Unneeded home server upgrade I don't need but want to do

[nexox]

I'm surprised they even have a website. This thread: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/10gb-sfp-rj45-100m.45817/ suggests a couple brands off aliexpress that will probably be available in Europe inexpensively.

 

[Steve7766544]

This is my first post so sorry if it is not helpful. You did not say a budget so I am assuming ~100 (not including drives). It appears your motherboard supports Bifurcation so I was moving to nvme I would get a pcie x16 to u.2 adapter. That would replace the HBA and your nic would go in the x8 slot. You could get used u.2 drives or if you prefer new ones these seem easy to get. If you prefer m.2 they have this. As for hosing things you could run one of the many game server os in a vm or my personal favorite Nextcloud.

 

[nexox]

U.2 drives are great, but very few of them support ASPM and idle power is usually around 5W per drive, so you're looking at probably 25W total more idle power consumption than four desktop M.2 drives which do support ASPM and idle under 1W.

 

[Octopuss]

U.2 drives are great, but very few of them support ASPM and idle power is usually around 5W per drive, so you're looking at probably 25W total more idle power consumption than four desktop M.2 drives which do support ASPM and idle under 1W.

That's a good point

 

[Octopuss]

I wanted to update the firmware on the spare PM883 I have laying around, and it looks like I might have fried it by connecting it to the PSU with a cable from another PSU (which I wasn't aware of, I just grabbed the first cable from a bag I had laying around) - it's not being recognized at all, and not even when using an USB->SATA adapter, so I guess I need to buy a spare just to be sure before I even think about upgrading anything. FML. All things considered, I might just stick with the SATA SSDs for the time being because NVMe would require me to upgrade the entire server first. Meh.
At least I do have the potential upgrade mostly thought out.

 

[Octopuss]

I don't suppose anyone is aware of an alternative to Supermicro X11SCH-F that does support PCIe bifurcation, hm?
The entire server upgrade is financially out of question right now unfortunately, but with just different board I could probably make it work, but then again there are not many choices in this category...