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    My pfsense with openvpn in mind hardware setup, any good?

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    • F
      Fevan
      last edited by

      Hi after much checking and asking I am narrowing down my pfsense hardware build,  just wanted to get your thoughts on it.
      Its going to be using possible 100meg bb connection with 200meg next year,  and using mullvad VPN 24/7.  So OpenVPN client under pfsense.

      AMD A6-6400K 3.90GHz 65Watt (turbos to 4.1ghz and supports AES instructions (for less openvpn overhead)
      8gig DDR3
      64gig SSD
      ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro-ATX (1 full pciexpress 16x slot and 4x and pci slot.
      HP NC360T Dual-Port Gigabit NIC PCI-E Server Adaptor PCIE Full-Height Card DP FH

      I can build this roughly for £250. My main concern is the motherboard uses "Realtek RTL8111E" is this bad or good for pfsense ?

      If it is bad then perhaps I can just buy 2 HP NC360T nics and get 4 nics for future proof.  Hopefully a 2nd one can still work in the full size pci express 16x slot ?

      Is this build ideal or any other thoughts are appreciated, thx.

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      • A
        Aluminum
        last edited by

        @Fevan:

        I can build this roughly for £250. My main concern is the motherboard uses "Realtek RTL8111E" is this bad or good for pfsense ?

        If it is bad then perhaps I can just buy 2 HP NC360T nics and get 4 nics for future proof.  Hopefully a 2nd one can still work in the full size pci express 16x slot ?

        Is this build ideal or any other thoughts are appreciated, thx.

        Don't bother with the realtek.

        You might find a NC364T or similar quad PT for about the same price as two dual port nics.

        Regular cards should work in the primary pci express slot but there is a slim chance of a stupid bios assuming everything in the primary slot is a gpu. Try a search to see if anyone else who has that board has posted something about it on various computer forums. FWIW my asrock boards (X79, Z87, H77 off the top of my head) don't care if I put an infiniband or SAS controller instead of a gpu in the first x16 slot.

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        • F
          Fevan
          last edited by

          thx alu

          That is good news to hear about the Asrock mobos,I think as you suggested though best to find a 4 nic NC364T version.  I see plenty on ebay while more expensive I think as you suggested at least its better.

          Yeah the issue is with just about every motherboard I see they all ship with realtek nics !  its like a disease ;)

          I think I will go ahead with this build this week.  I need to get a reliable and stable router system in place one geared for OpenVPN performance.  This should hopefully do the trick !

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