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Comment by xanth | Hacker News Reader

Anyone have any OPNSense budget hardware recommendations?

N100 is an excellent chip to go for. I'm currently using a aliexpress special with a celeron n5105 chipset in it.. it works fine as well, but I'd opt for the N100 next time if I had to replace it.

Celeron N5105

CPU: Intel Jasper Lake Celeron Processor N5105, 4 core 4 threads,64 bit, 10nm, 2.0GHz up to 2.9GHz, 4M cache

GPU: Intel UHD Graphics GPU, 24EU, 450MHz up to 800MHz

Alder Lake N100

CPU: Intel Alder Lake Processor N100, 4 core 4 threads,64 bit, 10nm, Up to 3.4GHz, 6M cache

GPU: Intel UHD Graphics GPU, 24EU, Up to 750MHz

I bought a N100 model to run as my backup server (PBS etc) and its a cracker. Debian is so snappy on it.

Also running OPNSense (in a VM) on an N5105 from an AliExpress mini box, with four Ethernet ports. Thing gets hot though, passively cooled, but I put a fan on top of it.

Also runs another VM with some lightweight docker containers. Reliable little thing.

Would also go N100 if needed replacement.

N150 is on the way already. https://liliputing.com/at-least-four-mini-pcs-with-intel-n15...

I've recently found that the N5105 is cutting my HFC in half due to not being powerful enough to handle 1000/50 with IDP/IDS, so guess what I had to order to replace it :-D

looking forward to setting up the N100

Just to clarify, OPNsense is based on FreeBSD[0], not OpenBSD. But OpenBSD does indeed make a good router/firewall OS as mentioned by GP. :)

[0] https://opnsense.org/about/about-opnsense/

What performance are you looking for alternatively what's you (power) budget?

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