Seems like the place to ask this, so I am looking to use an Optane P4801 100 GB M.2 on a Supermicro X9DR3-LN4F+ and also on another box with an X9SRL-F, in both cases I would be using a PCIe (V3) x4 slot with just a run of the mill PCI to single stick M.2 NVMe adapter, specifically an ECM26 from Silverstone, which is low profile, specifically X4 and will hold the 110mm length of the P4801. Probably unsurprisingly to this crowd, it's for a ZIL drive on a ZFS NAS/SAN/Container Server, although perhaps less obviously I'm planning on IllumOS, specifically Omni-Tribblix, which is Tribblix with the OmniOSs LX Zones moved over to it, but I don't see how that really matters much, so long as the Optane just "looks" like an NVMe drive which seems to be the case from what I've read.
My understanding is that NVMe on a board of this age and well specifically the X9 boards, can have issues, but those issues tend to revolve around, trying to boot from the NVMe, which I don't care about, multi-slot cards that require bifurcation, again not what I am doing, or PCIe versions which don't agree, I plan specifically to use the X4 V3 slot so everything is matchy matchy, and honestly anything I can think of to do PCIe-wise in these boxes requires an X8 slot like HBAs or 10G NICS. Both boards have x4 slots, the DR3 has 1 and the SRL has 2, well 3 but one is a V2 slot. Also thinking I may do 2 of those Silverstone adapters in the SRL, one with an Optane and one with a Samsung 950-970 or maybe a FireCuda, not sure yet, as an L2ARC, but I'd think the Optane is probably more of a wildcard than NAND which is what it is, so my assumption would be if the P4801 works, the Samsung (or whatever NAND it ends up being) should work.
Does this all sound accurate? I already bought one of the Silverstone adapters, well because they're cheap, but the other stuff isn't quite so cheap, it's not expensive in the grand scheme of things, but it's not bag-o-fast-food cheap, so I figured I'd ask before spending on filler for the shelf of abandoned projects.
My understanding is that NVMe on a board of this age and well specifically the X9 boards, can have issues, but those issues tend to revolve around, trying to boot from the NVMe, which I don't care about, multi-slot cards that require bifurcation, again not what I am doing, or PCIe versions which don't agree, I plan specifically to use the X4 V3 slot so everything is matchy matchy, and honestly anything I can think of to do PCIe-wise in these boxes requires an X8 slot like HBAs or 10G NICS. Both boards have x4 slots, the DR3 has 1 and the SRL has 2, well 3 but one is a V2 slot. Also thinking I may do 2 of those Silverstone adapters in the SRL, one with an Optane and one with a Samsung 950-970 or maybe a FireCuda, not sure yet, as an L2ARC, but I'd think the Optane is probably more of a wildcard than NAND which is what it is, so my assumption would be if the P4801 works, the Samsung (or whatever NAND it ends up being) should work.
Does this all sound accurate? I already bought one of the Silverstone adapters, well because they're cheap, but the other stuff isn't quite so cheap, it's not expensive in the grand scheme of things, but it's not bag-o-fast-food cheap, so I figured I'd ask before spending on filler for the shelf of abandoned projects.