Thanks. From what I read, on a system with such a powerful cpu, it’s advisable to use software raid over hardware raid cards

I didn’t realise there were Epyc cpus that are actually cheaper than threadripper. small epyc 7003 are the clear choice. Do you know any epyc boards that are made for storage systems?

I dont have input on your question. As someone owning a Samsung 870 QVO I can strongly recommend not buying it, though. Get EVO or something else. The sustained write on my QVO is abysmal.