i went with a LSI 9211-8i host bus adapter flashed to IT mode, expanded by a Intel RES2SV240. 28 ports available, can be expanded again to 48. I believe the expander (or maybe the HBA) can only handle 3GB/s bandwidth, but since these are all old and slow spinning disks, i'm not sure that would ever matter lol
edit: yea i bought homelab stuff because I want a home lab lol, and burst paid for it =D