Been reading through all the SATA controller threads and my head is spinning.  Would this work out of the box ?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28M6959&cm_re=avago-_-16-118-114-_-Product

I believe you'll need to flash it to IT mode, very easy process.

I believe you'll need to flash it to IT mode, very easy process.

 

Are there better options out there ?  Current motherboard (ASRock - E3C226D2I) has support for up to 6 drives, would like something that would get give me the ability to add up to 8 more drives over time.

 

Seems like there was some uncertainty over the Marvel based cards based on the threads I read, and that LSI was preferred.

 

I appreciate any feedback, just want to try and get this right the first time.

 

Thanks. 

I definitely recommend LSI based, the Supermicro SAS2LP has similar performance and is plug n play, but there's enough users with serious issues that prevent me from recommending it.

 

Flashing the LSI, or crosdflashing for example the Dell H310 is easy enough.

Many folks buy the Dell H310 or IBM M1015 as a server pull from eBay and cross flash them to IT mode - you can save some money that way.

Marvell-based cards have been extensively tested with unRAID over the years by many users and Lime Technology themselves. There was some issue with a buggy driver and virtualisation recently but that has been worked round. Also there was some problem with very slow parity checks when using certain Marvell-based cards, but that has now been fixed. Some people switched to other controllers (such as the Dell PERC series and LSI-based cards) but I use the Marvell-based AOC-SASLP-MV8 and the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 and I'm happy with them (especially as the older SASLP can be obtained very cheaply these days!) - but, while I use plugins and Dockers, I don't use virtualisation. I also use a Marvell 9235-based IOCREST PCIe x2 card that gives me two 6 Gb/s internal SATA ports plus two 6 Gb/s eSATA ports with very satisfactory results.

 

I agree that the list of compatible hardware is confusing and out of date. You'd think a SATA controller would be an easy thing to get right.

Thanks for the tip, will go H310 route, seems like there are some good resources on flashing, and covering pins (if needed).

 

Thank You.

 

Many folks buy the Dell H310 or IBM M1015 as a server pull from eBay and cross flash them to IT mode - you can save some money that way.