Full Install

[alixman]

I want to build a pfsense box with the following requirements:

Gigabit Intel Nics, which ones?  Only need a few ports as I have gigabit switches, built into motherboard is fine
Fast HDD for squid/proxy caching
Decent CPU, doesn't need to be mobile or fanless, just want it to handle decent throughput and and squid caching
It will be a pfsense 2.0 box so future proofing is needed.

[jaime]

is this your first PF box or are you just "upgrading" from an older one or are you using anything else at this time for your firewall/PFSense box? (IE alix board, etc)

if your new to this (IE very first box and looking for suggestions or switching from an Alix box to a full blown PC type box) I would start here an see if that helps get an idea as to what your looking for, if you already have a box and are just looking for suggestions/recommendations as to what you should use and/or upgrade to here are some suggestions BASED on what my system has and is set up with (your needs may be different so you may want different hardware but it should mostly be similar if your not needing a lot.

MY SYSTEM:

2.x GHz processor (single core sempron)
2GB RAM (more over kill for my needs)
AMD mother board (don't remember the chip set at this time)
-on board NIC (Realtek NIC)
-PCI NIC (Linksys NIC)
-HDD 111GB (approx) IDE drive [soon to be switched to SSD if possible]

now my system already doesn't really do any read/write on the HDD as is but im not using a few programs you have in mind which I know will do some R/W operations on the HDD so if you need to have something thats gonna last through R/W abuse at times DO NOT use SSD drive(s), and go with the standard disk drives with spindle (IDE or SATA). For the NICs linksys would work, or any thing with atheros chip set (there is a post in the forums with known compatible NICS and other hardware as well that you might want to look at too.)

[alixman]

I'm using an Alix2d3 but I want hdd and 1GB capabilities.

[jaime]

im guessing you are meanning "1GB abilities" as in the network through put?

in that case you are most likely want to look at a system that has at least the specs like mine or greater, processor should be at least a 2.5Ghz with at least 512MB ram minimum (obviously the more ram you have the more the machine will be able to handle) as for HDD I think a 20GB or bigger would be enough, mine is using I think a 100+ GB drive (pulled from my moms old system that died) so I know thats way more then I need honestly…I think my sempron is a 2.7 and that seems to run just fine for my needs :)

[alixman]

What I have thought about is a SSD or WD Velociraptor for Squid caching.  I definitely will only buy Intel NICS, not sure if I need 2 separate or 1 dual NIC.  ATX or miniATX, hardest part to choose, case doesnt matter, will have 4GB of ram, with a core 2 duo atleast