I currently have an Intel/Solidigm D7-P5620 (3.2TB) installed in my nas using a simple PCIe to u.2 adapter card (no cables, SSD is mounted straight to the card). I'm considering getting a couple of 4TB P4510 drives as I can get them for a pretty good deal, and I'd like to have the option to add up to a couple more, so four in total, in the future. My board has 3 PCIe gen 3 x16 slots, which can run at x8/x8/x4 with 3 devices connected.
All that said, what would be a reasonable solution that allows PCIe 3.0 x8 -> 4 U.2 NVME drives? Is a simple aliexpress board without any real electronics like what I already have to convert pcie to 1x u.2 but that splits to more devices sufficient? Should I add another HBA, or is there an option I'm overlooking? Thanks.
Full parts list in case it affects this:
i5-10500
64GB DDR3
z490 aorus master
LSI 9211-8i -> 4x SATA hard drives, 4x SAS hard drives
Solidigm P5620 in 2nd pcie slot