Before building my router

Gigoligo

Hi everyone! :)

I'm looking at building my first router. I want to use a pfsense box for as a firewall, vpn and for ad blocking.
Will a pc with a g3220 and 6gb of ram be enough? I have a 200/200 fiber connection.
And can I use pfsense to block ads on YouTube?

Ps. I'm using an Intel EXPI9301CT gigabit nic and the built in Ethernet on the mono with Realtek 8111G controller.

Harvy66

pfSense is dropping support for non-AES-NI CPUs in about 3 years. If you plan on using this device longer, then you can't use that CPU. Don't use Realtek. It's a crap shot. May work, may not work. Even worse is when it kind of works but you get random issues from time to time and you spend days or weeks trying to figure out what's wrong. If you can't afford another NIC, make sure your mobo has the ability to add another in the future when you get enough money.

Not sure about blocking ads on YouTube, but pfBlockerNG is pretty good about blocking ads in general.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge on the topic can chime in.

aGeekhere

pfsense cannot remove youtube video ads (you need adblock plus for that) squid and squidguard can block normal ads.

VidiVendriera

I would recommend using Ublock over Adblock plus now. Does the job better

mhab12

A second vote against Realtek NICs and a vote for Intel NICs. May be most cost effective for you to look at some of the hardware from https://store.netgate.com/pfSense/systems.aspx , especially if you are going to be running a VPN.

jahonix

Realtek NICs are not as bad as stated here regularly.

Clearly they are not top notch but do a decent job (maybe until you try to push to max saturation). I have dozens of ALIX and APU1 units out there, all with Realtek NICs, and none of them has severe problems. But all see only moderate traffic or run idle most of the time.

With ALIX and APU1 units I have no choice in NICs. If I can choose then I prefer Intel NICs as well.

anajames

Try adguard for adblocking, i use with my chrome. Life is easy these days.

aGeekhere

You can use squidguard for blocking ads on devices which do not have ad block such as the iPhone/iPad. Just not filtering YouTube ads.

anajames

@aGeekHere:

You can use squidguard for blocking ads on devices which do not have ad block such as the iPhone/iPad. Just not filtering YouTube ads.

Is it a free app or a paid one.

jahonix

@anajames:

Is it a free app or a paid one.

It's a package to install in your pfSense. There are no paid apps for that.