Best Low Power Mini-ITX Motherboard for Gigabit Internet
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Hello All,
I am wanting to build my first PFSense box. I have managed a PFSense box at my previous job as an IT consultant and I am very familiar with firewalls as I am and have been a Network Admin for a bit. I would like to build a Mini-ITX box using a small Mini ITX case, like some of the supermicro cases. I was wondering what the favorite current low power embedded CPU that would support gigabit internet connections and possibly a VPN for all of the connection. I'm thinking SuperMicro or Asrock for the motherboard, but I don't know what the favored solution would be.Adam
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I was wondering what the favorite current low power embedded CPU that would support gigabit internet connections and possibly a VPN for all of the connection.
The sg-3100 seems perfect to me for that sort of scenario.. Its low power, it can do gig… And other stuff.. Supports the project and you plug it in - ready to go.. Nothing to "build" ;)
https://www.netgate.com/solutions/pfsense/sg-3100.html
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I thought the 4860 was the lowest spec from Netgate that would route at 1Gbps. I am lucky enough to live in an area that AT&T has brought in Gbit fiber and Google fiber is coming. I don't want to limit my bandwidth with the router. Not that I need gigabit, I just hate knowing I have paid for something and I can't utilize it.
Adam
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I was considering something like the Supermicro E200-9B or maybe something a bit better. I like the 3100, my concern is throughput and VPN performance.
Adam
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What VPN performance do you need?
Steve
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What VPN performance do you need?
I’d like 100Mbps on Open VPN, but if that doubles or triples the cost, maybe 50Mbps works.
Adam
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"Google fiber is coming"
Don't hold your breath on that one ;)
I will let the guys chime in that have them or netgate/pfsense staff about the vpn performance of the 3100.. I do not have 3100 to play with, I have 4860 and don't have gig only 500/50.. I can tell you for sure that the 4860 just kicks ass…
I would of gone with the 3100, but I do like the more nics vs the switch ports - have plenty of switch ports on my "switch" ;) But that is a very nice feature that many users find handy. While the 4860 might be a bit high for some home budgets, its not all that crazy - how much did you spend on your X" TV you have in the living room? ;) How much did that ipad cost you, or your freaking phone for that matter ;) If cost was my constraint then would of gone with the 3100 for sure..
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It depends on packets size, path length, number of steams, encryption type…. many variables but I see around 90Mbps OpenVPN through the SG-3100.
IPSec is a LOT faster due to the hardware crypto being leveraged far better. 300Mbps+ in local testing.
Steve
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Hello All,
I am wanting to build my first PFSense box. I have managed a PFSense box at my previous job as an IT consultant and I am very familiar with firewalls as I am and have been a Network Admin for a bit. I would like to build a Mini-ITX box using a small Mini ITX case, like some of the supermicro cases. I was wondering what the favorite current low power embedded CPU that would support gigabit internet connections and possibly a VPN for all of the connection. I'm thinking SuperMicro or Asrock for the motherboard, but I don't know what the favored solution would be.Adam
While using OpenVPN, I achieved 500-600 mb/s down and 200-350 mb/s up in software alone ( no hardware acceleration). I was using a 7600K and a ATX motherboard with an intel 4x Gb wirless card. I don't have data on with hardware accelration yet. I have figured out how to get it to work. I was using AES-256-CBC on OpenVPN.
