TS-140s PCIe Whitelist?

Question

Hi,
I've just got the first of my TS-140s today which we are planning for lab use. We need to connect these servers up via 10G NIC and/or 4G Fibre Channel. I know these are low end servers but we tend to use SAN connectivity for our lab servers (currently mainly use HP and Dell).  We may also need to use PCIe SSD in two of them for a special project.
I've just ordered some PCIe cards but a colleague has just told me Lenovo servers will only work with Lenovo PCIe cards and that all other 3rd party cards are blocked via the BIOS "whitelist". 
I've never heard of anything like this so I suspect he is mistaken.
I quickly tried a Intel NIC I had spare in the PCI slot and that appeared to work OK. 
Can somebody just confirm ,that subject to the usual compatibility type issues that may occur - Lenovo do not block PCIe cards in TS-140s ?
Thanks...
PS really like the TS-140 form factor and the Intel Xeon 1225v3 looks like a good CPU for this class of server.  Also think this is the first server I've seen quiet enough for home use. 
Moderator Note; subject edited

Answer 1

I just thought I'd add some info to the discussion and reference some others that have also had this issue: 
Here is a review on Amazon.ca by user "Typhoon". 
http://www.amazon.ca/THINKSERVER-TS140-TWR-E3-1225-3-1G/dp/B00FE29IWK
"Similarly, the Ethernet Adapter cards are also picky. Lenovo only recommends the Intel i350-T2 or i350-T4 cards. I tried a Intel PRO/1000 gigabit 4-port adapter card that was PCIe 1.0 and it would not even post the BIOS. I tried a DELL i350-T4 and that one also failed. I recommend that you use only Intel Branded or Lenovo branded Ethernet Adapter Cards to avoid the hassles. I have no experience in these TS140's with other card mfg. like SYBA."
He also posted a similar statement for the i3 version of the server on Amazon.com. 
Here is a comment on the forums of homeservershow.com: 
http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/topic/6161-lenovo-thinkserver/page-2
"I also tried a Intel Pro/1000 PCIe card which did not work in the TS140.  It was a PCIe 1.0 card which is supposed to work with PCIe 2.0 (backward compatible). It didn't work in any of the 3 TS140's that I put it in but did work in another server that had PCIe 1.0 slots.  I believe that any cards going into these boxes will have to be PCIe 2.0 or they will not work.   I have not tried out the PCI slot on the M.B. yet to see if anything will work in that."
Here's another referencing at least knowledge of the issue: 
https://www.astaro.org/gateway-products/hardware-installation-up2date-licensing/52702-use-lenovo-ts1...
"Also I have seen reference to problems with Intel PRO 1000/ PT cards. Is that a system specific or general issue and does it affect all cards (single, dual, and quad)? The PT cards are the only ones in my price range."
And a convoluted response here in the next post: 
"the box should work without too many issues. The Intel NIC issue is some chipsets are waiting on a new driver to overcome a card restart.
There are fixes posted if you suffer the problem, which usually only comes under heavy load. The fixes as far as I know haven't changed change some settings on the chip."
I have no idea what fixes are posted and what they could have to do with NIC load or drivers. 
Anyway, here's a statement saying that the cheaper (relative to Lenovo prices) Intel i350-T4 (probably made by Sybase?) work well on this machine: 
http://www.orderfactory.com/articles/pfSense-Snort/network-perimeter.html
"What makes the Lenovo TS140 an interesting choice for pfSense is the recent appearance of Intel i350-T4 controllers, shipped directly from China, on eBay and similar sites, at prices three times plus less expensive than US retail."