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    Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?

    General pfSense Questions
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    • R
      riahc8 @riahc8
      last edited by

      Also, in that case, would it be better to build a custom PC and stick a Intel NIC?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • keyserK
        keyser Rebel Alliance @riahc8
        last edited by

        @riahc8 said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

        @keyser This is the only thing that popped up

        https://forum.netgate.com/topic/109768/hardware-recommandation-for-1gbe-over-pppoe

        Let me take a look

        Yeah, that suggests you need quite a lot more powerfull CPU core than the elkhart based celeron 6xxx series.

        I would see if I could find a OEM miniPC build based on a 13 or i5 based 11th gen mobile Intel processor. They can be had fairly cheaply, but the cores are very efficient, and while the base clock is around 2 Ghz, they turbo easily to around 4Ghz which is exactly what you need for workloads that hits 1Gbe once in a while in small bursts.

        Love the no fuss of using the official appliances :-)

        R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • R
          riahc8 @keyser
          last edited by

          @keyser said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

          @riahc8 said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

          @keyser This is the only thing that popped up

          https://forum.netgate.com/topic/109768/hardware-recommandation-for-1gbe-over-pppoe

          Let me take a look

          Yeah, that suggests you need quite a lot more powerfull CPU core than the elkhart based celeron 6xxx series.

          I would see if I could find a OEM miniPC build based on a 13 or i5 based 11th gen mobile Intel processor. They can be had fairly cheaply, but the cores are very efficient, and while the base clock is around 2 Ghz, they turbo easily to around 4Ghz which is exactly what you need for workloads that hits 1Gbe once in a while in small bursts.

          Yup, thats exactly what I was looking at.

          Base clock at 2 Ghz should be enough then?

          keyserK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • keyserK
            keyser Rebel Alliance @riahc8
            last edited by

            @riahc8 Yeah that should be fine, but you need to make sure it turbo's to somewhere around 4Ghz. You need that turbo speed to handle downloads @ wirespeed.

            Also - you should be aware that the turbo speed is not sustainable in prolonged durations (probably >30s ) because of heat generation, so you might experience a slight scaleback in bandwidth if you are doing a sustained wirespeed download.

            But it's hard to predict how much of an impact this will have.

            Love the no fuss of using the official appliances :-)

            R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • R
              riahc8 @keyser
              last edited by

              @keyser said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

              @riahc8 Yeah that should be fine, but you need to make sure it turbo's to somewhere around 4Ghz. You need that turbo speed to handle downloads @ wirespeed.

              Also - you should be aware that the turbo speed is not sustainable in prolonged durations (probably >30s ) because of heat generation, so you might experience a slight scaleback in bandwidth if you are doing a sustained wirespeed download.

              But it's hard to predict how much of an impact this will have.

              The thing is the J6412 is only 2 and burst up to 2.6 ..... But it has 2.5 NICs

              keyserK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                I have tested the C3558 passing 1Gbps over PPPoE but only locally.

                There are multiple threads here showing, for example, the J1900 is not capable of passing 1Gbps over PPPoE.

                Both of those are unidirectional though.

                https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3129vs2131vs4474/Intel-Atom-C3558-vs-Intel-Celeron-J1900-vs-Intel-Celeron-J6412

                Steve

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                • keyserK
                  keyser Rebel Alliance @riahc8
                  last edited by

                  @riahc8 said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

                  @keyser said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

                  @riahc8 Yeah that should be fine, but you need to make sure it turbo's to somewhere around 4Ghz. You need that turbo speed to handle downloads @ wirespeed.

                  Also - you should be aware that the turbo speed is not sustainable in prolonged durations (probably >30s ) because of heat generation, so you might experience a slight scaleback in bandwidth if you are doing a sustained wirespeed download.

                  But it's hard to predict how much of an impact this will have.

                  The thing is the J6412 is only 2 and burst up to 2.6 ..... But it has 2.5 NICs

                  Well taking steve’s post above into account, the J6412 should be more than enough. Its quite a lot faster than the C3558 which he could reach 1Gbe PPPoE with. So the J6412 would be a great choice as that uses very little power.

                  Love the no fuss of using the official appliances :-)

                  R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • R
                    riahc8 @keyser
                    last edited by

                    @keyser said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

                    @riahc8 said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

                    @keyser said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

                    @riahc8 Yeah that should be fine, but you need to make sure it turbo's to somewhere around 4Ghz. You need that turbo speed to handle downloads @ wirespeed.

                    Also - you should be aware that the turbo speed is not sustainable in prolonged durations (probably >30s ) because of heat generation, so you might experience a slight scaleback in bandwidth if you are doing a sustained wirespeed download.

                    But it's hard to predict how much of an impact this will have.

                    The thing is the J6412 is only 2 and burst up to 2.6 ..... But it has 2.5 NICs

                    Well taking steve’s post above into account, the J6412 should be more than enough. Its quite a lot faster than the C3558 which he could reach 1Gbe PPPoE with. So the J6412 would be a great choice as that uses very little power.

                    Since Im making a investment, it would be nice to invest just in ONE device....

                    https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3129vs2131vs4474vs2588/Intel-Atom-C3558-vs-Intel-Celeron-J1900-vs-Intel-Celeron-J6412-vs-Intel-Xeon-E5-2650L-v3

                    The Intel Xeon E5-2650L v3 can run up to 2.5 Ghz ... I could enable Turbo Boost always on and that would be enough, correct?

                    keyserK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • keyserK
                      keyser Rebel Alliance @riahc8
                      last edited by

                      @riahc8 It would seem so - just be aware that virtualization adds overhead - especially when it comes to interrupt handling from NICs.
                      So even though the processing power is present, there could be a virtualization latency penalty that prevents you from exploiting it.
                      But as far as I remember, the v3 series of XEONs has the needed nested hardware virtualization tables to avoid the massive penalty of interrupt handling that older hardware can suffer.

                      Love the no fuss of using the official appliances :-)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        That Xeon is really a completely different class of CPU. Both in terms of processing power and power consumption. The hardware cost would need to be a lot less to justify it for me. Or your VM requirements sufficiently high.

                        keyserK R 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • keyserK
                          keyser Rebel Alliance @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 yeah, I live in Denmark and the powercost for that server would likely be comparable to the intire system cost of the atom based system - every year😳

                          Love the no fuss of using the official appliances :-)

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Yup, same in the UK. I have some boxes like that and only ever power them up for specific tests.

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                            • R
                              riahc8 @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 said in Is this enough to run a symmetric 1Gb download/upload connection?:

                              That Xeon is really a completely different class of CPU. Both in terms of processing power and power consumption. The hardware cost would need to be a lot less to justify it for me. Or your VM requirements sufficiently high.

                              ...It obviously will not be dedicated to only pfSense

                              I actually mention it will be a VM on the Xeon

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                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                Right. If you have a virtual environment requirement that justifies larger hardware like that then it's an easy choice. 😉

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