Newegg has this board here:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130264

 

Looks like it could make a good system board combined with a i3-530 cpu.  Add 2 Supermicro cards to get to 22 drives.  I just ordered one and will test it out to see if it will make a good unRAID candidate...

 

Regards,  Peter

Wow, what a nice board for the price.  7 sata ports.  HDMI.

 

Thanks for posting this!  I meant to, but got busy at work.

 

The board has 6 SATA ports plus 1 eSATA, not 7 ports exactly.  However, I expect that you can use all 7 concurrently, unlike many boards that make you choose between either 6 SATA ports or 5 SATA and 1 eSATA.

 

The dual PCIe x16 slots is what really makes this board shine.  MicroATX form factor is nice too.

 

Also, I see potential for 25 drives if all possible slots are used: 6 onboard SATA + 1 with eSATA to SATA adapter + 16 with two AOC-SASLP-MV8s + 2 with a generic PCIe x1 SATA card.

 

Looks like a winner to me.

Hi,

 

Is there a AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCIe x16 card? I thought those are PCIe x4

Hi,

 

Is there a AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCIe x16 card? I thought those are PCIe x4

 

I may be wrong but can you not put a PCIe x4 board in a PCIe x16 slot? Just wont use the full potential of the x16 slot?

That is correct. PCI Express cards are upwards compatible in terms of the number of lanes. A 4-lane card will work in a 8-lane slot.

Hi,

 

Is there a AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCIe x16 card? I thought those are PCIe x4

 

I may be wrong but can you not put a PCIe x4 board in a PCIe x16 slot? Just wont use the full potential of the x16 slot?

 

That is correct. PCI Express cards are upwards compatible in terms of the number of lanes. A 4-lane card will work in a 8-lane slot.

 

alright, something learned.

The only caveat is that early on some motherboard makers skimped on their BIOS so only graphic cards are fully functional in the primary 16x PCI-Express slot.

Another holdup is a lot of mobos can't use a PCIe 1x card in a 16x slot. Many times you need a 4x card or greater.

Should be here on Tuesday.  It'll be setup with an i3-530, 4GB G.Skill 1.35v DDR3 1600 ram, 2 AOC-SASLP-MV8, Corsair HX750, and 21 drives.  I'll be focussing on compatibility, reliability and power consumption...

 

Future posts will be in the Motherboard section.

 

Regards,  Peter