Celeron J1900 vs Atom N2800

Kittenrainbow

Hey Guys

First of all: I'm new to pfSense, and I'm new to this board: So hello everybody ;)
(and I'm not a native speaker ;))

I recently got a new fiber line at home which delivers 1Gbps symmetrically.
Of course, I'd be happy to use as much as possible of it, without spending a fortune.

I looked around and I could buy the following two boards:

Supermicro X10SBA, Quad-Core Celeron J1900, Dual Intel I210-AT Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports
Supermicro X9SCAA, Dual-Core Atom N2800, Intel 82574L dual-port Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports

So both have an Intel NIC, I heard that's important for performance.

Unfortunately, I did not find figures about the normal power consumption of those boards, but the CPUs have those specs:

J1900: 10W; 22nm, launched: Q4 2013
N2800: 6.5W; 32nm, launched Q4 2011

So personally I think that the N2800 is just too old, the J1900 is old as well but I think it's in the "ok-range".

Apart from using normal Internet, I plan on using site-to-site VPNs for ofsite-backup of my data and client-vpn for data-access when I'm not at home.

What would you do? Would you select one of those two boards or not?
What data-rate do you think I could achieve with those boards?
I am tending to the J1900, because it's newer.

Best regards
Kittenrainbow

Guest

Hello Kittenrainbow welcome,

Supermicro X10SBA, Quad-Core Celeron J1900, Dual Intel I210-AT Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports

Could be a solution. From where you are? USA, Germany, UK,…...
There are some interesting options out but really related to your country.
If you are in the USA, you could try out a well running and tested board with the same
CPU SoC but all in one together and ready to go.
Board only option
4 GB LAN Port ready to go with
5 GB LAN Port ready to go with

For sure if you are outside of the USA it would be perhaps coming on tax, shipment fee and other payings
on top and so this would be then not really the same cheap offer as you came from the USA.

Supermicro X9SCAA, Dual-Core Atom N2800, Intel 82574L dual-port Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports

Could also be running but there are other boards out at this days that would do the job much better.
SUPERMICRO A1SRI-2758F

So both have an Intel NIC, I heard that's important for performance.

Not vene and not really but more a driver support thing.

Unfortunately, I did not find figures about the normal power consumption of those boards, but the CPUs have those specs:

J1900: 10W; 22nm, launched: Q4 2013
N2800: 6.5W; 32nm, launched Q4 2011

For sure interesting but if you need a job to be done, I really would more keeping an eye on the
1 GBit/s Internet connection and the VPN throughout!
SUPERMICRO A1SRI-2758F

Apart from using normal Internet, I plan on using site-to-site VPNs for ofsite-backup of my data and client-vpn for data-access when I'm not at home.

At these days you should be really have a look on the Supermicro C2758 boards or the
SG-xxxx units from the pfSense store it selfs as I see it right they all comes with AES-NI
and Intel QuickAssist support and this are also really fast boards with 2, 4 and 8 core CPU
SOCs that matching all criteria.

What would you do?

At these days and if the money is there I would be running a SG-8860, 1U C2758 or XG1540
unit from the pfSense store. If money is rarely I would go with the Supermicro C2758 board
8 GB till 16 GB ECC RAM and a SSD for sure together with the M350 or Supermicro SC101i
mini ITX case or a cheaper unit from the pfSense store like the SG-4860 but not less.
SUPERMICRO A1SRI-2758F

Would you select one of those two boards or not?

I personally would not go with any of this boards, and I am also be willing to tell
you why. If there is a board that is matching 100% of my needs and it should be
really long time running, without any bottleneck or other issues I would really have
a look to the most wanted board or unit and go with this, ok I have to pay more money
bit since the last years I was not one times then angry about that things don´t run like
I was expecting or willing!

What data-rate do you think I could achieve with those boards?

Perhaps with both 1 GBit/s WAN throughput or routing but if then something
comes on top it would be perhaps really lame.

I am tending to the J1900, because it's newer.

Then more the Jetaway that is fully 100% compatible to the pfSense. ;)
Or the SUPERMICRO A1SRI-2758F

Kittenrainbow

Hey and thank you for your (long) answer! =)

I didn't know about Intel QuickAssist, so I'm really thankfull that you told me about it.
I live in western europe (really close to germany) so I can't buy the suggested mainboard from amazon (well I could, but it wouldn't be cheap ;))

I think I'll go with the SUPERMICRO A1SRI-2758F, because I can order it really easy and it seems to be powerful. Also I think I should have some RAM laying around for it ;)
I also thought about installing pfSense in a VM (I plan to get a Hyper-V server sooner or later) but decided against it, because I want to be able to fiddle on the Hyper-V without disturbing the internet access.

Thank you for your help!
Kittenrainbow

Guest

Hey and thank you for your (long) answer! =)

My english is not so wellformed and there fore I need often to drop more lines then others
to say or explain the same. ::)

I didn't know about Intel QuickAssist, so I'm really thankfull that you told me about it.

This will become more and more important for the future, but good good to know long time before
if you want to go really future proof.

I live in western europe (really close to germany) so I can't buy the suggested mainboard from amazon (well I could, but it wouldn't be cheap ;))

There fore I was asking you from where you are, shipping fee and tax often makes some things unreliable
for us in Europe, but in the USA or Canada it is a cheap offer.

I think I'll go with the SUPERMICRO A1SRI-2758F, because I can order it really easy and it seems to be powerful.

I think it is really good and also for a longer time period of usage. You can go either with some different
mini ITX cases or by using a 1U rackmount case, like you need it.

Also I think I should have some RAM laying around for it ;)

On www.servethehome.com was a test with non ECC RAM and there where really
often problems seen with the non ECC RAM, so I will suggest that you are using the
DDR3L 1600MHz 1.35V ECC RAM SO-DIMM modules.

I also thought about installing pfSense in a VM (I plan to get a Hyper-V server sooner or later) but decided against it, because I want to be able to fiddle on the Hyper-V without disturbing the internet access.

In really great network environments this would be really a good choice.
The SG-xxx units from the pfSense shop would be also really great
and with support not so far away from the self made price.

jahonix

You can find your local pfSense partners here with the select partners selling pfSense/Netgate hardware as well.

grdk

I've built my new pFsense box, using the Jetway JBC200F9N-E4IN-B (5 port Intel). It was an easy build, as you only had to install RAM and hard drive/SSD.

I'm not sure how to run network tests, but for my 300/20 connection, it is fine without any problems.

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=97384.0