AOC-S2308L-L8E vs AOC-S2308L-L8I, IT? IR?

[GibsonLP]

Hello.
After reading this excellent thread I now have a bit more understanding on what's going on in the LSI world but I also have more questions.
I am trying to get some answers regarding my original post. I will try to be specific to the HBA side (and ask the chassis questions in the proper forum)

If I understand correctly, AOC-S2308L-L8E comes in IT mode and since I do not wish to use any raid feature on the HBA can I just use it as-is? (without re-flashing or cross-flashing, etc...).
My board's compatibility list lists AOC-S2308L-L8I specifically (and not "E") which according to this page is in IR mode.
Is the only difference between the E and I version the firmware? can I flash AOC-S2308L-L8I to put it in IT mode or should I just grab the E version and ignore the omission from the compatibility list?
BTW - I thought that "I" = internal and "E"=external. This is a bit confusing...

Should I stop being a nudge and just get a standard non-supermicro officially compatible HBA and get it over with?

Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[GibsonLP]

Anyone?

 

[whitey]

I've personally never used that explicit card but what I can confirm is that a std lsi 6gbps is pretty compat across the board in svr hw. Mobile right now so keeping this short and sweet. IT mode/fw is desirable for sw raid, i/e designations are usually an indication of int/ext sas ports.

 

[TangoWhiskey9]

I think based on the page you link you want the E version for a hba

 

[GibsonLP]

Thank you both.
@whitey: I understand that i/e is the indication for internal/external, is that true only for standard LSI models? I am wondering how come in this case both I and E are internal and the only apparent difference is the IT mode of the E vs TI mode of the I...

I'll search for a standard LSI card then.
Thanks.