Hello Guys,
So, I have X12SPM-LN6TF from Supermicro and want to know what is the best way to connect the SATA SSDs to it, either via onboard PCH x4 SlimSAS or via LSI 9400-16i installed in the first x8 (top) slot?
I plan to use 8 Intel S4620 SATA SSDs. I’ve read somewhere that connecting the SATA SSDs to the PCH lanes can bottleneck, especially on 10GbE and above setup. So, what do you guys suggest?
Thanks
Your motherboard has the NICs all hanging off of the CPU, so they’re not going to use up bandwidth to the PCH. In fact, the only relevant high-speed devices hanging off of the PCH would be SATA and the M.2 slot.
So, save the extra power and use the SATA lanes.
Are you sure about that friend?
This is the post i read:
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/building-fast-all-ssd-nas-on-budget
As Jeff said, he was getting like 700MB/s write speeds and 1.1GB/s Read speeds over the network with the onboard PCH SATA, but when he switched to a 9405 HBA, he was able to achieve 1.1GB/s sec, both ways. That’s the reason, i had to ask what should i really use. A bit of power consumption would not bother me, if I’m able to cool the card and if it performs better than the onboard PCH SlimSAS/SATA.
I was going to say the same thing.
@Fastline did you download the User Manual for the motherboard? There is a great deal of information in there including a diagram of the electrical layout (big picture stuff). If you have not, I recommend you do this. You do tend to ask a lot of questions which most of us do not mind answering however if you can find out the answers on your own, that should make you feel better. And I’m not saying that you will understand this stuff, just hoping since you are trying to build a system.
These are not the same pieces of hardware, you can’t compare apples to oranges.
Oh, yes. That’s how i was able to figure out the lanes thingy!
Please find the diagram attached:
Screen Shot 2024-05-12 at 7.21.32 PM|569x500
Oh, yes. I know that. And i was able to figure out a few things on my own. But as always, you guys know a lot and i have learnt a few basic things when it comes to networking and NAS. So, i really appreciate you guys for sparing your time to answer my questions 
Like always, i do the homework, but when I’m not able to figure it out on my own or on the Google, you guys are where i have hope and therefore come down
I understand, i understand
Just use the motherboard’s connectors first and see how they perform.
Preempting that by buying extra gear that you don’t even know will benefit you seems inefficient.
That’s what i thought!
Gotcha!
@etorix @ericloewe Can you guys recommend me the right cable for the SlimSAS (PCH) and the SlimSAS NVMe?
The Motherboard is X12SPM-LN6TF.
Thanks
I’m confused, you said SATA earlier. Now they are NVMe?
Holy Cow! Someone asking for help actually does this? LMAO, I’m very glad. You have no idea how many times I tell a person to just Google it and the answer will be there. Glad you are not lazy. And yes, I downloaded the user manual as well this morning before giving advice.
And I agree, use the onboard connectors. IF you find a bottleneck (make sure you can definitively prove where the bottleneck is and it’s reproducible) then you might take action if you need to reduce that bottleneck. Also, would there be much gained as well?
I never heard of it before as well but that is un the User Manual. Interesting actually.
Sounds good!
Not sure how much the gain would be. I read a post and that’s how i concluded. xD
Can you recommend me the cable? I’m unsure of the connector so unable to find the right cable ;(
Well, i asked for SATA performance and also asked for the cables for the SlimSAS and the NVMe. There are both connectors on the Motherboard 
You have two SAS and two NVMe connectors, this motherboard is cool.
Nope, sure can’t. I’m not familiar with SAS connections either.
However the Supermicro site says CBL-SAST-0809A-100 is the recommended part for that.
When you asked I read it as you wanting to connect something NVMe to the two SFF-8654-4i connectors on the board.
What do you want to connect on the other end? SATA and nothing but SATA?
Grab Supermicro’s docs and buy whatever they say. These newer connectors are a semi-standardized mess.
Agreed.
But it seems like Supermicro don’t say much about that in the manual.
You can get some ideas from looking at the parts list of their prebuilt server based on the same motherboard though. They use low profile versions of slimSAS x8, so that might be something to be vary off.
This is certainly no endorsement, as I have no experience with this type of cable or this seller, but you might be looking for something like this for the x8 connectors: SlimSAS LP X8 to 8*SATA,SFF-8654 LP 74pin to 8*SATA 7pin, SlimSAS Host/RAID to | eBay
Note the connectors can be angled, make sure the cables you pick will fit with your use case.
Indeed!
Oh, damn.
Umm, where did you find that info?
On the NVMe port, i want to connect U.2 and on the PCH Onboard connector, i want to connect SATA. I hope its clear now
SATA SSD my friend!
