Dual port Intel PCIe x1 card

SisterOfMercy

I also ordered a used HP NC360T NIC from Ebay for about $13 shipped. If that card doesn't work out well, I can order a different one and still stay within a decent overall budget.

That was exactly what I was going to recommend! Bought a few myself recently. It's got an Intel 82571 chipset, it's cheap and works great.
I updated the boot image firmware with this: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19186/Intel-Ethernet-Connections-Boot-Utility-Preboot-images-and-EFI-Drivers

If you're not going to boot from that card I don't think you'll need it.

ytn

Great… thanks for the link! I am pretty happy to have found that card for such a low price... I just hope it's in good working condition :-)

I am just waiting for my hardware to be delivered now... just finished placing the order this morning.

I currently have a temporary pfsense setup going on a really old Jetway board with VIA nano CPU (running both Realtek NICs), and am having some issues with that system (aside from the constantly annoying whining of the CPU fan), so I can't wait to get the new box going!

Will update this thread once I have the new setup up and running (or not).

I think this was a good read regarding bandwith of PCIe. Some info surprised me after reading it.

http://www.tested.com/tech/457440-theoretical-vs-actual-bandwidth-pci-express-and-thunderbolt/

ytn

@Phishfry:

I think this was a good read regarding bandwith of PCIe. Some info surprised me after reading it.

http://www.tested.com/tech/457440-theoretical-vs-actual-bandwidth-pci-express-and-thunderbolt/

Thanks.. I did read up on the PCIe bandwidth stuff which is another reason I scrapped the idea of trying to get dual gigabit NICs working on a x1 lane PCIe slot. Max bandwidth is 250GB/s in each direction , which is exactly how much is needed for dual Gigabit LANs. I didn't want to take chance of running into issues (due to overhead and potentially other problems).

Even though I most likely will never saturate the bandwidth on dual gigabit NICs, it's just nice knowing I will have the headroom to do so if given the opportunity :-)

thermo

@ytn:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/QC5000-ITXPH/

That's exactly the board I recently bought, now I would be interested to know if you can get the serial port working on this thing if you have the opportunity to try it out. Only difference is that I am runnning Linux with pfsense virtualized.

ytn

@thermo:

@ytn:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/QC5000-ITXPH/

That's exactly the board I recently bought, now I would be interested to know if you can get the serial port working on this thing if you have the opportunity to try it out. Only difference is that I am runnning Linux with pfsense virtualized.

I am guessing you're not using VGA? I haven't tried using the serial port as a console before… I'll give it a try when I get the new system setup.

thermo

I'm using vga but I don't like having to lug a monitor and keyboard each time I need to troubleshoot. Having a working serial console would remove that requirement.

A serial console requires more than a working serial port. There must be a bios option for "Console Redirection" for pfSense console. The bios redirects the VGA signal to the serial port so you must have support in the bios.

thermo

I'll clarify. I'm running Linux with pfsense on kvm. I want a linux console on serial. I'm not bothered about getting bios messages, only grub onwards.

My bad. I figured I would save you the hassle if the board don't support Console Redirection you could waste alot of time trying. Does that particular board offer Console Redirection in the bios? I have had platforms where Console Redirect was added to later BIOS's….

ytn

@ytn:

@thermo:

@ytn:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/QC5000-ITXPH/

That's exactly the board I recently bought, now I would be interested to know if you can get the serial port working on this thing if you have the opportunity to try it out. Only difference is that I am runnning Linux with pfsense virtualized.

I am guessing you're not using VGA? I haven't tried using the serial port as a console before… I'll give it a try when I get the new system setup.

I got my new machine up and running and really like the board. It's dead quiet, and total power draw (at the wall socket) is a hair under 20 watts. I am using a pico PSU which I had lying around. I have a 120mm fan drawing air in and an 80mm fan taking air out. Both are set to "quiet mode". Can't hear anything from the machine and haven't run into any problems so far.

Will load up a couple more packages next and see how it goes.

I didn't get a chance to mess around with the serial console yet… will let you know when I do.