Need advice on a pfsense box

super_8

@super_8:

i have HDDs that were used a lot and are over 10 years old

So your 10+ year old HDDs have been alive and kicking for longer than SSDs have even been on the market at all?

Well, these sure don't make for a good comparison. ;D

(PS: Just saying… I don't mean this as an argument for or against anything)

I probably should of said that They were used in a pc system, so they weren't running heavy 24/7, if they were they would die years ago :)

super_8

I was thinking of getting the Corsair http://www.corsair.com/cmx8gx3m2a1333c9.html or kingston value http://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/KVR13N9S8K2_8.pdf.

are those any good or should i get a different brand?

Fevan

Regarding my haswell choice and core i3, I think its too costly and not worth myself going down intel route.

An AMD build I can literally pick up the mobo +cpu for under £100 even and can't argue with a 4ghz (65watt) cpu (dual core) with AES Support and 1xpci express 4x and 16x slot. An 364 hp intel quad Nic for £40-50 can be had also from ebay. I will custom build it so its using a large silent heatsink + fan and a silent 92% energy efficient p/s.

Regarding the SSDs, agree with other poster who mentioned intel or Samsung for reliability factor…. many people on forums still selling there ones after 3-4 years.

We can assume in 3-4 years also technology will be so small and energy efficient to the point our current Pc builds require binning ;)

It is tricky to get the hardware right to strike a balance between energy efficiency and price.

One could look at this new haswell/dual nic/100% silent and 35watt build that came out today:

http://www.atlastsolutions.com/fanless-thin-mini-itx-pc-core-i7-haswell-8gb-128gb-ssd-asus-q87t/

But then who knows if pfsense will support those nics, most likely realtek anyhow so best to avoid.

You have this also:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shuttle-DS61-Barebone-Socket-SODIMM/dp/B00BFOFA78

pfsense works and supports these nics, but then the cpu needs to be put in separate some guys use a celeron low power or xeon but this adds to the cost.

Guess the pfsense builds are endless you just need one and once set up hide it away, you see people on here using p3 and p4 high electricity builds just running 24/7, but they not fussed you get reliability and all the features and support that puts even the best router on the market today to shame (apart from pfsense wireless side, routers still beat it for that)

super_8

whatever works out for you :)
Personaly i rather stay away from AMD CPUs + you can get a i3+mobo for only a bit over £100

Fevan

You can but not with AES support ;)

I do actually have an core i5 3.2ghz/AES and micro ATX already which would be good for a pfsense build but that cpu is 95watts.

Its that balance once again….

jasonlitka

@Fevan:

One could look at this new haswell/dual nic/100% silent and 35watt build that came out today:

http://www.atlastsolutions.com/fanless-thin-mini-itx-pc-core-i7-haswell-8gb-128gb-ssd-asus-q87t/

But then who knows if pfsense will support those nics, most likely realtek anyhow so best to avoid.

One of those is an Intel i217 and the other is a Realtek 8111G. Neither are going to work with pfSense until it moves to FreeBSD 10.

Do yourself a favor and stick with Ivy Bridge. The slightly lower idle power consumption and slightly better performance per clock of Haswell isn't worth the hassle of compatibility problems.

super_8

@Jason:

@Fevan:

One could look at this new haswell/dual nic/100% silent and 35watt build that came out today:

http://www.atlastsolutions.com/fanless-thin-mini-itx-pc-core-i7-haswell-8gb-128gb-ssd-asus-q87t/

But then who knows if pfsense will support those nics, most likely realtek anyhow so best to avoid.

One of those is an Intel i217 and the other is a Realtek 8111G. Neither are going to work with pfSense until it moves to FreeBSD 10.

Do yourself a favor and stick with Ivy Bridge. The slightly lower idle power consumption and slightly better performance per clock of Haswell isn't worth the hassle of compatibility problems.

or you can just buy seperate nic cards and you don't have to use the onboard one, speaking of which will a pcie x1 nic work in a pcie x16 (graphics card) slot?

Fevan

yes it will work

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2218693

looking at some benchies the amd cpu I liked is pretty poor performer, so you were right to suggest intel cpus.

May just stick with my core i5 sandy set and transplant to a micro atx case after all :)

Good info on the ivy cpus was not aware of that….

super_8

well i will go with the pentium, 1150, 8gig corsair 1333 and a ssd, it's more then enough for what i need :)

As for the i5, i don't think it uses a lot when it's not under load.

Fevan

yeah was concerned with the power, but they do not use that much thanks to the speed step and power efficiency :)

Pentium/1150/8gig and ssd sounds great.

midacts

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but did you has well build work for you? I was looking at building something similar but with an i3 4330t because its 35w with aes-ni.

