# LSI controller



## PacketMan (Dec 12, 2017)

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 (Dec 12, 2017)

PacketMan said:


> 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. 


PacketMan said:


> 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.


----------

