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    Hardware for gigabit internet

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    • W Offline
      whosmatt
      last edited by

      That hardware sounds like a great start for a fast little build.  If you're putting a server NIC into it, your "small" (small is a relative term here) case search  (I get a 404 on your case link, btw) might be limited because of the requirement for a half height expansion slot, but don't let that stop you.

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      • R Offline
        RAND0M1ZER
        last edited by

        The Gigabyte BRIX GB-BSi3HAL-6100 looks pretty sweet, core i3 and dual Intel gigabit NIC. Maybe a little bit over powered for your needs though, a celeron or J1900 system would also be a good alternative to save some cash.

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        • ? This user is from outside of this forum
          Guest
          last edited by

          my fibre connection is being upgraded to 1000/500 coming 1st of October and I need to replace my current isp supplied junk router :)

          If this might be running over PPPoE you might be not really hitting the 1 GBit/s area, please don´t forget this.
          And if you want to get a sufficient speed and enough power you may need more money then for a regular junk
          router from the ISP too!

          I'm struggling to piece together the hardware because of all the mixed recommendations i've been reading.

          • Jetway NF9HG-2930 (Intel Bay Trail-M)
            2 x miniPCIe (mSATA & WiFi) + 8 GB RAM + mSATA
            – silent no turning or moving parts
            -- thin enough for a thin mini-ITX case
            -- powerful enough for GB/s but not over PPPoE!!!!
            -- PSU is external and will be connected to the board directly from outside

          • ASUS Q87T
            mSATA + WiFi + CPU + RAM + Intel dual or quad port NIC
            -- many Intel CPU´s support
            -- many RAM but small form factor
            -- 2 x miniPCIe slot (mSATA & WiFi)
            -- mini-ITX form factor case ready

          I've got a HTPC that I don't use anymore that has an asrock h77m-itx mobo, i3 3225 CPU, 8GB ram and a 60GB SSD boot drive I was thinking of re purposing for this project and looking at purchasing a quad port intel pro/1000 nic to go with it.

          Might be also ok, but please see for the PSU specs. and usage! if you pay ~$300 a year for that unit
          then you might be going better with the Jetway after two years for free!!

          As i'm just a hobbiest and this router will stay on and will be sitting beside my desk I have a requirement of it being silent (hoping I can get a pico power supply to run what ever setup I may end up getting)  and it needs to be in a smallish m-itx case - Something like this

          Then the Jetway will be an optimal choice!
          ~220 € the board

          • 50€ for 2 x 4 GB RAM
          • 15 € for the PSU
          • 50 € for the mSATA
          • 40 € for the M350 case
          • Pico PSU and perhaps WiFi card

          Anyone had experience with a build to similar with what im hoping for? Quite, small, gig speeds

          please read above

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          • D Offline
            demannu
            last edited by

            @BlueKobold:

            my fibre connection is being upgraded to 1000/500 coming 1st of October and I need to replace my current isp supplied junk router :)

            If this might be running over PPPoE you might be not really hitting the 1 GBit/s area, please don´t forget this.
            And if you want to get a sufficient speed and enough power you may need more money then for a regular junk
            router from the ISP too!

            I'm struggling to piece together the hardware because of all the mixed recommendations i've been reading.

            • Jetway NF9HG-2930 (Intel Bay Trail-M)
              2 x miniPCIe (mSATA & WiFi) + 8 GB RAM + mSATA
              – silent no turning or moving parts
              -- thin enough for a thin mini-ITX case
              -- powerful enough for GB/s but not over PPPoE!!!!
              -- PSU is external and will be connected to the board directly from outside

            • ASUS Q87T
              mSATA + WiFi + CPU + RAM + Intel dual or quad port NIC
              -- many Intel CPU´s support
              -- many RAM but small form factor
              -- 2 x miniPCIe slot (mSATA & WiFi)
              -- mini-ITX form factor case ready

            I've got a HTPC that I don't use anymore that has an asrock h77m-itx mobo, i3 3225 CPU, 8GB ram and a 60GB SSD boot drive I was thinking of re purposing for this project and looking at purchasing a quad port intel pro/1000 nic to go with it.

            Might be also ok, but please see for the PSU specs. and usage! if you pay ~$300 a year for that unit
            then you might be going better with the Jetway after two years for free!!

