There is no reason to be paying more than $20 for a LSI SAS2008 based card.Genuine LSI 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9200-8i = (9211-8I) IT Mode ZFS FreeNAS unRAID US | eBay
I'm running a few 2008's in x16 physical but x4 electrical slots with no issues.It is both physically and electrically 4x.
Assuming that I am able to cut open the connector without damaging the connector or motherboard, what are the drawbacks of using an 8x HBA in a 4x slot? I am not familiar with this at all so any explanation is much appreciated.
Additionally, any recommendations for a quality 8x device that will run well in 4x mode with be equally as appreciated.
Hehe, "only". Good luck maxing it out with 8 drives in raid 6 (z2 or similar). That said for $40, I'd go with PCIe3.0 model for better future-proofingSo, 4 lanes at PCIe2 speed would net you only ~1,600MB/s. That's fine for spinners but not so nice for SSDs.
ServeRAID H1110 is another 4x SAS2 lanes in PCIe 2.0 x4 option.why not use an expander with the 9211-4i
What is the reasoning to put them all on the same controller?I'd recommend running all of the drives through the H220 through a Mini SAS SFF-8087 to 4 x SATA forward breakout cable
Cable management is a lot easier/cleanerWhat is the reasoning to put them all on the same controller?
Why would throughput on be better with all of the HDs in the RAIDz2 be better if the disks were on the same HBA? My naive assumption was that doing so would create a bottleneck, since again, I'm putting it in a 4x slot.Throughput can be better, but that really depends on your motherboard
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Although if you have SSD's you might want to leave them on motherboard ports, as trim is a lot easier to deal with