pfSense/OPNsense Hardware question

I’m playing with the idea of building a pfSesne/OPNsense firewall again. Given the fact I don’t want to waste too much space I’d like to make an ITX build.

From this list of boards, are there any particular boards you’d recommend or explicitly not recommend?
https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbson&sort=bew&xf=3323_2018~4400_Mini-ITX

I’m not quite sure which one to pick. Since it’s supposed to run 24/7 it should be power efficient. And while I prefer AMD to Intel, it seems that Intel’s CPUs in this sector are better.
I’d probably also prefer use a board with DDR3 slots, since I have a couple DDR3 sticks lying around.

In order to get WiFi I thought about purchasing the Ubiquity airMax airCube


Usually, there are roughly 10 devices in my WLAN. Also, I don’t have any (real) WiFi connection in my garden (two devices can connect to the WiFi, but I don’t really get an Internet connection.). So, if there is some way to determine the transmission power of such a device, I’d be grateful :slight_smile:

If it has to be from this list, I would choose the Supermicro.

https://geizhals.eu/supermicro-a2sav-l-retail-mbd-a2sav-l-o-a1806488.html?hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=eu&hloc=pl&hloc=uk

It has the igb Intel NICs and two of them, so no need for PCI-E adapter.

The airCube can also work as a router, You could also consider the Edge Router X if You do not need anything specific in pFSense.

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That screams AM1. Or look for something like the PC Engines APU.2C4.

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It doesn’t have to be from this list, it only serves as a reference point.

Personally, I was thinking along the lines of something like the GA-E3800N or the ASRock J4105-ITX.
The first one has DDR3 and is rather cheap, but the second one is passively cooled (and has DDR4 :frowning: ).
While the Supermicro does look nice it is more expensive than purchasing a PCIe card.
The CPU should support AES of course, because it will be mandatory for pfSense 2.5 and following. (Even if I install OPNsense, AES would be nice because I’ll probably tunnel some traffic through my VPN).

Indeed. I have the ASRock QC5000M-ITX/PH on my radar too :wink:

Concerning my Wi-Fi AP:
I also thought about purchasing this one, because of its MU-MIMO capabilitie:
https://www.edimax.com/edimax/merchandise/merchandise_detail/data/edimax/global/wireless_routers_ac2600/rg21s/.