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    Best Hardware for home use?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • C Offline
      Clear-Pixel
      last edited by

      12" laptops work great…

      HP EliteBook 2530p Laptop - Core2 Duo SL9600 @ 2.13Ghz - 4 GB Ram -128GB SSD
      Atheros Mini PCI-E as Access Point (AR5BXB63H/AR5007EG/AR2425)
      Single Ethernet Port - VLAN
      Cisco SG300 10-port Gigabit Managed Switch
      Cisco DPC3008 Cable Modem  30/4 Mbps
      Pfsense 2.1-RELEASE (amd64)
      –------------------------------------------------------------
      Total Network Power Consumption - 29 Watts

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      • stephenw10S Offline
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        @dolomite792:

        It seems that one could acquire  those watchguard boxes fairly reasonably on ebay but the configuration pitfalls and the struggling to get those things to function properly and the low ram limit is kind of setting me off from them.  Does anyone know if they can take more than 512 megs?

        If you're talking about the older X-Core model (X500, X700, X1000) then no, 512MB is the limit and it's fussy about what RAM you put in there. Perhaps more importantly they use Realtek NICs which do misbehave in certain setups.
        The X-Core-e models are much better specced and can often be had for not much more though they do require some further tweaking to get running.

        However, as others have said, what's your WAN bandwidth?

        Steve

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        • O Offline
          oppland
          last edited by

          This is working very well for me (with 4gb ram)  http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=EKIAD2500DL

          It's silent and has Intel nics.

          SG-2440

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          • C Offline
            Clear-Pixel
            last edited by

            HP ELITEBOOK 2530P …. Very compact and stylish ..... Consumes about 17 watts

            http://www.ebay.com/sch/Laptops-Netbooks-/175672/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=HP+EliteBook+2530p

            HP EliteBook 2530p Laptop - Core2 Duo SL9600 @ 2.13Ghz - 4 GB Ram -128GB SSD
            Atheros Mini PCI-E as Access Point (AR5BXB63H/AR5007EG/AR2425)
            Single Ethernet Port - VLAN
            Cisco SG300 10-port Gigabit Managed Switch
            Cisco DPC3008 Cable Modem  30/4 Mbps
            Pfsense 2.1-RELEASE (amd64)
            –------------------------------------------------------------
            Total Network Power Consumption - 29 Watts

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            • J Offline
              jasonlitka
              last edited by

              I'm currently in the process of spinning up one of these to replace my DN2800MT.  I upgraded my FiOS and with pushing all traffic through an OpenVPN tunnel and Snort the Atom is really struggling (100% on both cores @ ~45Mbit/s of OpenVPN & Snort, running at around 63C at that point).

              http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/X10/A1SRi-2758F.cfm

              Fair warning, 2.1.1-PRERELEASE is required if you want any working NICs and there will only be (2) working USB ports because USB 3.0 doesn't work yet…

              My suggestion would be one of the APU boards if you're looking for something small and router-like.

              I can break anything.

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              • P Offline
                priller
                last edited by

                @Jason:

                http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/X10/A1SRi-2758F.cfm

                Fair warning, 2.1.1-PRERELEASE is required if you want any working NICs and there will only be (2) working USB ports because USB 3.0 doesn't work yet…

                I just built my new system with that board.  Really nice!!  Excellent firewall platform.

                IPMI make it soooo easy to install the OS.

                Noname.jpg
                Noname.jpg_thumb

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                • J Offline
                  jasonlitka
                  last edited by

                  @priller:

                  @Jason:

                  http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/X10/A1SRi-2758F.cfm

                  Fair warning, 2.1.1-PRERELEASE is required if you want any working NICs and there will only be (2) working USB ports because USB 3.0 doesn't work yet…

                  I just built my new system with that board.  Really nice!!  Excellent firewall platform.

                  IPMI make it soooo easy to install the OS.

                  I had to hook up a USB optical drive to install. Mounting the ISO through the IPMI kept failing when trying to mount during the boot process.

                  How hot is yours running?  Are there any fans in your case?

                  I can break anything.

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                  • D Offline
                    dolomite792
                    last edited by

                    My home internet speed since its a WISP is rather slow at times (varies from 4-12mbits) which is why I am interested in the squid setup.  My budget is around $200 and I want to keep the power consumption low.  Which is why the apuc1 board is really appealing to me.  I'm not worried about the fastest gigabit ethernet speeds, more for security, experimentation, and observation as well as something that's better than a regular soho router with terrible security.  I have played with DDWRT and openwrt, mikrotik.  I've used pfsense in the past but its come to my attention again at how powerful and useful it is and so I am really interested in investing in a good router.  I love the idea of building something myself and being able to interchange parts and pieces to suit whatever I need in my home setup.

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                    • K Offline
                      Keljian
                      last edited by

                      @dolomite792:

                      My home internet speed since its a WISP is rather slow at times (varies from 4-12mbits) which is why I am interested in the squid setup.  My budget is around $200 and I want to keep the power consumption low.

                      Do you have any parts you can put in the box (or even a case/power supply) that you have lying around?