            As i'm just a hobbiest and this router will stay on and will be sitting beside my desk I have a requirement of it being silent (hoping I can get a pico power supply to run what ever setup I may end up getting)  and it needs to be in a smallish m-itx case - Something like this

            Then the Jetway will be an optimal choice!
            ~220 € the board

            • 50€ for 2 x 4 GB RAM
            • 15 € for the PSU
            • 50 € for the mSATA
            • 40 € for the M350 case
            • Pico PSU and perhaps WiFi card

            Anyone had experience with a build to similar with what im hoping for? Quite, small, gig speeds

            please read above

            Hi Frank,

            Thank you for your comprehensive reply, I truly do appreciate it.

            I've read an article with someone using the same board + 80w xeon CPU + gtx 460 GPU and it idled at 43W

            I'm assuming my consumption wouldn't be anywhere near that amount but please correct me if i'm wrong (will be moving to a PICO PSU)

            I will be connecting via PPPoE passthrough - which I didn't realize required would require more powerful hardware.

            I don't mind spending a little extra to make the most out of it as long as its not going to be extortionate amounts

            What would you suggest for GBit over PPPoE? Is motherboard other than connectivity features that important?

            From what I've read about the packages, I like the sounds of ClamAV, Squid and Snort but never used anything like it before so its not a requirement but a nice to have if it don't need fork out 1000's for it :)

            No requirements for OpenVPN either.

            BTW, here's the case in my broken link (doh!)

            http://www.procase.co.nz/pc/CS2757/cs2757mini.htm

            I like it because its small, will accept the 250W PICO power supply I've picked up but most importantly will support a single 2x raiser card which will allow me to add 2x quad port intel NICS to it, looks kinda networky/router-ish too :)

            Thanks,

            DT

            i3 3225 3.3GHZ
            8GB DDR3
            ASRock h77m
            60GB SSD
            Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
            pfSense 2.3.2
            Fibre connection 1000/500

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            • D Offline
              demannu
              last edited by

              Bump

              Is anyone able to confirm a hardware configuration that is capable of achieving gigabit speeds with PPPoE?

              I did find this blog but he appears to get quite high latency?

              https://kdemaria.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/how-to-configure-pfsense-2-2-2-for-centurylink-gigabit-seattle-edition/

              i3 3225 3.3GHZ
              8GB DDR3
              ASRock h77m
              60GB SSD
              Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
              pfSense 2.3.2
              Fibre connection 1000/500

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • W Offline
                whosmatt
                last edited by

                @demannu:

                Is anyone able to confirm a hardware configuration that is capable of achieving gigabit speeds with PPPoE?

                I've heard anecdotes about the em driver performing much better than the igb driver with PPPoE. That would suggest an older Intel server NIC for the WAN port.  Search this forum and you might find some threads that can provide more concrete info.  Rest of the hardware should be just fine (edit: meaning the hardware in your original post).  If that can't handle it, then none of the other suggestions will either, IMO.  As far as the em vs igb driver thing, I've had very good luck with NICs based on Intel® 82571EB chipset.  I use a HP NC360T (dual port) but you can find a quad port one (NC364T) for $40 US or so.  They use the em driver and are well supported, but use a bit more power than newer chipsets.

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                • ? This user is from outside of this forum
                  Guest
                  last edited by

                  From what I've read about the packages, I like the sounds of ClamAV, Squid and Snort but never used anything like it before so its not a requirement but a nice to have if it don't need fork out 1000's for it :)

                  A full UTM together with 1 GBIt/s at the WAN Port is needing a desktop CPU around ~3,0GHz and a dual or
                  quad port NIC that is using the (em) driver for Intel cards. This could be the best option to reach that goal.

                  Is anyone able to confirm a hardware configuration that is capable of achieving gigabit speeds with PPPoE?

                  My favorite set up would be the ASUS Q87T and an Intel Core i3 or a similar set up with an Intel Xeon E3
                  that will be strong and powerful enough to reach that goal.

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                  • D Offline
                    demannu
                    last edited by

                    Thanks!

