Looking for lower power alternative for PFSense...

B

BigBadAl

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
349
Hey all,

at present I`m running IPCop on an old Compaq Deskpro SFF box (733 or 866Mhz 512MB).:(

Now, up to now horsepower doesn`t seem to have been an issue and I set another similar box up with PFSense and quite like it so I`m planning to migrate to PFSense permanently (at some point).:eek:

So my question is regarding power consumption of something like a Intel D510MO With Integrated Intel Atom processor D510 Intel MN10 Chipset M-ITX Motherboard in comparison to my Compaq SFF.

I think I metered my IPCop at around 37 watts with my kill-a-watt type meter at one point, not 100% on that though....

Secondly, if I went for that board combo, it only has 1x PCI slot, so can I put one of those Intel PRO 1000 Dual port cards in there in this type of case... Antec ISK 300 Black Mini-ITX Case - With 65W PSU and not see any performance decrease/bottleneck between the two ports? I`d prob use the onboard NIC for my WAN and the two Intel Pro ports as my LAN and DMZ.

I have noted that that case only has a half-height expasion slot so I don`t think It would fit the quad port Intel in there so a dual port will do, that`s all I have now anyways (well two singles).:p

So any input/guidance/recomendations/pointers greatly appreciated.

For the time being, I thank you and Goodnight:D


Oh and can anybody shed any light on why Intel PRO/1000 MT Dual Port Server Adapters are FAR more expensive than just normal dual port Intel Pro 1000`s? or is it just in the name i.e server adapter?
 
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I just changed out a customer that was using an HP D530 desktop to a supermicro 1U half depth that has the Atom mobo inside.
dual Intel Gb lans, also has IPMI that works great, came with 2gb sodimm for $340 from Newegg.
super quiet (no fans) just had to pop in the HDD and install the OS (Untangle, but assume IPCop should also work great)
 
dbwillis said:
I just changed out a customer that was using an HP D530 desktop to a supermicro 1U half depth that has the Atom mobo inside.
dual Intel Gb lans, also has IPMI that works great, came with 2gb sodimm for $340 from Newegg.
super quiet (no fans) just had to pop in the HDD and install the OS (Untangle, but assume IPCop should also work great)
Click to expand...

I bet Supermicro ( newegg ) is selling TONS of these units / packages :)

Ill be getting one soon to, but my wish is to have the ports on the front instead of the rear!
 
dbwillis said:
I just changed out a customer that was using an HP D530 desktop to a supermicro 1U half depth that has the Atom mobo inside.
dual Intel Gb lans, also has IPMI that works great, came with 2gb sodimm for $340 from Newegg.
super quiet (no fans) just had to pop in the HDD and install the OS (Untangle, but assume IPCop should also work great)
Click to expand...

We had a similar install. Swapped out a very old netscreen for one of these Atom D525 setups with 4GB of RAM. We actually ended up putting Microsoft 2008 R2 and TMG on it instead of Untangle or pfSense as with our SPLA licensing it was much cheaper.

Thing runs like a champ with 40 users behind it and some pretty heavy filtering including gateway AV. When we purchased our first one as a concept we threw it on our 10/10 line and tried to max it out. Eventually we got there, but it took quite a lot.
 
dbwillis said:
I just changed out a customer that was using an HP D530 desktop to a supermicro 1U half depth that has the Atom mobo inside.
dual Intel Gb lans, also has IPMI that works great, came with 2gb sodimm for $340 from Newegg.
super quiet (no fans) just had to pop in the HDD and install the OS (Untangle, but assume IPCop should also work great)
Click to expand...

Any chance you could post a link? That sounds like a perfect fit for someone I know.
 
Sorry to ressurrect this one, but the time has come....

My Intel Pro 1000 MT`s have arrived so it`s time to start squirrelling parts.

I have settled on the following stuff for varying reasons but mainly for cost (initial outlay and 24/7/365 running costs).

1) Intel Celeron 430 1.80GHz Socket 775 FSB800 512kb Retail Boxed Processor.

2) Asrock G41C-GS G41 Socket 775 GB LAN VGA Out 6 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard.

3) Corsair 2GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory Module Unbuffered.

4) Western Digital WD800BEVT 80GB 2.5" Hard Drive SATAII 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM Scorpio Blue.

Still need to find a small cheapo case but that`s the workings of it so far.

How would that lot handle untangle? if at all, if not then PFSense it is I think.

What size PSU would you all reccomend for that lot?

Last question, I should know this but..... When the detailed specs of a processor say Thermal Design Power - 35W that doesn`t necessarily mean that`s how much power will be seen drawn from the wall outlet via a kill-a-watt type meter does it? Or does it?

If this is the case I would be better off with the hardware I currently have as that draws around 37 watts (metered) now.

Let`s have it!

;):D
 
TDP is basically the maximum power that a chip would draw under load. So that means that under full load the processor + the cooler (assuming the intel stock one) will combined draw 35 watts from the wall. When the chip is not under load the system will draw less.

For that system a 250 or 300W supply would be more then enough to run.
 
C7J0yc3 said:
under full load the processor + the cooler (assuming the intel stock one) will combined draw 35 watts from the wall.
Click to expand...

Pretty much, with the exception that the load will be drawn from the power supply, no power supply is 100% efficient, you can expect more like 80% efficiency, so the load at the wall will be a bit higher. So you could expect that 35W to look more like 42W on the Kill-A-Watt.
 
iGamer said:
What was the total cost of your new box BigBadAI?
Click to expand...

Up to now, without case or PSU it`s around £117 - £120 (about $180 - $185).

I`ll get free shipping on it too

aaronearles said:
Pretty much, with the exception that the load will be drawn from the power supply, no power supply is 100% efficient, you can expect more like 80% efficiency, so the load at the wall will be a bit higher. So you could expect that 35W to look more like 42W on the Kill-A-Watt.
Click to expand...

Well with that said, I`m better off, running costs wise, with the setup I have now then.

My current 24/7 stuff:

APC CS350 UPS.
Cable modem (20/2).
Compaq SFF, 733Mhz, 512MB, 2GB CF, IPcop.
Compaq SFF, 866Mhz, 512MB, 60GB hdd, Local HAM Igate.
HP Procurve 1810G-24.
Buffalo Linkstation Quad 4x WD 1TB disks (2x RAID1`s) (no disk spin down :mad:).

That little lot pulls about 120-125 watts, now, if Buffalo got their thumbs out of their arses and released a firmware with some spin down options that`d be down to about 70 watts I reckon.

Anyway...... there doesn`t seem to be much point in upgrading so it will cost me more than it does now to run.

thanks
 
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