                      It's very cheap to put together a basic haswell celeron/pentium box with 2-4 gig of ram, dual intel pt/1000 nic with a cheap ssd (you don't need a screaming fast one for a home connection).

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                      • P Offline
                        priller
                        last edited by

                        @Jason:

                        I had to hook up a USB optical drive to install. Mounting the ISO through the IPMI kept failing when trying to mount during the boot process.

                        How hot is yours running?  Are there any fans in your case?

                        If you were failing to a mountroot>  prompt,  then you need to set "set kern.cam.boot_delay=10000" as noted here: 
                        https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#Booting_from_USB

                        It's just a timing issue mounting the remote ISO via IPMI.

                        Once I did that, it mounted the ISO file on my desktop just fine.

                        –

                        My board is in a M350 case with a single 40mm fan in the front panel position.  Usually runs in the 41 - 43C range.

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                        • J Offline
                          jasonlitka
                          last edited by

                          @priller:

                          @Jason:

                          I had to hook up a USB optical drive to install. Mounting the ISO through the IPMI kept failing when trying to mount during the boot process.

                          How hot is yours running?  Are there any fans in your case?

                          If you were failing to a mountroot>  prompt,  then you need to set "set kern.cam.boot_delay=10000" as noted here: 
                          https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#Booting_from_USB

                          It just a timing issue mounting the remote ISO via IPMI.

                          Once I did that, it mounted the ISO file on my desktop just fine.

                          –

                          My board is in a M350 case with a single 40mm fan in the front panel position.  Usually runs in the 41 - 43C range.

                          Good info, I'll keep that setting in mind.

                          I'm using a M350 as well but no fan.  Temps are at 46C while idle.  Based on your numbers I don't know that the front fan actually does much.  That's kind of what I expected since it doesn't blow at the CPU.  I briefly set a 40mm fan on top of the heat sink and the temp dropped to 26C within a minute or two so I might try and figure out how to attach it there.

                          I can break anything.

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                          • P Offline
                            priller
                            last edited by

                            Jason ….

                            I ordered another top plate (fan mounting bracket)  for the M350 and a second fan.  Assuming that a fan in the front position will fit over the CPU,  and I move the existing one to the back position .... Should the front one over the CPU blow down and the rear one up (exhaust)?  Or both as exhaust?

                            Thoughts?

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                            • J Offline
                              jasonlitka
                              last edited by

                              @Jason:

                              I'm using a M350 as well but no fan.  Temps are at 46C while idle.  Based on your numbers I don't know that the front fan actually does much.  That's kind of what I expected since it doesn't blow at the CPU.  I briefly set a 40mm fan on top of the heat sink and the temp dropped to 26C within a minute or two so I might try and figure out how to attach it there.

                              An update on this.  As expected, when I added a 40mm fan to the front of the case as an intake, it dropped idle from 46C to ~41C.  Once I made a little duct with cardboard to angle the air towards the heatsink the idle temp dropped to 33C.

                              EDIT 1: I made a few adjustments to the duct and now I'm down to 30C.  That's only 4C off from the fan directly on the heatsink, and it's much quieter, so I'm going with this.

                              EDIT 2: Pictures of my quick fan duct.  I was originally going to whip something up on a 3D printer but then I figured, "manila folder"! http://imgur.com/a/RTRD9

                              @priller:

                              Jason ….

                              I ordered another top plate (fan mounting bracket)  for the M350 and a second fan.  Assuming that a fan in the front position will fit over the CPU,  and I move the existing one to the back position .... Should the front one over the CPU blow down and the rear one up (exhaust)?  Or both as exhaust?

                              Thoughts?

                              If you're going to use two fans I'd suggest the front spot as an inlet and the rear-left (furthest from the CPU) as an exhaust.  I don't think this case and board really needs two fans though.  The one I've got installed and rigged as above seems to have done the trick, and to be honest, the temp without a fan is still way lower than my DN2800MT (idle @ 57-58C).

                              I can break anything.

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                              • S Offline
                                Seth
                                last edited by

                                What case options are there for this board.

                                Thanks

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                                • J Offline
                                  jasonlitka
                                  last edited by

                                  My first pick for Mini-ITX boards is the M350.

                                  http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal-mini-itx-enclosure

                                  I can break anything.

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                                  • P Offline
                                    priller
                                    last edited by

                                    Ya, the M350 is what I went with.

                                    The SuperMicro case looks pretty decent, too:  http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/Mini-ITX/101/SC101i.cfm

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                                    • J Offline
                                      jasonlitka
                                      last edited by

                                      @priller:

                                      Ya, the M350 is what I went with.

                                      The SuperMicro case looks pretty decent, too:  http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/Mini-ITX/101/SC101i.cfm

                                      The reason I didn't go with that one is that the memory blocks the airflow from the 60mm fan when used with the Rangeley board (and even if it didn't, it would blow the wrong direction across the heat sink).  I wasn't sure if I was going to use a fan, but if I needed one, I wanted to make sure it would actually work.

                                      EDIT: Pics added in my previous post.

                                      I can break anything.

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                                      • E Offline
                                        elikxir
                                        last edited by

                                        http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4747#ov

                                        pfsense.png
                                        pfsense.png_thumb

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