Intel 8505 with 4xSFP+ 10Gb on Opnsense

[Weekly_Rush]

When researching to build/buy a new router for my homelab, I found the H14 Topton router, with an Intel 8505, 4x2.5Gb NIC and 0 to 4 SFP+ 10Gb. I plan to use Opnsense bare metal on it, and am hesitating with the 2 SFP+ or 4SFP+ versions (I don't know if the box can handle 4x10Gb?).

Since I use a ~8gb WAN, and that I plan to buy (1 to 3) MS-01 with 2xSFP+ ports (and/or the new MS-A2), do you think such router with an 8505 could route & filter 10gb traffic between LAN & WAN, and some inter-vlan traffic (some vlan com will need firewall rules)? I'll also have some computers/systems that'll use all the 2.5Gb ports.

I also consider using VPN (won't try to hit 10gb or even 2.5gb obviously, I only need something like 300-800mb/s), quite some fw rules, captive portal, DNS server, LDAP and maybe Suricata (if the box can handle, but I don't think so). For you, do the router can handle that with such CPU?

I am also hesitating with another version with an i7-13620H, however I doubt this is worth the money (regarding heat for example)?

 

[Weekly_Rush]

Any Intel 8505 user, or that have 10Gb network experience?

 

[Griffures]

Hello @Weekly_Rush , I am eyeing those products too, but I am worried about PCIE lane bandwidth. I shoot for 10Gb down + 10 Gb up in my use case.

Have you pulled the trigger for the purchase?

If so, would you mind running a " lspci -vvv" command and pasting the output there ? (similar to what those guys did in the N100 2x10 SFP+ thread).
And if not, do you have any general feedback on your quest ?

 

[louie1961]

Here's my concern with those devices. They advertise a PCIE 3.0x8 slot and says it is PCIE 3.0x4 optional. I have seen other pages where they worded it differently to say it is 3.0x8 physical and 3.0x4 electrical. If that the case the intel card will likely run at reduced speeds. The Intel X710 requires a PCI3.0x8 electrical connection. I would like to know for sure if it is an x8 or x4 slot before I pull the trigger

 

[Griffures]

Yeah, my point too. LSPCI should tell us that, right ?
So either we find someone who has such a machine to run the command on, or we try to get the info from the sellers.

I've tried the latter on AliExpress, but got no answer as of now.

 

[Dennisjr13]

I wonder if the 4x SFP+ option would be more power efficient than the 2x SFP+ option (ASPM support of X710 vs X520).