Zotac ZBOX CI323 nano
-
Yeah let me know if 16GB worked. I ordered 8 only although it does not makes sense to me that 2013 release was 16gb and 2015 is 8gb.
The cpu spec sheet says it support 8gb but maybe it will work. Let me know.btw even 2GB with pfesnes is enough providing you're not running packages. If 5-10 packages 4GB will suffice and 8gb is overkill but if you make a pc later then 16GB would be better obviously.
-
Yeah let me know if 16GB worked. I ordered 8 only although it does not makes sense to me that 2013 release was 16gb and 2015 is 8gb.
The cpu spec sheet says it support 8gb but maybe it will work. Let me know.btw even 2GB with pfesnes is enough providing you're not running packages. If 5-10 packages 4GB will suffice and 8gb is overkill but if you make a pc later then 16GB would be better obviously.
Will do, just ordered one.
2GB is ok for just networking (I almost forgot that this is a pfsense forum, but still this is a hardware specific thread).
But it is always good for stuff like webcaching, or if I turn it into desktop box (even just for browsing internet, 8gb is not enough for me these days), some developement box, or a backups storage server, where it will nicely act as a file system cache. Price difference is very small. This is why I would prefer 16GB a lot over 8GB.
-
First report - 16GB works just fine. I have put HyperX Impact (2x, 8GB, DDR3L-1600 (PC3-12800), SODIMM 204), product numebr HX316LS9IBK2/16
, and it shows as 16GB in BIOS/UEFI. Booted Linux and it shows 16GB in dmesg and in free. Done some tests in python on livecd, and I can use about 15GB until the process is killed (there are some other processes).Nice.
-
Quiet powerful. With Linux, frequency governor changes to performance, and no other tweaks, I am getting 900Mbps with NAT from eth0 to vlan11@eth1.Tested both way, but not at the same time, but the cpu usage looks ok. The IRQ load is crazy high, and ethtool shows no options for interrupts coalescing. :( With powersave frequency governor from time to time CPU usage would go to 80%, and some strange things would happen. With performance it is getting very low.
cores temps around 52,53,56,60 deg C, in a room of about 25 deg C.
The power supply is tiny, and is not hot at all.
Pretty impressive.
-
Quiet powerful. With Linux, frequency governor changes to performance, and no other tweaks, I am getting 900Mbps with NAT from eth0 to vlan11@eth1.Tested both way, but not at the same time, but the cpu usage looks ok. The IRQ load is crazy high, and ethtool shows no options for interrupts coalescing. :( With powersave frequency governor from time to time CPU usage would go to 80%, and some strange things would happen. With performance it is getting very low.
cores temps around 52,53,56,60 deg C, in a room of about 25 deg C.
The power supply is tiny, and is not hot at all.
Pretty impressive.
Sir, How about the power consumption of this unit? It was advertised with 6W consumption. How about pfsense running on it? It seems there are so many people waiting for this, it was sold out at Newegg yesterday, but they got some again in the afternoon.
-
@OK:
Using a good old analog VGA Monitor, everything worked like a charm. Using the memstick to run live or install to SSD.
The baby is now up and running, interfaces assigned, the VLANs work great (not like under the windows I had running, where the realtek driver looked like a pre-alpha PITA).
So happy !
The base config with 4 VLANs, manual outbound natting, proxyarp was setup in no time, I really start enjoying this.
Did you try to install Pfsense on ZBOX CI323 directly? Is it possible? Or only in hypervisor in Linux?
-
@OK:
Using a good old analog VGA Monitor, everything worked like a charm. Using the memstick to run live or install to SSD.
The baby is now up and running, interfaces assigned, the VLANs work great (not like under the windows I had running, where the realtek driver looked like a pre-alpha PITA).
So happy !
The base config with 4 VLANs, manual outbound natting, proxyarp was setup in no time, I really start enjoying this.
Did you try to install Pfsense on ZBOX CI323 directly? Is it possible? Or only in hypervisor in Linux?
I bought one of this ZBOX C1323 at eBay last week. I got a $15 off on Paypal so I just paid about $135 more. However, the RAM was purchased at Newegg and after a week now, the package is still on its way. Although, I received the ZBOX after three days, I can't make use at the moment. I should have bought it from Amazon to utilize my Prime account's 2 day delivery. It's my first time that Newegg failed to impress me. Usually, I get the package 3-4 days.
Same as you, I was also looking for some feedbacks regarding this ZBOX's performance using pfSense but I can't seems to find any here in the forum. What triggered me to get one like this was the reviews and feedbacks from Amazon.com and they are telling that this ZBOX is good for pfSense. Hopefully those reviews at Amazon were true.
I will post my views regarding this ZBOX once I get the whole unit together.
-
Did you try to install Pfsense on ZBOX CI323 directly? Is it possible? Or only in hypervisor in Linux?
Walked my father through installing Pfsense 2.3 on a CI323 earlier today over the phone. Just set the BIOS to legacy and installed everything off the USB stick to a 60GB SSD. The wireless card that came with the unit doesn't show up not that I expected it to or cared about it.
-
Just ordered a Zotac CI323 based on the opinions in this thread. Been looking for a suitable dual-nic mini PC to replace my existing netbook+usb ethernet dongle setup for a while now; the Zotac appears to tick all the boxes. :)
-
Picked one up myself, threw 16GB of RAM (Crucial CT2KIT102464BF160B 16GB Kit DDR3-1600 MT/s 204-Pin SODIMM) in it and a PNY 120GB SSD. So far so good. This is my first go around with a production install of pfSense so I cant speak on much previous experience, but I was able to get it installed without issue on the Zotac CI323 and it seems to be working great (as others have stated, I used the legacy bios setting and wireless card was not detected). I haven't run it under heavy load yet (snort, heavy traffic), but I also haven't seen CPU higher than bouncing to around 10% averaging next to no usage. Also not much of a true test, but a quick online speed test shows full bandwidth 110Mbps/12Mbps with a few firewall rules. So far I'm really happy with the purchase.
