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I'm glad you are making progress!
I'll try to spend some time this weekend trying to substitute my ER-Lite with OpnSense. I need to check how to do the iperf test -I'm not familiar with it.
I will be interested to see how the 2 builds compare -mainly around the 2 nics: expensive route vs dirty cheap :)

I couldn't get as far as replicating my existing configuration on OpnSense. I don't have anything fancy at the moment, other than a ton of static ip assignments on my DHCP and a VPN configuration.
Once I do that I would be able to test drive OpnSense and do these performance tests you are talking about.

I have 200Mbps at the moment, I'm planning to upgrade to 1Gbps in a couple of months.
My goals with this build were a) Proof one could make a decent router with these little boxes, I didn't find much about this (probably for a good reason, we will see :)) b) Learn on the cheap before I make any investment on a Qotom box (I got this pc from my company, the card and jumpers were ~$25 total, not bad at all).

I will probably upload some pictures after/when I clean it up a little bit.
My idea is to use the space on top of the existing NIC to secure the new one (image attached).
I have the new NIC all the way there, just need to cut the plate that came with it to fit on that spot.
Yesterday I ran the cable through that hole and connected it that way (I can honestly live with it, worst case scenario).

Thanks,
R. Rod

Reporting progress as promised:

I just finished installing OpnSense on the Dell Optiplex 780 USFF.
The pcie minicard NIC worked smoothly. The only inconvenience I found is that the cables the manufacturer included were not long enough. Also, the connectors are vertical and pose a challenge for the reduced space on the USFF box. It takes a little bit of work to make all fit nicely.

I used female-male jumpers and extended the cables.
The network interface is not yet secured to the back of the chassis but I was more interested in making sure that it everything was going to work fine.

Things I want to do:

• Upgrade the memory on the box
• Include an SSD to reduce noise and heat
• Learn more about OpnSense and understand my needs
• Measure power consumption

The little box is incredibly quiet (I haven't modified it at all).
For now, I went back to my trusty Edge R-Lite but I'm sure I'm going to have a blast learning about OpnSense and setting it up properly. I'm impressed so far with the number of features included by default.

Thanks,
R. Rod

Yes, makes sense.

Yeah, all I will be investing is ~$15 and I will have some fun for sure.
I def have plenty of projects for this little box if it turns out to be a pain to make a good OpnSense box out of it.

If either the Realtek I'm trying or your card works, I think spending a few $ on a 790 or 7010 might be something to consider (the CPUs on those do support AES-NI).

Thanks!
R. Rod

Great to read somebody else is on a similar boat.
I got this pc from my company today, I have been planning on buying a Qotom for my long-term router plans, but wanted to play around with this box in the meantime.
It is a bummer that the CPU doesn't support AES-NI, but I guess it will be fine for some time...

I think I'm going to take my chances with the cheap Realtek NIC, this would be an experimental build anyways.

I need to find the time to put this together, but I will try to keep this post updated with my findings.

Thanks and good luck with your project. Please share your results!

R. Rod.

Hello,

I got a Dell Optiplex 780 USFF (like https://www.amazon.com/Dell-OptiPlex-780-Desktop-32-Bit/dp/B00OI78CWO)  and I was planning to play around with it and put OpnSense on it.
It has an onboard Intel 82567LM nic and I was considering adding another one like this on the pcie mini card port it has on the board.
Something like: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B524102/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
The chipset on this is a Realtek 8168C.
Has anyone experienced with this pc before and/or with this nic?
I cannot find a similar nic with an Intel chipset...

Thoughts?
Thanks,
R. Rod

[Q355G4]

Thank you for your replies!
It is great to confirm Qotom works fine, I will try the thermal paste for sure. This will go on a small rack inside a closet, I will monitor the temperature very close, if needed I'm thinking https://www.acinfinity.com for the entire closet.

I see you are using Q355G4 which has a Bradwell    
Intel® Core™ i5-5250U Processor 3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz

Very similar in price Qotom has the Q515G6 which features a
Intel 7th Gen Celeron Kabylake SOC Processor,Default 3865U Dual Core Processor, 1.8GHz, 2M Cache
Link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/QOTOM-Q355G4-2017-New-fanless-X86-4-LAN-Micro-Computer-I5-5250U-Dual-core-onboard-1080P/32800711474.html

Should I go for the newer architecture?
Not that I think I need it, but the Q515G6 would support up to 16Gb, uses DDR4 and the board comes with 6 nics (again, 4 should be plenty).

I searched for Q515G6 on this forum but I couldn't find anything.

Thoughts?

Thanks again!
R. Rod

Hello,

After moving from a consumer grade all-in-one router to a Ubiquity Edgerouter in the last year, I'm not considering exploring one of the available open source router solutions and OpnSense is in the top of my list.

I would like to find the right hardware that better balances

• Power
• Power efficiency
• Cost

While cost is always important I'm willing to stretch my budget for the right hardware if it checks the first 2 items.
Ideally I want to buy something that I can play with and use for a few years to come; so having some room to grow is important.

These are the features I'll be shooting for:

• Future: VPN Client (Maximize bandwidth on a 1Gbps link)
• Future: VPN Server
• Future: IDS
• QoS

... and these are some of my preferences

• Small form factor (mini/micro ITX?)
• Passive cooling is preferred
• Dual nic is fine (3-4 would be nice to have)
• Intel nics
• Ability to handle 1Gpbs w/o maxing-out resources (future proof)
• Power efficient (not sure about what I should be shooting for here in terms of power consumption while idling vs full load, etc).
• Processor supports AES-NI

I have been watching those Qotom boxes but I'm not sure if there is anything else worth considering, especially when it comes to putting together a build on my own.

I would really appreciate any recommendations you have based on your own experiences.

Thanks in advance!
R. Rod