Which SATA expansion card for X8SIL-F for Unraid?

Technology Buy Curious
1

I’ve maxed out my X8SIL-F mobo’s 6 SATA ports. Looking to use one of the PCIE ports to add more capacity and cache to Unraid.

For now, I think I’m good with 3-5 ports. My plan is to move some of the existing drives to the expansion card, free up the mobo ports, then add another data drive and 1-2 SSDs for cache.

Thoughts on I/O Crest 4 Port SATA III PCI-e 2.0 x1 Card Marvell 9215 Non-Raid SI-PEX40064 689993170886 | eBay or I/O Crest 4 Port SATA III PCI-e 2.0 x1 Controller Card Marvell 9215 Non-Raid 810154016877 | eBay. They’re both Marvell which I’ve heard is not reliable but 9215 is good.

I’m trying to avoid SAS - don’t wanna mess with the firmware and IT and stuff.

2

Get an LSI 9201. SAS capability, but also backwards compatible with SATA. Full support and only IT mode.

3

Those seem expensive: lsi 9201 | eBay. with cables, it’ll be at least 2x the price of the SATA ones I can find.

Why is it that much better?

4

Supports 8 SAS and SATA devices. Can support more with an expander down the road.