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    Hardware for gigabit internet

    Hardware
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    • W
      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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      • ?
        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
          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
            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
              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
                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
                  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
                    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
                      messerchmidt
                      last edited by

                      intel nics

                      i5 or i7 setup with 16gb ram

                      the supermicro atom c2758 is still a popular pick

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Q
                        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
                          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
                            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
                              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
                                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
                                  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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