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    RT-AX89X and repurposing an old computer

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      Phill 0
      last edited by

      While coming up with a plan to repurpose my computer, I came across an interesting piece of hardware. In terms of performance, price, and looking like a thing of nightmares, this thing is a monster:

      Youtube footage of the RT-AX89X passing data through 10 gigabit fiber and ethernet.

      According to the hardware guide, n/ac/ax is not supported so this is the best external solution I came up with. Not only does it boast an incredible amount of power but it also comes with 8 ethernet ports. It also offers the opportunity to address a practical concern. I'd like to have 10G connectivity between the new computer I build, my old computer, an AX wireless connection, and the internet (even though fiber internet is only 1 or 2.5 Gigabit). With the Asus router, I can have the fiber connection to the ISP be the only fiber on the network. This unfortunately means I'll be using pfsense for everything but a firewall. I'm hoping for the sake of some juicy hardware discussion, you won't hold that against me.

      First, the networking hardware procurement questions:

      • Does anyone have experience making a 10G-T connection to a RT-AX89X? What kind of card would you recommend?
      • I would also appreciate recommendations about 2 port and single port 10G-T cards that don't cost hundreds of dollars for me to use in my old and new computer.
      • As far as a b/g card, I see plenty of compatible chipsets but they're all made by unreliable manufacturers. I'd love some help there, too.

      As sort of a general question about 2.4ghz, because noise is so prevalent in all electronics, would it be better to put the pfsense device further away from everything using cat6 or use an antenna with a shielded cable on the wifi card to get it away from stuff? I would think the wifi antenna would be better to keep noise off the cat6 but I'd like to hear what you have to think.

      I'm curios about hardware changes to the base system as well.

      • I have liquid cooling in there. I'm not sure if I should take it out to conserve energy or leave it in to prevent risking damage to the CPU.
      • I plan on taking out the graphics card but I'm also putting in RAID and all the other networking cards. Is my old power supply going to be too much or not enough? (I think it's 750w)

      Thanks for reading the wall of text. Please let me know if any of this sounds super crazy.

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        rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Phill 0
        last edited by rcoleman-netgate

        @phill-0 said in RT-AX89X and repurposing an old computer:

        While coming up with a plan to repurpose my computer, I came across an interesting piece of hardware.
        RT-AX89X

        The device is ARM and the only way you can install pfSense on non-Netgate ARM devices is through a custom-compiled version out of GitHub.

        If you're just asking about any opinions on this hardware in general we can move this into the right category.

        Sources:
        https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/ASUS_RT-AX89X
        https://www.qualcomm.com/products/application/networking/ipq8074

        Ryan
        Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
        Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
        Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
        Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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        • P
          Phill 0 @rcoleman-netgate
          last edited by

          @rcoleman-netgate I'm going to put pfsense on my old computer and use it as NAS, 10 gigabit base T(CAT8/RJ45) passthrough, and 2.4ghz AP. Sorry if my post was confusing. I need the Asus to handle the 5ghz because pfsense will not.

          I have 3 devices I want on the network. The Asus has 2 10 gigabit ports (fiber and copper), I want 2 in my old computer and 1 in my new computer. The setup will look like this:

          ---Fiber from ISP---> 5ghz ---copper---> pfsense(old pc) ---copper---> new pc

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            rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Phill 0
            last edited by

            @phill-0 OK.
            The Hardware category is for hardware running pfSense. The questions you have are not related to pfSense but general networking.

            Ryan
            Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
            Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
            Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
            Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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            • P
              Phill 0 @rcoleman-netgate
              last edited by

              @rcoleman-netgate They're hardware compatibility questions about PFsense for the first part and questions about reusing an old PC for the last part. The 2.4ghz question might be off topic but I thought the rest would be OK.

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                rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Phill 0
                last edited by

                @phill-0 I see it as all about the RT-AX89X. Well, except the PSU question.

