Which Supermicro board for a Kaby Lake CPU?

[ujjain]

So I've just finished reading https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/so-you’ve-decided-to-buy-a-supermicro-x11-board.13/ and I'm still not sure.

The X11SSL-CF has an LSI SAS3008 x8 SAS3, is that good or bad?

I like the X11SSH-F and X11SSH-LN4F too. I already have a AOC-SLG3-2M2-O Supermicro add-on card for NVMe drives, so the X11SSH-TF with M.2 slot shouldn't be necessary.

I don't really like the 10Gbe RJ45 boards, because I already have 2 SFP+ 10Gbe machines with Mellanox cards, so it might become a pain to get a switch with 10Gbe RJ45 and SFP+ in the future.

 

[Ericloewe]

The X11SSL-CF has an LSI SAS3008 x8 SAS3, is that good or bad?

It's good. Why would it be bad? How do you arrive at that thought?

I like the X11SSH-F

Definitely not a good choice, unless pricing is extremely favorable. It's less expandable than the X11SSM-F.

X11SSH-LN4F too.

It doesn't waste PCIe lanes like the vanilla -F model, but you do not need four 1GbE NICs unless you're doing routing or something very weird.

 

[ujjain]

Because everybody talks badly about the Dell PERC H330 and afaik it also is based on the LSI-3008 SAS controller. Although I do see that the LSI-3008 uses a more supported driver: https://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/11-STABLE/hardware/support.html#disk

I don't need 4 NIC's no, dual NIC is enough, but there are not many Supermicro resellers in my country, so sometimes the X11SSH-LN4F is cheaper and easier to get than the X11SSH-F, so I don't see any disadvantages in 2 more network ports.

So you would recommend the X11SSL-CF?

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSM-F.cfm

This one looks beautiful as well as you said. Lots of PCIe slots. Would I be able to passthrough a controller if I'd choose to run a VMware set-up on this box? Or do I need like an LSI/any brand-HBA to do passthrough?

 

[Ericloewe]

Because everybody talks badly about the Dell PERC H330

Only if it's using the Dell firmware. Even then, that seems somewhat hyperbolic.

Would I be able to passthrough a controller

The Intel SATA controller? Maybe, maybe not. Don't count on it.