                    The i3 I have laying around is 3.3ghz but has a high TDP 55W :( I hope it does not run that high fulltime

                    I picked up a Intel PRO/1000 PT Quad port nic for the pfSense box and an i340-t2 for my desktop all up $60NZD which is about $43USD or $38EUR.. I dont think the guy selling them really knew what he had :)

                    My connection upgrade is going live on the 3/10/16 so I will be back to update :)

                    Whats how easiest way to check how many watts of power the computer is consuming? is there a utility in pfsense?

                    i3 3225 3.3GHZ
                    8GB DDR3
                    ASRock h77m
                    60GB SSD
                    Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
                    pfSense 2.3.2
                    Fibre connection 1000/500

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                    • L Offline
                      Limbi
                      last edited by

                      TDP is a typical thermal output under heavy load, not the maximum possible or the average or the actual electrical drian (witch is higher). Your cpu should idling most of the time, thus using much less power. Anyway, even Skylake i3s need a bit of power while idling, I wouldn't be surprised you have more than 35w at the wallet while idling. My NAS has a skylake pentium G and with just 6 disks I see a 58w idle power drain even with a 80 platinum psu. In the near future you better if evaluating design less power hungry while idling.

                      AMD Athlon 5350 @2.1Ghz
                      Asus AM1M-A
                      Kingston 4GB 1R 1600EC11 @C10
                      Kingston V300 60GB
                      Intel Pro/1000 PT dual (wan+lan)
                      OEM 90w psu
                      80mm case fan
                      100/20M vdsl2+ internet connection
                      pfsense 2.3.3dev
                      some package installed

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                      • D Offline
                        demannu
                        last edited by

                        bump

                        Just to update everyone and to help all the googlers out there :)

                        Check the my signature for hardware config and results.

                        i3 3225 3.3GHZ
                        8GB DDR3
                        ASRock h77m
                        60GB SSD
                        Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
                        pfSense 2.3.2
                        Fibre connection 1000/500

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • J Offline
                          jalyst
                          last edited by

                          @demannu:

                          bump

                          Just to update everyone and to help all the googlers out there :)

                          Check the my signature for hardware config and results.

                          Lucky bugger…

                          It that typical for Kiwi connections, or way above what you usually get there?
                          Surely that'd cost you a fortune? What's your data quota?
                          Can only dream of that in my inner-city suburb of Brisbane, bloody pathetic.

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                          • D Offline
                            demannu
                            last edited by

                            @jalyst:

                            Lucky bugger…

                            It that typical for Kiwi connections, or way above what you usually get there?
                            Surely that'd cost you a fortune? What's your data quota?
                            Can only dream of that in my inner-city suburb of Brisbane, bloody pathetic.

                            Its starting to become the norm, theres pretty good fibre to the door coverage in NZ now due to the nation wide role out due to be completed 2019

                            I'm with one of the bigger more expensive ISP's here in NZ, Orcon. I pay $140 a month for 1000/500, unlimited data cap and VOIP services with all the addons.. caller ID, divert, voicemail, conference calling etc they send you a "free" $400NZD router called fritzbox 3940 but i'm sure its bundled into the price.. a zero throttling ISP as well.

                            Gigabit fibre plans start from $99 unlimited, pretty much all of the ISP's here price you into unlimited as its usually only $10 more than their base plans of 80-100GB

                            But yeah its hardcase, theres still some CBD'ish places here in Auckland that don't have fibre to their door yet but there's tiny little towns in the middle of nowhere that have full coverage and only 20% uptake

                            I get about 850/350~ to the Sydney telstra speed test server and 750/350~ to Brisbane

                            i3 3225 3.3GHZ
                            8GB DDR3
                            ASRock h77m
                            60GB SSD
                            Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
                            pfSense 2.3.2
                            Fibre connection 1000/500

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • J Offline
                              jalyst
                              last edited by

                              Ugh, so annoying that our NBN turned into such a political basket-case, if it hadn't, a large chunk of us would be having FTTH by now, instead of the BS "mixed services" approach we're now lumped with. Which was promised to be much faster to roll-out, & much cheaper, it has been a total fail in that regard, so why the hell didn't they just go FTTH all the way (for the most built-up areas only ofc).

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                              • M Offline
                                messerchmidt
                                last edited by

                                intel nics

                                i5 or i7 setup with 16gb ram

                                the supermicro atom c2758 is still a popular pick

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                                • Q Offline
                                  Qhris_
                                  last edited by

                                  Hello,

                                  i am using an XEON E3-1225 V3 and HyperV with PFsense as VM, but I am not reaching the Gigabit :(
                                  Network adapter is HP NC365T Quad-Port 4x 1 Gbps.

