LSI MegaRAID SAS 9211-8i on FreeBSD 8/9?

[O. Hartmann]

I'd like to build a new Workstation based on Intels 'Gulftown' for some 
numerical modelling purposes. Since I realised that on our Dell 
Poweredge Server with built-in Fusion MPT RAID/JBOD controller even 
attached SATA 3 GB hard disks seem to be 'faster' than on most Intel 
ICH9/ICH10 machines we also utilise with FreeBSD 8/amd64, I'd like to 
have a replacement SAS 2.0 controller like the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9211-8. 
I do not know much about this controller. I don't want to wait for 
native SATA 6Gb on Intel chipsets since this is announce for next year 
and I feel better being 'back to the roots' with SCSI/SAS 2 on FreeBSD.

Are there any contraints on this above mentioned LSI SAS 2.0 controller 
execpt lacking RAID 5/6 level (it should be an replacement for the ICH10 
so far for 7 or 8 hard disks/SSDs)?

Any comment would be appreciated (please set CC to my email since I do 
not subscribe the questions-list).

Thanks in advance,

O. Hartmann