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    Review of 3 DIY installs: DC2500CC, GA-J1900-D3V, H81M-A+G1840+2xINTEL PRO

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    • A
      aleatorvb
      last edited by

      I don't pretend to have done this in a very controller manner, as I wanted to see the real-life scenario, hopefully someone will benefit from this.

      The short version:

      • 300 mbps - get DC2500CCE
      • 700 mbps - get GA-J1900-D3V - but wait for 2.2 to finish, might be good for much more
      • 900+ mbps - get something with INTEL NIC and a celeron from the last generations

      Common:

      • embedded installs (2.1.5 on 1 and 2, 2.2 latests on 2)
      • wan - PPPOE, 1000 Mbps down, around 250 up (but varries alot)
      • desktop: windows 7, i5-3570, realtek nic (i know, but i had to use my one intel nic for (3) since i only found one locally to buy; will remedy that soon)
      • my "main server" nas4free - 1 x intel pro nic,  i3-4330, 24 gb ram
      • iperf desktop - pfsense: 910 Mbits / sec
      • iperf server - pfsense: 915 Mbits / sec

      Pfsense stick was duplicated copied from 1 to 3, and backup+restore from 1 to 2 and we have:

      • tinc with 34 hosts
      • a few firewall rules
      • openvpn server with 1 client that does 20-30 kb/s of traffic continously
      • pptp server with 0 clients

      (1) Hardware:

      • DC2500CCE
      • 1x 4 GB Ram Kingston
      • 1 pci slot free

      (2) Hardware:

      • GA-J1900-D3V
      • 1 x 4 GB Ram sodimm Kingston
      • one pci slot free

      (3) Hardware:

      • Assus MB: H81M-A (onboard realtek nic not used - i don't think pfsense even sees it)
      • CPU G1840
      • 8 gb of hyperx ddr3 ram (borrowed from server since i forgot to buy)
      • 2 x Intel PRO / 1000 CT nics on pci-express x1
      • one free pci-express (probably x16, did not bother to check)

      Testing method

      • speedtest.net from desktop in browser
      • iperf from desktop to a friend's server colocated in my ISP local datacenter with gigabit up/down
      • as above, but from server
      • ran one or two tests with each platform then just moved lan/wan cables to next, did text and so on, round robit

      (1) seems severely under-powered for gigabit connection - got 380 to 400 mbits with 80-90% cpu used

      (2) way better than (1) - got 600 to 750, sometimes 900 but i thing it's a limit of the realtek nics or the drivers

      (3) blown away… doing wire speed 890-910 Mbits/s with room to spare

      • almost full GB/s nat (but probably limited by my testing methods)
      • at 800 mbits/sec the cpu load is
        CPU:  0.4% user,  0.0% nice,  0.2% system, 20.5% interrupt, 78.9% idle

      If you have any questions or want me to test things let me know. I plan on putting zwave power meters on the 3 platforms and record the power used over a few days. If i have time i will add photos of my frankenstein systems..

      P.S. GA-J1900-D3V works wonders with nas4free - works out of the box (with some bios tweaking) and does 98 MB/s transfers over windows shares (samba/cifs) over one nic and 2 x 90 MB/s over both onboard nics.

      P.P.S. Everyone that spent time teaching me things - thank you again!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • A
        aleatorvb
        last edited by

        Attached some photos. I will try to do some latency tests tomorrow and I will start learning about managed switches…

        ![system 3 download test.png](/public/imported_attachments/1/system 3 download test.png)
        ![system 3 download test.png_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/system 3 download test.png_thumb)
        ![d2500cc system.jpg](/public/imported_attachments/1/d2500cc system.jpg)
        ![d2500cc system.jpg_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/d2500cc system.jpg_thumb)
        ![ga-j1900 system.jpg_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/ga-j1900 system.jpg_thumb)
        ![ga-j1900 system.jpg](/public/imported_attachments/1/ga-j1900 system.jpg)

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        • W
          whitexp
          last edited by

          hello, I'm following ..
          thanks for tests

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • B
            bplein
            last edited by

            @aleatorvb:

            I don't pretend to have done this in a very controller manner, as I wanted to see the real-life scenario, hopefully someone will benefit from this.

            The short version:

            • 300 mbps - get DC2500CCE

            I think your test might have some tweaking to do.

            I get over 500Mbit downloads over my AT&T Uverse (gigabit) service through my PFSense running on a DC2500CCE.

            Last night after upgrading to PFSense 2.2, I measured again, got about 600 down and 300 up.

            4084692443.png
            4084692443.png_thumb

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • A
              aleatorvb
              last edited by

              Was this over a pppoe or direct (dhcp/static ip/etc) wan connetion?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • B
                bplein
                last edited by

                This is a direct connection (GigE) to AT&T's on premises SOHO router, which uses DHCP to their central switch/office.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Are you both using the real Intel boards with Intel NICs?
                  I would expect >500Mbps throught that board. The D510 was shown to push 485Mbps.

                  Steve

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                  • B
                    bplein
                    last edited by

                    I am using the onboard NICs, yes, Intel (it's an Intel motherboard).

                    I do not know why my throughput is asymmetrical. If I plug straight into AT&T's router, I get 900+down and 600+up. There are lots of variables:

                    • 2 switch hops from my desktop to my pfSense router.

                    • I run NAT

                    • This is speedtest.net, not a straight test running ncat or other tools

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • M
                      messerchmidt
                      last edited by

                      you try 2.2 final on those boxes?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • A
                        aleatorvb
                        last edited by

                        I will upgrade all of them to 2.2 in the next few weeks and post the results here. As far as i know they work fine with 2.2

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • W
                          whitexp
                          last edited by

                          any news ?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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