turning old pc into router?

[Jstagzsr]

ive been seeing a lot of videos lately about people who turned their old pc's into routers using opnsense.. what is the point? what it looks like is theres a ton more options and graphs and settings, most of which ill probably never touch, most of which i probably will never have a reason to even figure out what they are for.. if there any real benefit? My current router is a linksys wrt1900ac. i have a ton of pc's laying around that i could do this with.. i ran out of things to do with old pc's so i might do it just to sayi did it, but id like to know theres a point to it before i go through all that time..

the random pc's i have laying around:
2x amd single core amd athlon 64 3.x ghz 4 and 16gb ram
2x intel core 2 duo 2.x ghz. 4 and 9gb ram
1x i7-930 4core, 8 thread, 2.8ghz-3.06ghz. 12gb ram
1x amd phenom x6 3.x? ghz. 8gb ram
5x random intel single core systems
probably 50 random hdd's 2.5+3.5" 20gb-500gb

does more processing power equal more router performance? will this increase internet speed? what exactly are the pros and cons of using a pc turned router instead of my linksys router?

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

the point using old pc is to entend weak signal/ limited cables / special situation/ etc

 

here is a usb dongle that acts as wifi receiver OR router

https://wifi.360.cn/easy

although its rated 2 antenna 300mb/s A/b/g/n (non ac) , I can only get 150mb/s max

anyway its just 25 CNY ~ USD3.6, comes in handy for old pc

7 minutes ago, Jstagzsr said:

probably 50 random hdd's 2.5+3.5" 20gb-500gb

mining with HDD...??

[Jstagzsr]

1 minute ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

the point using old pc is to entend weak signal/ limited cables / special situation/ etc

 

here is a usb dongle that acts as wifi receiver OR router

https://wifi.360.cn/easy

although its rated 2 antenna 300mb/s A/b/g/n (non ac) , I can only get 150mb/s max

anyway its just 25 CNY ~ USD3.6, comes in handy for old pc

mining with HDD...??

yeah i live in a studio apartment. i have perfect full bars anywhere in my tiny apartment. lol. 110+ mbps on all devices at all times as is..

so there would be no real benefit to doing this then i take it..

and no ive never done any type of mining. i just have a million boxes of computer parts and random pc's ive picked up to build random projects or build pc's for people. i have like 12 monitors here too. lol. 50 keyboards. a bunch of cool gpu's. etc. i love technology. computers and phones specifically.

[APasz]

Generally speaking, if you don't know what something like opnsense or pfsense is, you don't need it.

 

Both of these OS's allow for extremely fine grained control over network traffic within and/or between networks depending on network configuration.

They are most useful as routers between modem and LAN where there is a high volume of traffic (especially time sensitive traffic).

The type of pc that most useful are ones that have plenty of NICs, be it through on-broad or PCIe cards.

 

As an access point. If you want to upgrade your current wifi, your time will be much better spent getting ready to go professional grade hardware, such as Ubiquiti or Cisco.

[Donut417]

6 hours ago, Jstagzsr said:

what is the point?

 

1) Enterprise grade options. PFsense has options you would find a business grade products. For those that need these options, this is the cheapest option to use to get them

 

2) Better security.

 

3) Flexibility. You build based on your needs. For example you have the options to use Ethernet, Direct attached copper or Fiber easily. A good example would be Comcast Gigabit Pro. This service is 2 Gbps symmetrical Fiber. The only way you will get the full 2 Gbps is to use the SFP fiber port on the Media converter they provide. Also most consumer routers suck at deal with Gigabit internet. The only places PFsense lacks is the fact it does not do internal switching well and it really isnt compatible with many WiFi cards, so you need to use a AP in order to get wireless. 

 

Most people who use PFsesne are either interested in learning how it works. Like tinkering with this type of stuff. OR need advanced features for a low cost.