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Hey all, I really appreciate all the responses they're very helpful! There's a few things that are going through my mind.

1. I can take things one at a time and simply start with a good, fast, router. Adding on additional features later for simplicity sake.
This will still take some time since I'll do a ton of reading and listening in order to understand what setting control what and getting to know how things work.

2. There were a few comments on a regular desktop chip consuming a lot of power compared to prebuilt options. I'm sure this is possible, but has anyone ever tried tuning a desktop chip to be as efficient as possible in order to sip power? Ultimately saving a buck.

3. What about solutions to get notifications of opnsense updates? Whether through email, rss feed, etc? If I can get a notification on my phone to update opnsense and jot it down in my notes app or something that would be of great help! I'm sure there's many ways to do something like that.

Again, thank you all for being gracious about your time, especially meyergru. I always hate to bother a forum with a long question/s with not solid answer. As much as I'm into this stuff and other things like it. It can get to be a lot if you're not experienced enough yet.

First off, this isn't a question of choosing Opnsense over something else.

This is a question of, should I take on another thing that I have to manage? When it doesn't work for a technical problem I'll be the only one who can fix it. When it needs updating I'll be the only one doing that.

Here's my position, I really like this stuff but I can't necessarily always dedicate as much time as I would like. I'm a photography/ videography professional and I already run my own Unraid server to store my footage, stream media, and that can take up time and expertise I may not have and when something goes wrong I end up dedicating days so I know what I'm doing. I like doing it, on my own time, but when things go wrong, I have no choice, things need to get fixed now.

So when it comes to Opnsense I'm hoping I can get some insight from you folks on the forum.
Firstly, I've been doing a lot of research on components and that's already taken a lot of time. So I'll ask about that now.
1. I have an Intel 4770k, an atx motherboard, with 4 sticks of 4GB ddr3 1600mhz ram, a tower cooler measuring 150mm tall and all I need is a NIC with duel 2.5GB. However, I have a few questions.
1a) Does my RAM speed matter?
1b) Any suggestions for a case? The case I have for this possible Opnsense system is huge. Get a smaller cooler is fine as well and isn't expensive. 
1c) If I want to make this router nice and small I'm spending a decent amount of money. New itx case, itx motherboard, wireless access point, new ram since I'm limited to 2 sticks in a itx case (please advise on 8GB vs 16GB), and powersupply since I don't need the old 850W and it starts to add up fast, so...is it worth it? Time and money? I'm not sure and want to get the perspective of

2. I can do a far bit of reading and do the tutorials, etc, etc.
2a) But at the end of the day is having an Opnsense router a lot of work? Is most of the work upfront?
2b) Can I set it and forget it?
2c) Will it just be periodic updates by just doing a few clicks?
2d) Will I even notice the difference with my internet? And what about added security?...worth it?

One of my goals is to simply not throw away an old Intel chip that can be used for something genuinely useful. Added security would be nice.
3. So in short, any suggestions on hardware?
4, Is Opnsense a hobby you put time into? Or a means to an end? (Plus being a very part-time network technician)

Sorry for the extended post but after doing some research I feel like this might be more time and money than it's worth. Would like some advice on things.