Looking for Low Power Budget Build Suggestions (BC, Canada)

strigona

I used to have an old IBM server that was big, power hungry (~350W) and loud. I was running pfSense as a VM and it was fine, however I could no longer justify it, so I sold it and reverted to using my ISP's supplied modem/router.

My requirements:

Low power: 15W -ish? I don't want an old PC eating power and spewing out heat
Bandwidth support: Min: 200Mbps, though some some room for growth would be nice. 300/300 Mbps plans are on the horizon in my area.
Form factor: I'm flexible, but smaller would be better. Network rackmount is OK (~12" deep max)
Price: Ideally under $200 CAD all in
AES-NI / pfSense 2.5 compatible
OpenVPN: I'd use it, but not for anything beyond light remote access.

Options:

Espresso.bin - looks good, bug no ETA on support
APU2C2/APU2C4 - is this still a good option?
???

TheNarc

I've had good luck with the Zotac CI323 Nano. The updated model is the CI327 Nano. However, while it looks like you can get either one of those for US$150 in the states, amazon.ca and newegg.ca both list them for just over CAD$200. And you need to add RAM and a hard drive. I've been running with only a 4GB stick of RAM and a 32GB SSD, and I run with 3 concurrent VPN client tunnels, Snort, and pfBlockerNG. So you could plausibly still stay under CAD$300 maybe. These Zotac boxes do use Realtek NICs though, so you'd also need to use the official Realtek driver:
https://forum.netgate.com/topic/92884/zotac-zbox-ci323-nano/111

There may yet be better and cheaper options; I can only speak to my personal experience.

strigona

Thanks for the reply. Definitely worth considering the Zotac if nothing else turns up.

SammyWoo

@strigona Am running an often maligned (everybody has an opinion) MiniSys 4 port, cheapest from AlliExpress, I've seen under usd$200, add your own SSD+Ram. 10 WATTS! and a side benefit NO FAN, although it does run a little warm (50c idle) but if u have fan-ed rack it should be fine, be sure to get the AES-NI ready, Intel NICs favored by Pfsense. You maybe able to get away with it looking for a used Atom-class, 300+ Passmark fine, from eBay. Just don't buy anything proprietary, Pfsense loads on any standard PC box fine.

rnatalli

I like the Qotom boxes myself, especially the i3 which has AES-NI and uses Intel NICs.