Hardware for OPNsense firewall

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colinb

Member
Jul 19, 2022
43
3
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Posted this on Networking, but now thinking it better fits here. @mods please redirect, merge, or delete one of the threads as you see fit. Sorry!

I need some advice on which hardware to buy for an OPNsense firewall, upstream of a Brocade ICX6610 - so 10G or 40G backbone available. Current WAN is 1Gbps, but that may well go up in future

Its for domestic use, four people, Wireguard in/out to VPS, running OPNsense, Crowdsec, and probably ZenArmor too. Options are below, RAM and SSD all near-enough the same that they're not parameters in this decision. Bang-for-buck and power efficiency are, though.
  1. m720q with 8100T - £170
  2. m70q with 10300T - £200ish
  3. Acer Aspire XC-1660 with 11400 - £300ish
  4. m70qG2 with 11400T- £300ish
  5. P350 with 11500 - £475
  6. m70qG3 with 12100T -£530
  7. neo50s with 12400 - £590
Which would you go for, and why?
 

Sean Ho

seanho.com
Nov 19, 2019
768
352
63
Vancouver, BC
seanho.com
m720q with cheap I340/350-T2 for gigabit. If/when you get 2.5/5GbaseT from your ISP, swap in a CX312 or similar, plus ipolex or similar 10GbaseT transceiver (not all sync with NbaseT). Remember to keep some cooling on the NIC.