New PfSense Router

[PenguinMaster]

I am new to computer servers, and I was wondering what would make a good PfSense Router? I am looking to buy used hardware. I've heard of people flashing PfSense onto a Watchguard XTM 515. The total budget is no more than $200 unless it has awesome performance or its a great deal. My Internet connection is 940/880 Mbps.

[Gwersebe]

if get an actual rack server it is going to be very large and loud i would probably go with some sort of sff pc, you could pick up a dell optiplex for around $130 and a nic for another 50. This is a similar build to what wendell did over at level one techs. Hope this helps.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-OptiPlex-790-990-Intel-i5-Quad-SFF-or-DT-Windows-7-10-4GB-8GB-WiFi-PC/332719632837?hash=item4d77a2b1c5:rk:1:pf:0&var

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-OEM-I350-T4-PCI-Express-Four-RJ45-Gigabit-Ports-Server-Adapter-NIC/192554452742?epid=19019730820&hash=item2cd523c706:g:voQAAOSwXHxb0ox-:rk:2:pf:0

 

 

[PenguinMaster]

25 minutes ago, Gwersebe said:

if get an actual rack server it is going to be very large and loud i would probably go with some sort of sff pc, you could pick up a dell optiplex for around $130 and a nic for another 50. This is a similar build to what wendell did over at level one techs. Hope this helps.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-OptiPlex-790-990-Intel-i5-Quad-SFF-or-DT-Windows-7-10-4GB-8GB-WiFi-PC/332719632837?hash=item4d77a2b1c5:rk:1:pf:0&var

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-OEM-I350-T4-PCI-Express-Four-RJ45-Gigabit-Ports-Server-Adapter-NIC/192554452742?epid=19019730820&hash=item2cd523c706:g:voQAAOSwXHxb0ox-:rk:2:pf:0

 

 

I have a server rack, I need it to be rack-mountable. 

[Razor Blade]

PFsense will run on almost anything... If you're looking for a popular 1U solution, keep an eye out for Dell R210 II as it will offer a pretty good compromise of power consumption and capability while being in that $200 price range. It is still way...WAY overkill for just a router but it can open up to future possibilities. Don't forget to budget for a hard drive and rails as many retired servers will typically not come with those.

 

If you choose to go older enterprise gear route, don't bother with anything older than Xeon 5600 as once PFsense 2.5 releases your CPU will need support for AES instruction

 

[PenguinMaster]

@Electronics Wizardy Do you have any recommendations?

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 hours ago, Chickenfans said:

@Electronics Wizardy Do you have any recommendations?

If you want used rack hardware, id get something like a dell r210 or dell r210 ii( don't know exact prices). You get a lga 1156 or 1155 socket, and plenty of compute power for almost anything you could do.

 

only big disadvantage with this is the power consumption.

 

This one looks pretty good to me and plenty fast https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PoweEdge-R210-II-1x-Intel-Xeon-Quad-Core-E3-1240-3-30GHz-16GB-NO-HDD-IL/123565987495?hash=item1cc51b56a7:g:UMMAAOSwKIpV-uEJ:rk:1:pf:0

 

Put a ssd or two in for boot and your good to go.