New build. Cautions. Will a board/nic be supported by pfSense?

[IOerror]

Hi,

So after a couple weeks bashing my head in with a PC from 2005, I think it's time to walk down the 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'.  Plagued with compatibility issues with both hardware and software.

So here's what I'm thinkin:
i3-3220 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775
GIGABYTE GA-H77TN http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128587
150W PicoPSU http://www.frys.com/product/5974914
Intel E1G44ET2BLK Gigabit ET2 Quad Port Server Adapter http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106074
2.5" 80/120/250/500GB drive (I have a bunch)
2-4GB DDR3-1333 (Have a bunch of these too)

I want to be able to support up to 250 users with .11a/b/g (wifi scanners), snort, squid, and OpenVPN at approx 25Mbs over ISP connection.  I'm concerned about the NIC.  It's not working on my current build (P4 3GHz, via a PCIe x16.  Given the age of the PC, it might be a really old PCIe which it not supported by this card or the "Server" part is not supported by main-stream boards. In any event, I now have a cold spare laying around just in case the world ends.  Could be good for dual WAN or failover…

Thoughts?

EDIT Wow, just found an article on ark.intel.com about some dual/quad port nics with PCIe2.0 not functioning on same controller which supports PCIe1.0a! Hrm... how to confirm this is my problem.../EDIT

[ayah]

Did you try disabling LRO?

[IOerror]

I have a dedicated thread to trying to trouble shoot this here:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,67057.0.html
I will take a look at LRO.  I believe I disabled it already, doesn't hurt to check.  Besides, I think this is an OS boot issue.

[stephenw10]

I would be tempted to go for something a little older. USB3 is certainly not supported and I'm not sure about SATA3.

Steve