I'm afraid a haswell board is going to have problems working with pfsense 2.1. it looks like it may be a while before v2.2 comes out.

jasonlitka

@midacts:

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but did you has well build work for you? I was looking at building something similar but with an i3 4330t because its 35w with aes-ni.

I'm afraid a haswell board is going to have problems working with pfsense 2.1. it looks like it may be a while before v2.2 comes out.

The newer Intel NIC drivers that were included in 2.1.1 have been pulled because they were flaky as hell. I wouldn't buy a Haswell system at this point unless you intend to use only add-in NICs which use an older chip.

midacts

I would be fine if the onboard NIC is not supported as long as a quad port NIC in a PCI slot would work fine?

As long as a Haswell CPU (preferrably the i3-4330t) would work, along with the board itself, im fine.

Am i wasting my time/looking in the wrong place going the Haswell/i3 4330T route if im not worried about the onboard NIC?

Thanks for your reply.

dreamslacker

@midacts:

I would be fine if the onboard NIC is not supported as long as a quad port NIC in a PCI slot would work fine?

As long as a Haswell CPU (preferrably the i3-4330t) would work, along with the board itself, im fine.

Am i wasting my time/looking in the wrong place going the Haswell/i3 4330T route if im not worried about the onboard NIC?

Thanks for your reply.

I've setup 2 sets on Haswell using pfSense 2.1. One using the Gigabyte H87M-D3H & one using the Asrock H87M-Pro4.

The Realtek NIC on the Gigabyte works fine in pfSense 2.1.

The latter does have some caveats:
1) Disable AHCI mode on the SATA port or GEOM won't find the disk (I didn't try playing with loading AHCI module).
2) The onboard NIC is an i210 which isn't supported in 2.1.

midacts

That's good to know. Maybe its better to go with that Gigabyte board then.

-So as long as the Haswell motherboard works (like the Gigabyte H87M-D3H ), I should be able to use any LGA 1150 CPU with it (preferrably the i3-4330T)

-Do you think there would be any performance reduction by not being able to run in AHCI mode on the Asrock motherboard. Maybe not so much since it might only be affecting something like the HDD/SSD.

midacts

I was looking at your asrock and gigabyte boards and they are both MicroATX. Is there anyways I will know if a mini-itx board will work?

I am just paranoid that ill get a motherboard and it will not work with pfsense 2.1

dreamslacker

@midacts:

I was looking at your asrock and gigabyte boards and they are both MicroATX. Is there anyways I will know if a mini-itx board will work?

I am just paranoid that ill get a motherboard and it will not work with pfsense 2.1

If the onboard NIC is not a concern, just get any of the 8X series ITX boards with a PCIe x16 slot. Throw in a PCIe Intel dual (or quad) port NIC like the PT Dual port and use it instead. The 8X chipsets will handle the NIC in the PCIe slot just fine concurrently with the IGP.

I'm running the NanoBSD VGA build (embedded) so I can't comment on any loss of performance in terms of SSD/ HDD. My Kingspec SSD is a real slow poke though so I doubt I can get anything out of it. As I mentioned, I've not gotten down to testing out whether the manual loading of AHCI module will actually allow the AHCI mode on the controller but it is certainly possible.

midacts

Thank you for your help. I am just worried I will buy the wrong hardware. Intel 8 series chipset looks like I can us a z87 board then.

If that's the case I can get a z87 mini itx board and the i3-4330t for low wattage and aes-ni.

Outside of that I'll have to find a case ;)

I think I am definitely going to go with an intel NIC. A dual or quad port NIC. Intel PT or ET is what I'd go with. I350 looks like the best of the three. But I'm a bit worried about power consumption since this box will be on 24/7- and I heard the PT uses more power. But I havent checked out how many watts it uses yet.

Thanks again for your help!

Keljian

@midacts:

I think I am definitely going to go with an intel NIC. A dual or quad port NIC. Intel PT or ET is what I'd go with. I350 looks like the best of the three. But I'm a bit worried about power consumption since this box will be on 24/7- and I heard the PT uses more power. But I havent checked out how many watts it uses yet.

From the intel Ark - i350-T4 uses 5w, the PT (quad) uses 12W, realistically we're talking about a 7w difference.

Considering pricing is astronomically more for the i350 ($250-350 on ebay) vs the pt which is $75, I think it'd be a very very long payoff for the difference.

The only reason I could think of to run the i350 for what you're suggesting is if you are running solar, where 7W more worth of panel might be more expensive than the difference.

midacts

Awesome!

For a 7watt difference…I'd definitely rather go with the Intel PT.

Is it true pfsense 2.1 will work with Intel 8 series chipsets like the z87? I just want to make sure I can pick any z87 motherboard I want. Probably a supermicro or gigabyte.