Raid Controller

Hi Guys,

I am new to the IT world(CS student) but I am looking to put together a pretty hardcore home server. I have an intel R1304BTLSHBN on the way. As I understand it, intel RST supports RAID, and it looks like that server contains 6 onboard sata ports.

I am wondering if the motherboard will support a RAID setup without the need for a controller, or if I will need a 3rd party controller. Plan on using sata drives.

For a RAID setup - I believe that I want RAID 1 - 4, 2Tb drives with 4Tb storage capacity and 2 mirror drives.

I plan on running either ESXi or Gentoo.

Thanks for the help!