Going to start on my server upgrade project soon, and need suggestions as to which internal PCIe SATA/SAS controller to use. The server is going to have ~12-16 internal 3.5" and 2.5" SATA drives in it (it's a large Mountain Mods case), so I won't be using a specific drive enclosure/backplane/etc. Just SATA or SAS connectors internally, drives all configured in JBOD mode. I may create a 2xSSD RAID 1 volume for caching purposes, but I can use the on-board RAID for that if necessary. It will probably be running WSE 2016.
I like the idea of controllers+expanders, but I really don't want to dump a ton of money into this portion of the build. I do care about performance, but won't be streaming 8+ UHD files at once at any time, so it doesn't have to be a beast. On-board cache would be nice, but not totally necessary.
All of the 8-10 data drives are going to be shucked 8TB or larger, probably a mix of Reds and Whites (no Archive drives). I have four older 4TB Reds I'm going to be using initially for SnapRAID parity, that will probably sit on the motherboard SATA controller connections, and later be moved into external USB enclosures (or a small 4x enclosure). So the PCIe card(s) need to support around 8 drives at a minimum, later on up to 16. Breakout cables or expanders.. whatever gets the job done well without burning a ton of money. I don't see $500+ as feasible - $300 or less is ideal.
I was originally considering cards like these, but that was a cursory lookup around 6 months ago, and may or may not be ideal anymore:
I'd also like to get recent tech if possible. I understand completely that some older generation tech is well received and works great, but this build is for longevity and functionality.
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Jaga
Going to start on my server upgrade project soon, and need suggestions as to which internal PCIe SATA/SAS controller to use. The server is going to have ~12-16 internal 3.5" and 2.5" SATA drives in it (it's a large Mountain Mods case), so I won't be using a specific drive enclosure/backplane/etc. Just SATA or SAS connectors internally, drives all configured in JBOD mode. I may create a 2xSSD RAID 1 volume for caching purposes, but I can use the on-board RAID for that if necessary. It will probably be running WSE 2016.
I like the idea of controllers+expanders, but I really don't want to dump a ton of money into this portion of the build. I do care about performance, but won't be streaming 8+ UHD files at once at any time, so it doesn't have to be a beast. On-board cache would be nice, but not totally necessary.
All of the 8-10 data drives are going to be shucked 8TB or larger, probably a mix of Reds and Whites (no Archive drives). I have four older 4TB Reds I'm going to be using initially for SnapRAID parity, that will probably sit on the motherboard SATA controller connections, and later be moved into external USB enclosures (or a small 4x enclosure). So the PCIe card(s) need to support around 8 drives at a minimum, later on up to 16. Breakout cables or expanders.. whatever gets the job done well without burning a ton of money. I don't see $500+ as feasible - $300 or less is ideal.
I was originally considering cards like these, but that was a cursory lookup around 6 months ago, and may or may not be ideal anymore:
I'd also like to get recent tech if possible. I understand completely that some older generation tech is well received and works great, but this build is for longevity and functionality.
Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
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