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    Non-Intel NICs: Ok for <1000Mbits?

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    • W
      whosmatt
      last edited by

      Depends on the other hardware, but you should be fine.  Even the modern Realtek NICs work great with pfSense, and unless you have a very high speed connection and a slow CPU, they won't hold you back in any meaningful way.

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      • D
        darkarn
        last edited by

        If "modern" means any onboard Gigabit Realtek NIC from the last few years, I think I will be fine. The model I am looking at is the Realtek 8111C/D

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        • W
          whosmatt
          last edited by

          @darkarn:

          If "modern" means any onboard Gigabit Realtek NIC from the last few years, I think I will be fine. The model I am looking at is the Realtek 8111C/D

          Yes, that's what I mean.  Even my 1Gbps Realtek NICs on motherboards as old as 10 years are capable of hitting line speed, at least near enough that it doesn't matter.

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          • D
            darkarn
            last edited by

            Thanks! This certainly makes my planning a bit easier. And can even cut a bit of costs here  ;D

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            • W
              whosmatt
              last edited by

              I should clarify my statement a bit… The 10 year old motherboards I'm referring to are now running Linux, not FreeBSD.  But I have run many Realtek NICs (and some Marvell and VIA NICs) with pfSense over the years and haven't had any stability problems.

              When I say "near line speed," I'm referring to iperf 2 with default settings.  Usually tests at ~950Mbps or so under Linux or Windows.  I can't get near those speeds with pfSense as the server or client even with server class NICs (have tried both Intel and Broadcom).  But then again I haven't really tried tweaking settings.

              YMMV.  Out of curiosity, what kind of WAN connection do you have?  And what does the rest of your hardware look like?

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              • D
                darkarn
                last edited by

                @whosmatt:

                I should clarify my statement a bit… The 10 year old motherboards I'm referring to are now running Linux, not FreeBSD.  But I have run many Realtek NICs (and some Marvell and VIA NICs) with pfSense over the years and haven't had any stability problems.

                When I say "near line speed," I'm referring to iperf 2 with default settings.  Usually tests at ~950Mbps or so under Linux or Windows.  I can't get near those speeds with pfSense as the server or client even with server class NICs (have tried both Intel and Broadcom).  But then again I haven't really tried tweaking settings.

                YMMV.  Out of curiosity, what kind of WAN connection do you have?  And what does the rest of your hardware look like?

                Hmm looks like I should learn how to iperf seeing that it may be needed to test NASes too.

                Meanwhile, I am on a dual broadband plan: a 1Gbps fiber broadband and a 100Mbps cable broadband plan (this is why I needed a dual WAN setup all these while).

                My setup is this:
                Q6600
                GA-EG41MF-US2H (onboard Realtek: cable broadband)
                4GB DDR2 RAM
                Dual NIC Intel Card (Fiber broadband + LAN)

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                • W
                  whosmatt
                  last edited by

                  I'm confused, then.  Sounds like what you have works fine, no?  Are you planning a new build?

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                  • D
                    darkarn
                    last edited by

                    @whosmatt:

                    I'm confused, then.  Sounds like what you have works fine, no?  Are you planning a new build?

                    I will need a new build eventually as all these hardware are on loan; I will have to eventually return them. I asked mainly out of curiosity of the state of drivers in pfSense and also, to see if I need to order more Intel NICs seeing that I have only one dual-port and another single port card (that I may want to deploy to a NAS instead)

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                    • W
                      whosmatt
                      last edited by

                      @darkarn:

                      I will need a new build eventually as all these hardware are on loan; I will have to eventually return them. I asked mainly out of curiosity of the state of drivers in pfSense and also, to see if I need to order more Intel NICs seeing that I have only one dual-port and another single port card (that I may want to deploy to a NAS instead)

                      Got it.  If buying new hardware and not looking for embedded, I wouldn't be afraid of a motherboard with an onboard Realtek, especially if you plan to use it for your slower connection.  Then again, there's always hardware like the HP NC364T at around $40 on Amazon right now.  4 1Gbps Intel NICs on a single card, and cheaper than anything except the bottom of the barrel cards you can find at Fry's or some place like that.

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                      • D
                        darkarn
                        last edited by

                        @whosmatt:

                        @darkarn:

                        I will need a new build eventually as all these hardware are on loan; I will have to eventually return them. I asked mainly out of curiosity of the state of drivers in pfSense and also, to see if I need to order more Intel NICs seeing that I have only one dual-port and another single port card (that I may want to deploy to a NAS instead)

                        Got it.  If buying new hardware and not looking for embedded, I wouldn't be afraid of a motherboard with an onboard Realtek, especially if you plan to use it for your slower connection.  Then again, there's always hardware like the HP NC364T at around $40 on Amazon right now.  4 1Gbps Intel NICs on a single card, and cheaper than anything except the bottom of the barrel cards you can find at Fry's or some place like that.

                        I am trying to use what I have first before ordering more stuff from Amazon due to shipping and currency issues adding to the costs, but that's really tempting! Depending on what hardware I can get, I may need more single NICs that are PCIe 1x though

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