OPNsense Forum

English Forums => 24.7, 24.10 Legacy Series => Topic started by: HardTack5 on January 25, 2025, 01:55:36 AM

Title: Any benefit switching NIC from Intel 82571EB to Intel I350T4?
Post by: HardTack5 on January 25, 2025, 01:55:36 AM
Currently running a quad Intel 82571EB nic any benefit to switching it for an  I350T4 I have sitting around?

Thinking of trying Zenarmor

Firewall machine is a dedicated Intel i7 7600U with 24gb.

Supports a small home network on 1000/1000 fiber and around 18 client devices. No VPN.
Title: Re: Any benefit switching NIC from Intel 82571EB to Intel I350T4?
Post by: pfry on January 25, 2025, 03:28:42 AM
Only if you need/want the additional ports. (I probably would, but that's just me.) 3.5W vs. 5W - not much different there, either.
Title: Re: Any benefit switching NIC from Intel 82571EB to Intel I350T4?
Post by: HardTack5 on January 25, 2025, 06:23:50 AM
Quote from: pfry on January 25, 2025, 03:28:42 AMOnly if you need/want the additional ports. (I probably would, but that's just me.) 3.5W vs. 5W - not much different there, either.

They are both quad port so no change there. I bought the I350T4 specifically for the build but it never got installed.

Would swapping the NICs be a matter of reassigning the ports? (no need to move rules etc?) I have the built in NIC on the board configured as a MGMT port so I can go in and fix things after the swap. 
Title: Re: Any benefit switching NIC from Intel 82571EB to Intel I350T4?
Post by: nicholaswkc on January 25, 2025, 07:04:55 AM
If you want to process huge number of traffic.
Title: Re: Any benefit switching NIC from Intel 82571EB to Intel I350T4?
Post by: pfry on January 25, 2025, 07:59:01 AM
Quote from: HardTack5 on January 25, 2025, 06:23:50 AMThey are both quad port so no change there.
[...]
Would swapping the NICs be a matter of reassigning the ports? (no need to move rules etc?) I have the built in NIC on the board configured as a MGMT port so I can go in and fix things after the swap. 

Whoops! Failed to notice that - I don't think I've seen a quad 82571. The dual is 3.5W - you might save a couple watts with the i350. The higher PCI-e bandwidth shouldn't make any difference. Come to think of it, though, the 8257x had some driver quirks (bad setup parameters) that were patched in Linux (not by Intel), but I don't know that they made it to FreeBSD. Drove me nuts on Windows. But if your links are not flaky, it should be fine.

On a configured system? I think you have it right... but I haven't done it, so don't bet on it on my recommendation.
Title: Re: Any benefit switching NIC from Intel 82571EB to Intel I350T4?
Post by: HardTack5 on January 25, 2025, 11:09:27 AM
Quote from: pfry on January 25, 2025, 07:59:01 AM
Quote from: HardTack5 on January 25, 2025, 06:23:50 AMThey are both quad port so no change there.
[...]
Would swapping the NICs be a matter of reassigning the ports? (no need to move rules etc?) I have the built in NIC on the board configured as a MGMT port so I can go in and fix things after the swap. 

Whoops! Failed to notice that - I don't think I've seen a quad 82571. The dual is 3.5W - you might save a couple watts with the i350. The higher PCI-e bandwidth shouldn't make any difference. Come to think of it, though, the 8257x had some driver quirks (bad setup parameters) that were patched in Linux (not by Intel), but I don't know that they made it to FreeBSD. Drove me nuts on Windows. But if your links are not flaky, it should be fine.

On a configured system? I think you have it right... but I haven't done it, so don't bet on it on my recommendation.

Sounds like no downsides. I'll swap it out during the next outage window (lol).