Linksys Router Vs. Homebrew?

[AtomicFire]

Currently I run a linux router for my NAT needs...though to keep costs and electricity bills down, I want to get a Linksys router THIS ONE.

Current router computer - I know its overkill, but it was an extra computer and it folds a lot:
Coolermaster 550 Watt power supply
Dual Athlon MP 2000+
1GB ECC Registered RAM
Quantum 36gig u160 10k RPM hard drive
2xGigabit NIC's

How do these Linksys routers hold up to P2P abuse? I had a D-Link router at home and when I ran apps that used lots of connections like BitTorrents and such, the router would just take a crap and freeze. Same thing happened to me here at school with a NetGear router until I switched to a Linux router. Next year i'm sharing an apartment with 3 other people, all who use a lot of P2P apps and i'm wondering if this Linksys router will be able to handle it.

Whether or not they hold up well is good if they don't, I have an excuse to build a Micro-ITX Via computer to do dedicated routing (they pull less than 60 watts) but if the Linksys router is expected to hold up, then I can get all LInksys equiptment (router, switch, AP, etc...) and stack them in a nice neat pile. Don't ask, i'm just like that...

EDIT:
Its decided, i'm going to build a Linux router with a MicroITX computer. thanks for the help.

 

[dx2]

Linksys WRT54G....with linux firmware and you will be good to go. Not to mention you can put that "router" to better use.

 

[Nate7311]

Let's put it this way... You have an excuse to build your Mini-ITX Box. The basemodel routers from ANY brand rarely hold up to 1 PC running P2P proggies. Let alone 4 of them creating a massive amount of NAT translations. Now, if you went with a WRT54G Ver.4 and the Sveasoft or DD-WRT firmware, you stand a better chance on an appliance-type platform.

But my vote goes to your Mini-ITX plan with either Smoothwall or M0n0Wall/PFSense.

 

[ndruw]

Current router computer - I know its overkill, but it was an extra computer and it folds a lot:
Coolermaster 550 Watt power supply
Dual Athlon MP 2000+
1GB ECC Registered RAM
Quantum 36gig u160 10k RPM hard drive
2xGigabit NIC's

yes, very overkill - would make a nice server though

I have an excuse to build a Micro-ITX Via computer to do dedicated routing (they pull less than 60 watts)

yea, I would go with the mini-itx idea, but I suggest not using the onboard Ethernet - I hear it's kinda slow and causes high CPU load on the Epia's

then I can get all LInksys equiptment (router, switch, AP, etc...) and stack them in a nice neat pile. Don't ask, i'm just like that...

lol - OCD FTW

 

[bob]

I had p2p going with 15 downloads at once... my 3Mb connection was maxed out. Then all of a sudden I lost internet connectivity, and the web-gui for my router was loading as if I had a 300 baud modem. that happened 3 times to me in one afternoon, so I cut back to 3 downloads.

Belkin F5D72030-4 ap/router. I bought it to use as an access point, but its my router now .

if your concerned about your electric bill, grab a 486/586 and run www.freesco.org, I was going to do that, but I couldnt find an old PC that was cheaper than my router, goodwill/thrift stores wanted like 40-90 bucks for OLD pcs...

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

How do these Linksys routers hold up to P2P abuse?

Most of the home grade routers do horrible with those P2P apps...they demand the routers to keep track of too many concurrent connections. If you don't believe me..spend a few minutes on this forum searching...or a few more minutes on Google...you'll see constant complaints from people download.."stuff" with P2P and resetting routers all the time.

 

[Xipher]

yea, I would go with the mini-itx idea, but I suggest not using the onboard Ethernet - I hear it's kinda slow and causes high CPU load on the Epia's

I haven't had any problems myself, using the dual onboard eth. Haven't noticed any problem with cpu usage, and it can handle every thing I have thrown at it.

 

[ndruw]

I haven't had any problems myself, using the dual onboard eth. Haven't noticed any problem with cpu usage, and it can handle every thing I have thrown at it.

really? is this on a particular linux distro? (im planning on building something like this too, cept maybe integrating a mail/web server into it too)

 

[HHunt]

I handle an 8Mb/800kb aDSL connection with at times heavy torrent traffic and NAT on a P2-300, 256Mb ram, 2x old 10Mbit network cards, and monowall. A computer like you're planning could probably route a Gbit connection and host a few game servers on the side.
And another thing: For a router, you want a slow, quiet, cheap HD. It'll only spin when it boots or you change the settings, anyway. (A CF to IDE adapter is a good alternative.)

Adding folding to the mix changes things a bit, of course. For one thing, you can't use most of the routing-specific distros, and the HD might not be allowed to spin down either.
I would actually recommend dedicating a much cheaper computer to routing for those reasons.

 

[Xipher]

really? is this on a particular linux distro? (im planning on building something like this too, cept maybe integrating a mail/web server into it too)

Currently running Slackware. I am thinking about moving to OpenBSD this summer though, but that's simply so I can get a bit more accustomed too PF (plus the QoS syntax with pf seems simpler then Linux)

 

[HHunt]

While OpenBSD is nice and secure and all, I'd recommend using FreeBSD instead unless you're already familiar with OpenBSD. It's a good bit friendlier to set up, and uses the same version of pf.

 

[Xipher]

While OpenBSD is nice and secure and all, I'd recommend using FreeBSD instead unless you're already familiar with OpenBSD. It's a good bit friendlier to set up, and uses the same version of pf.

I have been using OpenBSD since 3.4, just not as my firewall.

 

[HHunt]

I have been using OpenBSD since 3.4, just not as my firewall.

Then by all means keep using it.