KBN-I/2100 VS MSI AM1I + AMD Athlon 5150
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Hello all thanks for checking out my post.
This will be my first foray into pfsense. Found what I thought were a few good deals last week with the intent of expanding my home lab. Bought the KBN-I/2100 when it went on sale for a pfsense box and then a couple days later the MSI board went on sale so grabbed it also. When I purchased them It was before I had the time to read up on pfsense and now realize how much pfsense can do ie VPN, squid yada yada. Originally thought I'd be running a dedicated OpenVPN server as I'm doing currently but looks like this service can be rolled into pfsense box.
Since I will be learning / experimenting as I go I'm starting to lean towards using the MSI build for the pfsense box to allow for more headroom / bandwidth. I've read the pfsense hardware recommendations and when also factoring in services it becomes a bit hazy for me since I've never used pfsense. The home server I have now will most likely become my Lab box running CentOS KVM host setting up client services to learn.
When I boil it down I really only need a file server for home use which I believe either of the new builds could handle with ease (although both are a bit limited on sata connections and would need an adapter). If the KBN-I/2100 build can handle the below described use case using pfsense then I'd use the MSI build as my home virtual server with some headroom. If it can't and I use the MSI build for pfsense then I'd still be in good shape for NFS server with KBN build with option to buy another MSI board (since they are still on sale at Fry's) and possibly craigslist the KBN board.
Initially would like to have pfsense firewall, VPN and try to filter out as much advertising as possible from web content.
Sorry to make a short story long but guess the real question for me is if the KBN-I/2100 build will be able to handle my home use scenario? Would be nice to not have to think about rebuilding it for awhile.
Recently purchased parts:
KBN-I/2100 ($17)
MSI AM1I ($8) + AMD Athlon 5150 ($29)
Intel PRO/1000 PT ($45)
4gb DDR3 ($17) Same memory that's in current Debian 8 server.I'm currently running:
Debian 8 as KVM Host and (2) VM guests NFS and OpenVPN
Actiontec MI424WR Router Download: 175 Mbps Upload: 15Mbps
(2) Workstations, (2) Laptops, (3) Htpc's, (2) Phones and/or Tablets but could easily go up to (10) when family/friends are over. Streaming 1080p from home server and internet.
Connecting to home network when out in the "wild" with VPN. May be as many as 5 clientsCurrent home server:
Amd Athlon 615e
MSI 785GM-E51
16GB DDR3
4TB HDD
120 GB SSD (Debian 8)Thanks for taking the time to read through all of this. I know this question probably has no definitive answer, but hopefully someone who has a similar use case can weigh in.