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    Is this good enough?

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    • P
      pfs last edited by

      Hi,

      I am planning to use my old Pentium 4 3.2Ghz box with 3 GB of RAM to install pfsense. I will be getting 2 Intel Pro 1000 Gigabit nics.

      I read somewhere that the PCI bus might be a bottle neck. If this is so, how do I find out what speed the PCI bus is running at - and what speed should it be? Is there a Windows program that can show me this? ( the box currently has Vista on it)

      Is this system fast enough to handle my 25 Mbps internet connection ?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • K
        kejianshi last edited by

        It can work but pentium 4 is reaching my limit of power hungry vs. utility these days.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • D
          DeLorean last edited by

          I have tested pfSense on different older hardware :

          Pentium 3 @ 600Mhz / 512Mb Ram / with 2x PCI Realtek Gigabit NIC's
          Pentium 4 @ 3.4Ghz / 1Gb Ram/ 2x PCI Realtek Gigabit NIC's
          Pentium E2140 @ 1.6Gb / 2Gb Ram/ 2x PCI Realtek Gigabit NIC's
          Pentium E2140 @ 1.6Gb / 2Gb Ram/ 2x Pci Express Realtek Gigabit NIC's
          Pentium E6550 @ 2.33Gb / 2Gb Ram/ 2x PCI Realtek Gigabit NIC's
          Pentium E6550 @ 2.33Gb / 2Gb Ram / 2x Pci Express Realtek Gigabit NIC's

          Internet connection is 200Mbps / 12Mbps

          Even with the Pentium 3 and PCI NIC's i get a speed of 150Mbps without any problems,
          so for your purpose, a 25Mbps it won't be a problem  ;)

          The only downside is your power consumption that will be easy arround 70a80Watt,
          for that reason i have build a more friendly system :

          Asrock D1800M (intel Celeron J1800 @ 2.4Ghz)
          2Gb DDR3 Ram
          2x Pci Express Realtek Gigabit
          pfSense 2.2.2 embedded on a USB 3.0 Pen drive

          Total power consumption is now arround 19 a 21Watt  :)

          grtz
          DeLorean

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          • H
            heper last edited by

            @DeLorean:

            The only downside is your power consumption that will be easy arround 70a80Watt,
            for that reason i have build a more friendly system :

            Asrock D1800M (intel Celeron J1800 @ 2.4Ghz)
            2Gb DDR3 Ram
            2x Pci Express Realtek Gigabit
            pfSense 2.2.2 embedded on a USB 3.0 Pen drive

            Total power consumption is now arround 19 a 21Watt  :)

            grtz
            DeLorean

            i gots a  P4@2.40GHz  running pfsense and it only uses 35-40W. i was thinking of buying a low power system before, but now the P4 will stay aslong as it lives ….
            yes i could save like 30wh ( or around €65 / yr). but by the time it starts paying off there will be systems running on 3w idle. so its pointless (for me)

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            • D
              DeLorean last edited by

              i gots a  P4@2.40GHz  running pfsense and it only uses 35-40W.

              Is that a Socket 478 cpu ?

              Grtz
              DeLorean

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              • P
                pfs last edited by

                Hi Everyone,

                Thanks for the replies. Would my setup be powerful enough to run Snort too ?

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • D
                  DeLorean last edited by

                  With your setup it is powerful enough to run all the packages that you like to install.

                  grtz
                  DeLorean

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                  • Jailer
                    Jailer last edited by

                    @pfs:

                    Hi Everyone,

                    Thanks for the replies. Would my setup be powerful enough to run Snort too ?

                    I'm running Snort and pfblockerNG on my pentium 4 2.4D and 1GB of RAM without issue but my connection is quite slow.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • H
                      heper last edited by

                      @DeLorean:

                      i gots a  P4@2.40GHz  running pfsense and it only uses 35-40W.

                      Is that a Socket 478 cpu ?

                      Grtz
                      DeLorean

                      no clue what the socket is, its an old Fujitsu-siemens pc i found gathering dust, 5yrs ago … i can't run too many packages on it because it only has 256mb of ram and i can't be bothered to waste money on it to buy more :)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • T
                        tgharold last edited by

                        My SFF refurbished Core2Duo system (Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz) only draws 38-40W idle and 55-65W under load.  Best part is that the box only cost about $85.  I paid more for the dual-port Intel NIC and the SSD.

                        I reached the same conclusion as others after pricing out the 10-25W systems.  The cost savings per year (at $0.12/kWh) weren't enough to pay for the higher cost of the compact systems.

                        The other factor is that with the SFF PC only being $85, I'm not as worried if it fails because I can get another.  Or even keep a spare on the shelf.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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