard SATA ports will take care of the remaining 8 drives.  The PCI-e x1 slot will take care of the Intel NIC.  I've got a Promise SATA300 TX4 PCI 4-port controller that I can use if I ever decide to go with a cache drive and/or an optical drive.

 

Newegg has it for $66.99 after a $10 rebate and also has the AMD A6-5400K FM2 CPU for $59.99, both with free shipping.  After rebate, the total comes to $126.98, which is only $1.98 more than my target price.  I could go with the A4-4000 for $49.99, but I figure another $10 won't break the bank.