will Dell Precision T1700 freenas?

[horizonbrave]

According to this table
(from this post on Dell's community forum):

Dell Precision T1700 should have some SATA connectors on board.
Does it give me guarantee that I don't need any additional card for using it with FreeNAS in your opinion?
Does anyone own one and know how many SATA connectors the motherboard offers?
I'm both interested in particular in the SFF model (small enough to fit it on a non-rack situation) despite the drive number limitation.
This is an overview of the system board
(from this manual):

We can see both expansion slots.
Are those are able to fit dual/quad Intel NICs in your opinion?

Thanks for any input :)

 

[horizonbrave]

more details:

Thanks!

 

[horizonbrave]

This mini review just popped randomly while I was browsing :)
(QNAP QM2-2P10G1TA Adapter, quipped with an Aquantia AQC107 10Gbase-T network port and two PCIe slots for NVMe SSDs)

 

[blanchet]

The Dell Precision T1700 MiniTower has 4 SATA connectors on board, and you can easily install 4 hard disks (3.5") as the documentation says.

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/precision-t1700-workstation_owners-manual_en-us.pdf

On the other hand, the Small Form Factor as a different motherboard with only 3 SATA ports. You can install 3 hard disks (2.5") if you remove the optical drive. https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/precision-t1700-workstation_owners-manual2_en-us.pdf

The Precision 3620 (the successor of T1700) has a M2 slot on the mother board, so it does not need a USB boot device for FreeNAS

If you lack of space, you may also consider the HPE Microserver Gen10 plus.

HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus Review This is Super

In our HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus, we go in-depth into the hardware, software, management, and performance of this super edge server

www.servethehome.com

 

[BR14]

Dell T1700 MidTower is very similar to T20 server with the MotherBoards virtually identical. The main difference in the cases is that T20 top cage is usually configured for 2 3.5 internal HDs whereas T1700 is for 2 5.25 external. I have both, using t1700 as my main PC running Windows 7 and T20 running FreeNas 11.0. Both totally reliable and problem free. Dell ships these with Hynix memory, but Samsung and Micron also work fine.
The MB has only 4 Sata ports so you need a controller to add an SSD for the system. The 290w PSU is OK but you could upgrade to 365w Gold ( about $40-60 used on Ebay). Beware of Dell proprietary everything - the fans and PSU use non-standard connections, and you must use their caddies for the drives. The CPU heatsink mount is also non-standard and should be very diffciult to upgrade.
I would stay away from the SFF version for NAS - it is designed to house 2 SSDs or laptop drives and is VERY cramped inside - basically a very powerful thin client. On the other hand, it makes a good workstation coupled with a "proper" NAS for storage.