                                  But Speed stucks at this Point:

                                  Any idea?

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                                  • D Offline
                                    demannu
                                    last edited by

                                    Its quite possible its due to the NIC you are using.

                                    People have experience gigabit performance issues using the IGB intel drivers

                                    The card I'm using uses the EM drivers

                                    List of IGB driver chipsets (your card is using the 82580 chipset)

                                    https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=igb&apropos=0&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current&format=html

                                    List of EM driver chipsets (my card uses the 82571 chipset)

                                    https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=em&sektion=4&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current

                                    I also went one step further and put a intel 1340-t2 NIC into my PC to make sure I was getting the best possible performance

                                    i3 3225 3.3GHZ
                                    8GB DDR3
                                    ASRock h77m
                                    60GB SSD
                                    Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
                                    pfSense 2.3.2
                                    Fibre connection 1000/500

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • D Offline
                                      demannu
                                      last edited by

                                      @jalyst:

                                      Ugh, so annoying that our NBN turned into such a political basket-case, if it hadn't, a large chunk of us would be having FTTH by now, instead of the BS "mixed services" approach we're now lumped with. Which was promised to be much faster to roll-out, & much cheaper, it has been a total fail in that regard, so why the hell didn't they just go FTTH all the way (for the most built-up areas only ofc).

                                      Hah, yeah I heard about it all going belly up over there and it turning to "fibre to the node" instead.. what a rubbish idea..

                                      Friend of mine living in Melbourne is a bit of a conspirator and reckons Murdoch had a lot to do with it because he was worried about streamers and didn't want his empire to come crashing down around him.

                                      i3 3225 3.3GHZ
                                      8GB DDR3
                                      ASRock h77m
                                      60GB SSD
                                      Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
                                      pfSense 2.3.2
                                      Fibre connection 1000/500

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • Q Offline
                                        Qhris_
                                        last edited by

                                        @demannu:

                                        Its quite possible its due to the NIC you are using.

                                        People have experience gigabit performance issues using the IGB intel drivers

                                        The card I'm using uses the EM drivers

                                        List of IGB driver chipsets (your card is using the 82580 chipset)

                                        https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=igb&apropos=0&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current&format=html

                                        List of EM driver chipsets (my card uses the 82571 chipset)

                                        https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=em&sektion=4&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current

                                        I also went one step further and put a intel 1340-t2 NIC into my PC to make sure I was getting the best possible performance

                                        Interesting point.
                                        To disprove that argument I have just installed Iperf on HyperV and Lan Client and speed is ~950 Mbit/s

                                        Could the NIC still be the guilty thing?

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                                        • D Offline
                                          demannu
                                          last edited by

                                          I missed out something important in my original post..

                                          If you're using PPPoE, PPPoE isn't able to utilize all driver queues at high speeds using IGB, in your case, gigabit.

                                          https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/4821

                                          As far as I can tell this isn't a problem with EM drivers.

                                          i3 3225 3.3GHZ
                                          8GB DDR3
                                          ASRock h77m
                                          60GB SSD
                                          Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port
                                          pfSense 2.3.2
                                          Fibre connection 1000/500

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • J Offline
                                            jalyst
                                            last edited by

                                            @demannu:

                                            @jalyst:

                                            Ugh, so annoying that our NBN turned into such a political basket-case, if it hadn't, a large chunk of us would be having FTTH by now, instead of the BS "mixed services" approach we're now lumped with. Which was promised to be much faster to roll-out, & much cheaper, it has been a total fail in that regard, so why the hell didn't they just go FTTH all the way (for the most built-up areas only ofc).

                                            Hah, yeah I heard about it all going belly up over there and it turning to "fibre to the node" instead.. what a rubbish idea..

                                            Friend of mine living in Melbourne is a bit of a conspirator and reckons Murdoch had a lot to do with it because he was worried about streamers and didn't want his empire to come crashing down around him.

                                            No one to blame but Liberal's Tony Abbott & his inner cohort, & their extreme opposition to everything while in opposition, worked masterfully for a while & helped his star to rise, but that whole style/approach came back to haunt him, & was ultimately his demise. And the more moderate Liberal Malcolm Turnbull just had to run with it all, & run with it he did, by birthing what TA initially conceptualised, a highly flawed system that will actually cost us more in the long run (despite their rhetoric), when we find we have to re-upgrade large sections.

                                            But we digress, sorry.

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