-
I placed an order for one today as well. It looked like the wifi card was replaceable, so knowing that the Intel module wouldn't work, I also picked up Atheros 9280 and 9287 modules to try. Will round it out with a 4GB Kingston DDR3L stick and a 40GB Intel 320 Series SSD. Pretty excited to see how it does. It'll be overkill for the 50mbps line it's going to eventually, but I'm certainly going to test it on my gigabit links first. :)
-
XFN,
Please do share your test results. I've been meaning to pull the trigger for a while now but need a bit more convincing :)
I'm specifically interested in how close you get to 1gbit with OpenVPN now that the Celeron 3000 series supports AES-NI. Knowing about how well that wireless card works won't hurt either.
-
Well setback #1…the wifi card isn't standard half miniPCIe. It is a NGFF (m.2) 2230 slot. Those are...pretty rare. I found the Dell DW1537 that is Atheros based that appears to be that form factor, but it's not clear what Atheros chip it's actually using.
-
Observations/notes so far:
1. The Realtek NIC drivers are not stable on this system running 2.2.6-x64. I avoided 2.3 due to the reports of Atheros being more stable in 2.2.6, but it's possible that the NICs are better behaved in 2.3 or in 2.3.1. What would happen is reX watchdog timeout and a traffic hang a few seconds after pushing max throughput through the NIC. Forcing both NICs to 1000FD + flowcontrol + master (as seen here: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=101587.0) seems to solve it, as does forcing 100FD.
2. The throughput tops out at about 600mbps in either direction. Could also be a Realtek driver issue. The CPU load is about 30%.
3. The Dell DW1707, in NGFF m.2 form factor using an E keying and a 1630 size, is detected by pfSense. It uses the Atheros AR9565 chip. I have not yet tried connecting a client to it in hostap mode, but it took the configuration w/o complaint.
4. The system varies between 9 and 10 watts at idle, headless, with PowerD enabled. Using a 4GB stick of Kingston 1600MHz DDR3L and a 40GB Intel 320 series SSD. -
I just got the ci323 nano as well with 8GB, and pfSense 2.3 installed on it without a hitch, and is very stable.
The wireless chip it uses is AC3160 (which was not specified by Zotac). This chipset is not recognized by 10.3 freeBSD yet, and therefore, neither does pfSense.
My understanding is that the AC3160 will be supported via iwm in the 11.0 release, which is due out in September 2016.
Has anyone tried porting the driver? Any modules to share? ;)
I suspect I am not the first one to run into this issue…
-
I just got the ci323 nano as well with 8GB, and pfSense 2.3 installed on it without a hitch, and is very stable.
Are the NICs stable when pushing >500mbps though them for extended periods? I found they were fine at low throughput, but died when pushing them hard in 2.2.6 unless the negotiation was forced to 1000FD+flowcontrol+master. It would be great if 2.3 somehow resolved this issue.
Even if the AC3160 is supported in 11, it likely won't work as an access point. If that's important to you, you can replace the card as I did and use it now.
-
I am not pushing my router that hard! So, I have not experienced the issue personally.
-
Forgive me if this is a basic question…...
I'm considering getting the ZBOX CI323 nano, but I'm wondering if it's overkill for my situation....
I have a 320 mbps down / 20 mbps up connection from my current router with a 10 - 14 ms ping. It is a D-Link DIR-836L router with gigabit WAN/LAN ports that I recently bought for $28.99 CAD from Staples on clearance.
I have a layer 2 switch attached to the router (the only device connected to it) and Ubiquiti Access Points for wireless, so I'm assuming all LAN communication (media streaming from Plex) is done without involving the router (layer 3).
So other than the advanced features available with PfSense, will I see a raw performance increase in my WAN connection? Is cached data the secret here? Are there other metrics I'm missing?
-
Power consumption is highjer than PCEngines APU2.
Zotac ZBOX CI323 nano at idle - 8.9W. (two Ethernet cables plugged in, no wifi enabled, display port output enabled, and keyboard connected).
PCEngines APU2C4 - 5.7W (but this is with only one Ethernet card active right now. Other ones not plugged in. No wifi cards. Just the sata express SSD)
-
Is anyone experiencing issues with PPPoE dying on these boxes?
Every so often, usually overnight, the PPPoE connection will drop and the box will continually attempt redialing, with no success. It's not until I halt the box and turn it back on (restarting doesn't resolve the issue) that it dials successfully (and on the very first dial after booting).I've got a 40 Mbps down/2 Mbps up VDSL2 connection from my ISP. It's not the ISP or other hardware - while the Zotac is having problems dialing, I can disconnect it from the modem, plug my laptop into the modem, dial successfully from the laptop, reconnect Zotac to modem and it continues failing to dial.
VDSL modem is connected to re0.
This seems to happen every 3-5 days or so, at random.
I've attached log files from May 4th - it also occured last night, but the information in the log files is identical.
The first text file shows the log while the box is failing to dial - the 25 lines displaying keep repeating over and over, ad infinitum.
The second text file shows a successful dial immediately after booting back up (IP address etc censored).So far I have tried disabled powerd, and for unrelated reasons I have changed the VDSL modem, but it still keeps displaying this fault.
20160504_pfsense_hazza_zotac-pppoe-failure.txt
20160504_pfsense_hazza_zotac-pppoe-success.txt