                In my time running, configuring, and supporting pfSense I have yet to see a good deployment for Wireless on a firewall. FreeBSD simply doesn't handle wireless well (as a client or host). Run wire to your firewall. Don't worry about interference from your computer interfering with your AP too much but always have the AP in a centrally located space. This is just good RF maintenance.

                Unless you're running 75 hard drives in the system it's unlikely you'll exceed a 750W power supply -- that's epically overkill. Your already installed liquid cooling is the only variable - determine how much it needs but without the GPU you're not going to come close to 750W.

                Ryan
                Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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                  Phill 0 @rcoleman-netgate
                  last edited by

                  @rcoleman-netgate said in RT-AX89X and repurposing an old computer:

                  In my time running, configuring, and supporting pfSense I have yet to see a good deployment for Wireless on a firewall. FreeBSD simply doesn't handle wireless well (as a client or host).

                  Thank you. That sounds like good advice. The hardware guide made it sound like 2.4ghz was OK.

                  As for the liquid cooling, I'm joust concerned about damaging the CPU if I take it out and put something else in. It's been years since I built a computer but last I remember the CPU, Motherboard, and heatsink are considered things you should avoid separating because it's possible to cause irreparable damage in the process.

                  For the power supply, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I've never run RAID or a network anywhere close to this powerful. I've heard that underutilization can damage a power supply but you don't sound concerned. I suspected I was dangerously under but for all knew 4 drives and 2 smoking hot network cards all at once could be the end of everything. Just thought I'd ask. Thanks for the advice.

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                    netblues @Phill 0
                    last edited by

                    @phill-0 said in RT-AX89X and repurposing an old computer:

                    For the power supply, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I've never run RAID or a network anywhere close to this powerful. I've heard that underutilization can damage a power supply but you don't sound concerned. I suspected I was dangerously under but for all knew 4 drives and 2 smoking hot network cards all at once could be the end of everything. Just thought I'd ask. Thanks for the advice.

                    Honestly I don't know who comes up with these ideas.
                    A power supply will never get damaged being underutilized
                    What you do get is worse power efficiency, but that's expected. Solid state electronics face all sorts of issues due to thermal degradation. As a rule of thump, whatever runs cooler lasts longer. And a psu lightly loaded will run much much cooler.

                    Electronics have advanced and considered quite reliable, but there comes a day that they fail. In general it can't be predicted. For example voyager 1 was launched in 1977 with a bunch of state of the art electronics at that age. It had a power supply of 470watts
                    45 years later, having traveled about 14,5 billion miles, with a max speed of 61.500 km/h in harsh space conditions, its still there, transmitting data and executing commands.

                    Fascinating to say the least.

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                      Phill 0 @netblues
                      last edited by

                      @netblues said in RT-AX89X and repurposing an old computer:

                      voyager 1 was launched in 1977 with a bunch of state of the art electronics at that age. It had a power supply of 470watts

                      I haven't checked, but I don't think my computer runs on plutonium. lol

                      My motherboard has outlasted a CPU. (something about the way FX-9k processers were made. It has an 8k in there now.) Newegg still has the hype page for it. With the way Asus talked about it in the promotional material, it better outlive us all. What's funny is that it's so old that the pcie is 2.0. One of the best parts about offloading so many parts to the wireless router is that with only 2 cards in, I can run them at 16x. That being said, 2.0 at 16x maxes out a 8 gigabits per second. I expect the board to outlive its ability to be connected to anything useful. It will at least run pfsense for me until I build the computer after this next one 8 years from now.

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                        rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Phill 0
                        last edited by

                        @phill-0 said in RT-AX89X and repurposing an old computer:

                        The hardware guide made it sound like 2.4ghz was OK.

                        "OK" is relative. It functions. Is it great? Probably not.

                        Ryan
                        Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                        Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                        Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                        Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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                          rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Phill 0
                          last edited by

                          @phill-0 said in RT-AX89X and repurposing an old computer:

                          I haven't checked, but I don't think my computer runs on plutonium. lol

                          You'd also be amazed how long things last when surrounded by 0K space...

                          Ryan
                          Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                          Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                          Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                          Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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