Sorry if I seem kinda all over the place but i recently came across some free money :) (500$) and have been wanting to play with one of these systems for a while (pfsense / mini-itx)

You could go with other hardware also if you want to assemble it by your own for sure and also
really powerful if you want to run many packets, a full UTM device. $500 seems to be right as I
see it right.

i will just throw a hypervisor on it

ok this might be a solution for sure, but please I don´t know why this must be done with a 64 Watt CPU!?
I don´t know from where you are (country) but over 5 years you will spend much more money for the entire
power consuming and for this money you could be getting now a more powerful self made appliance that is
saving then on top this money, but with also much power.

I am actually setting this stuff up to get away from black box solutions

Perhaps owed to my small english language skills, what you mean with black boxes?

at this point after seeing some of the performance some are getting with even less hardware than
i am planning.

Did you really see this or was it only based on forum or Internet talks?

So if you think that the pfSense team is only tune or pimp up their own sold hardware
this might be, but they have also no other chance to do other things! Please don´t forget this.

From where they should know our hardware before? But the hardware they are selling is also
to push the entire pfSense project and it is also very risky for them. Because all peoples could
now thinking that they (the pfSense team) is now making a lot of money and all spendings and
donations will be went back or break in.

And as you was stated you will try to start in time the Netgate 4860 might be a really win for you
without any pain and 100% supported by pfSense.

And this boards or units will be combine the best from both worlds as I see it right,
the three miniPCIe & SIM slots from the PC Engines APU series and the powerful Intel
Atom C2000 SoC form Intel. No other one sells boards with this combination!

Supermicro A1SRi-2558F ~280 €
Kingston Value ECC RAM 2 x 4 GB ~50 €
M350 case ~50 €
SSD 120 GB ~110 €
picoPSU-160-XT + 192W Adapter Power Kit ~90 €
perhaps free shipping
in total 580 €

Is nearly the same as the Netgate 4860, but without the miniPCIe & SIM slot
and also without the eMMC storage, drawing more power and not an ADI image
that is ready to take for. No mSATA or wireless option nor modem with SIM slot.

So $553 for an Netgate 4860 is not so high in price as I see it real. Ok perhaps you are from
the USA and can get your hands on the one or other part cheaper then me here in Germany
for sure, but compared to the SG or Netgate units a self made box is not cheaper to get.

Appreciate the post

http://store.netgate.com/ADI/RCC-VE-4860.aspx

• TDP 15 Watt
• 4 Intel LAN Ports (supported)
• 3 miniPCIe & SIM Slot
• AES-NI & Intel QuickAssist

http://www.e-itx.com/m350-h170m-itx-ac.html

• TDP 64 Watt
• 2 LAN Ports Dual LAN (Intel I219V + Realtek RTL8111H)
  How well or are this ports are supported in pfSense?
• 1 miniPCie half high slot with 1 Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi
  Is this able to change because ac WiFi isn´t supported now in pfSense
• AES-NI only
  AES-NI is good for IPSec VPN but not for OpenVPN but this could be speed up together with intel QuickAssist

I am wondering if i am missing something here but with the performance on the core i5 6500 vs the atom on the netgate,

If you will only compare the power itself it could be better to go with the Intel Core i5-6500 together with
8 GB DDR4-2133 RAM. But this was it then in my eyes.

i would think the asrock with true i5 would have way more headroom

For sure, but you will on top getting also more unknown numbers that no one is able to answer
at this time!!! And this might be also very important to build a powerful firewall.

• Is the BIOS making any problems or is it compatible to pfSense?
• Is the miniPCIe WiFi card able to change or is it BIOS locked?
• Are the Intel i219V and the RealTek LAN Ports supported by pfSense?
• Is it wise to compare a 15W CPU against a 65W CPU???
  (over 5 years you can save the money to drive or buy a SG-8860 or C2758)
  What kind of set up you are want to use, firewall, firewall & IDS (Snort) or built a fully UTM device?

than the netgate and they are about the same price (same ram, similar storage, etc)

The Netgate unit is the same hardware as the SG-xxxx units from the pfSense store, but they are 100%
fully compatible with pfSense, came with a pre-installed, configured and tuned pfSense image or there
is an image available that matches 100% the hardware given options from ADI.

Just making sure i am not missing some incompatibility with something or doing something that would be a mistake?

It can be that it matches 100% and you are the lucky one, but on the other side it can also failure on
all edges and corners and then you will be owning a powerful "lame duck" related to pfSense.

and have been wanting to play with one of these systems for a while (pfsense / mini-itx)

Then go for the Netgate 4860 unit! Buy on top a mini USB console cable and you might be read to go!
ADI has pre-tuned and pimped images for this unit and you might be able to do a full install on the eMMC
storage from a USB pen drive. And all for $553 & shipment fee.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128871

also found that purchasing all of this a la carte makes more sense than buying direct from e itx.

Sounds like the intel NIC isn't the greatest, what am i giving up here.

I am really trying to plan for a gbit connect with PIA VPN running on pfsense.

although after messing around with configs now i am debating going i3 6100 an native or i5 6500 and running esxi underneath.

1 x  Intel I219V
1 x Realtek RTL8111H

The RTL8111H isn't supported by pfSense (yet).  If it makes FreeBSD 10.3 (it should) then this won't be a problem for long.
The I219 is OK, but not great.

If all you need is 2 Ethernet, you might want to look at the 2220