Should I avoid the onboard SATA controllers on this motherboard (Supermicro x10sdv-4c-tln2f)?

[runevn]

I'm looking at using this motherboard (SuperMicro x10sdv-4c-tln2f) to build a TrueNAS Scale system. My plan is to connect my 5x12TB disks directly to the SATA ports on the motherboard and using an M.2 Nvme as a boot drive.

However, when reading the Hardware guide recommendations for Storage controllers it states that:

Onboard SATA controllers are popular with smaller builds, but motherboard vendors are better at catering to the needs of NAS users by including more than the traditional four SATA interfaces. Be aware that many motherboards ship with a mix of 3 Gbps and 6 Gbps onboard SATA interfaces and that choosing the wrong one could impact performance. If a motherboard includes hardware RAID functionality, do not use or configure it, but note that disabling it in the BIOS might remove some SATA functionality depending on the motherboard. Most SATA compatibility-related issues are immediately apparent.

Would you recommend use this motherboard for my build? Or should I avoid it?

 

[Etorix]

SATA ports from Intel chipsets are absolutely fine, and X10SDV are very popular boards for NAS around here.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Absolutely rock solid. Go for it.

You can also use a SATA M.2 SSD which might come cheaper than a true NVMe one - the board supports both.

Or you use a SATA DOM (Supermicro preferred) for your boot device and you can put a nice NVMe SSD with high endurance into your system for VMs, jails, etc. No redundancy in that case but you can replicate the data to your HDD pool to have a backup.

 

[runevn]

Thanks for both of your replies. I will go for the onboard SATA controllers.

 

[Etorix]

You can also use a SATA M.2 SSD which might come cheaper than a true NVMe one - the board supports both.

When I saw some forumers pushing for cheap 16 GB Optane M10 as boot drive, I thought it was another of those "US only" goodies.
Then I found such drives for 9.99 E apiece on Tweakers.net… Even SATA does not come so cheap.