Pc build help for a 160Mbit home network
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Hi all
I've never used pfSense before and I'm looking to give it a go.
I'm currently using this router - http://www.tp-link.com/lb/products/details/cat-9_TL-WDR4300.html
My internet speed is 160Mbit and it will likely increase by 10-30Mbit every couple of years or less so I need some future proofing.
I live in the UK so the official hardware even from the Europe distributors comes in at about £300 ($470) for the base model. My location also rules out many of the motherboards and mini PC options available in the US :(
So… can anyone suggest either a prebuilt unit (minus RAM and HDD is ok) or a spec list of parts (common ones available UK/Worldwide) please?
Requirements are just for it to be at least as fast as the above router, and things like IPS, Virus scanning, Proxy etc are optional which i'll experiment with but just assume they are not enabled as I am happy to pay less for a PC which can't run the optional extras. I just want high performance networking for gaming, browsing, downloading etc with a good firewall protecting me and OpenVPN for just occasional light access by me.
If this can be achieved within £200 - perfect, but i get the feeling I need to approach £300 to expect excellent performance.
Thanks
Igniseus -
Here is one option that I was looking that I assume would give more than enough power for every extra feature desired at 160Mbit and beyond. Main issues with are the price, size of the case, and power draw.
ASUS H81M-Plus Intel Socket 1150 Motherboard £41.23
Intel Pentium G3260 3.3GHz Dual Core (Socket 1150) £47.30
2 x Intel PRO/1000 CT PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet £45.88
Fractal Design Core 1100 Black Midi Tower Case £31.02
Corsair CX430 Builder Series 430W Power Supply £37.34
Kingston ValueRAM 8GB (2x 4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 RAM £33.24
Kingston SSDNow V300 2.5" 120GB SATA III SSD £39.78Total: £275.79
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ASUS H81M-Plus Intel Socket 1150 Motherboard £41.23
Please try to get a Mainboard that comes sorted with Intel NICs on board
likes the Intel I217 or I210.2 x Intel PRO/1000 CT PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet £45.88
An Intel Server Quad Port NIC refurbished for ~£50 would do the best job!
If this can be achieved within £200 - perfect, but i get the feeling I need to approach £300 to expect excellent performance.
For sure this could be. But it is also tending more to the needs and wishes from yours.
Corsair CX430 Builder Series 430W Power Supply £37.34
For 24/7 usage I would be more looking at something using less power.
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I would be looking at the Asrock B85M-Pro 4 as the motherboard to get.
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Do you think this would be suitable for my 2 user home network at 160Mbit down and 12Mbit up - with room for growth (say 250 / 25)?
http://www.cclonline.com/product/181233/DS57U/Barebone-PCs/Shuttle-DS57U-Barebone-Slim-PC-Celeron-3205U-1-5GHz-no-Operating-System-Intel-HD-Graphics-Shuttle-FS57/BRB0397/?gclid=CjwKEAjwxruuBRC9lLGslqjs-HISJAAkq21sx0GcVYL-otCXGmCh7vaUspIpNfrh4O0kKMGyp7F7bRoCW27w_wcB
It's slightly cheaper, but much, MUCH smaller size, and lower power. Half the CPU performance though, if that would be a problem.
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Reading further into it, it seems like there really wont be many packages if any at all that I will be using. I'm happy with my AV scanners on the PCs and not fussed for a router AV and Snort sounds like it will require a big time investment and frequent tweaks, for very little benefits in a home network - would you all agree? I don't mind spending a few weeks going back to tweak it but I would want to set and forget it for the most part.
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This both units would be 100% running pfSense smooth & liquid, you can add RAM, mSATA, SSD, a modem,
WIFI card or what ever. Have a look at your amazon.co.uk or eBay.co.uk store. It will be sufficient enough
for 1 GBit/s WAN and nearly ~100 MBit/s VPN throughput and some packages as snort or Squid & SquidGuard.
4 GB LAN Port unit
5 GB LAN Port unitIf you will be lower packages using and don´t need so much power this unit could also be something for you.
If you buy this bundle as single spare parts you will safe a lot of money and only are paying ~185 €
PC Engines APU1D4 Bundle ;) So with shipment fee and mSATA you will ends up at
250 €. Have a look at the right power psu and cord. -
Why not get a server board, so you don't have to tow extra hardware around when it does something weird?
https://www.sona.de/.562497360-Supermicro-Mainboard-A1SRi-2558F-Single
Ok, it's probably too expensive. 300 euro is about 200 UK pounds, is it not? Run it off a 12 V adapter and you might even get away with screwing it in an empty pizza box. -
I don't know if this may help you Igniseus but here is a build I did some time back for my home network, it worked really well for me.
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From your requirements description i'd go with an APU:
http://www.pcengines.ch/apu.htm -
asrock matx with a braswell chip _> http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/N3700M/ or http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/N3150M/ (more expandability than itx)
8gb ddr3L
a single or dual port intel nic from ebay (single if you want to use the onboard asrock one, dual if you do not)
a small hd or ssd (spare is fine)
generic case with low power psu
you can hyper-v or exsi on it, and add a sata card for a xpenology vm,etc as well