@lasersyxx:
@ u/messerchmidt
I was actually look at the Atoms. You say that it is faster than the i3? How so, all of the benchmarks I looked at show the i3 being fast….do the 8 cores help with pfSense? Also, would the Atom be able to handle pfSense with all of the packages? I plan on running everything I possibly can to experiment, and I do not want to be restricted by hardware. I do like the idea of that many Intel Nics though... :P
@ u/maturola
I was actually look at those exact case, that is, if I go with a rack mount. I was looking at this new case from Silver Stone that just hit the market, should be on Amazon/Newegg within two weeks.
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=536
Either option looks great, but I would probably go with the mesh front panel for the dust filters.
As already stated, the Atom is very low power witch add up when you have your firewall up 24/7, should not hit any performance wall anytime soon.
I like the silverstone, if you like those type check out CHENBRO SR30169T2-250 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811123173)
I personally went with 1U, since i have a 2U NAS Plus 1U UPS so all 3 look great an clean on a small 6U Rack Cabinet.