LSI controller

[PacketMan]

So, to help with the design of my new machine, am hoping some of you can provide some guidance. I want to ensure I optimize my purchases, and that includes I/O. I'm bit of a hardware noob so here goes.

LSI controllers? For RAID only? Can be used with mechanical SATA disks? Are there great motherboard with great LSI controllers built in, or do I need to consider adding on a LSI controller? Are there certain brandnames and specific products that are known to have great success with FreeBSD?

And, if I go with NVME M.2 drives instead of SATA, is the LSI controller even relevant? Should I consider NVME M.2 drives instead of SATA with upgraded LSI ?


Thanks, and please bear with me on my ignorance of this type of stuff.

 

[SirDice]

LSI controllers?

Definitely recommended.

For RAID only?

Nope, they have HBA cards too.

Can be used with mechanical SATA disks?

Mine (LSI2008 based) works with SAS, SATA, spinning rust or SSD. 8 x 6Gbps.

Are there great motherboard with great LSI controllers built in, or do I need to consider adding on a LSI controller?

There are mainboards from SuperMicro (but others too) that have have an LSI2008 or LSI3008 built-in. A separate controller is a little bit more versatile as you can transfer the card to a different machine if needed.

Are there certain brandnames and specific products that are known to have great success with FreeBSD?

I got mine directly from Avago (now Broadcom). But there are rebranded cards around, just be aware of those cheap Chinese knock-offs.