newbie hardware recomendations

[Devine]

I'm looking for a physical router/firewall with vpn support.

I was considering MicroTik as they offer all in 1 solutions but the UI appears overly complex.
I was also considering Netgate but their products are out of my budget.
Then I considered Pfsense on customer hardware but OPNSense appears much nicer

My budget is about €200 max.

Basically I want this physical box to act as a firewall for outbound internet traffic. It will also connect to a vpn and Clients should be able to connect to the box and use the vpn.It should be able to handle a gigabit fiber connection.

I've noticed the pc engines boards and they seem well priced but I don't know which board would be suitable for my use case.

Any hardware recommendations (pcEngines or otherwise) would be most welcome.
Thanks.

[tong2x]

I have the following
I7 desktop clone PC, 16GB ram, running 24x7, with add on 4 port giga lan card
celeron I3 mini PC box, 4GB ram (small box with 6lan, usb and monitor interface)
I5 mini PC box, 8GB ram (small box with 6lan, usb and monitor interface)

pretty much as long as it is a supported hardware you should not have any problem
if you want to support alot of users, you may need more power though

if you have a spare, intel or amd machine, you may want to "try" it out first

[Devine]

Thanks for the reply tong2x.

MY use case is a just a regular home fiber connection, nothing fancy but I'd like the solution to handle gigabit fiber. I'm trying to avoid a pc form factor , ideally I want a small enclosure with just network ports.

[ChrisChros]

Maybe a protectli device it what you are looking for. They are small form factor, passively cooled industry pc, with at leased 2 intel gigabit lan ports and cpus up too i7.
You can get these devices also from different chinees market places for a little less money.

[tong2x]

Thanks for the reply tong2x.

MY use case is a just a regular home fiber connection, nothing fancy but I'd like the solution to handle gigabit fiber. I'm trying to avoid a pc form factor , ideally I want a small enclosure with just network ports.

for gigabit id suggest anything higher than or at least I5 core (and gigabit lan on specs)
my celeron box, does seem to consistently transfer gigabit

[OnTheGrind]

I don't know if dell has a European presence.

But I just got a refurbished inspiring 3880 for $250.00 USD from their outlet store.

Came with a 1 year on site repair warranty.

i3 10100 (4c/8t/HT) 3.6Ghz w/ 4.3Ghz Turbo 65watt
4Gb 2666 Mhz
1TB 7200 RPM HDD
1Gb onboard NIC

I bought an i350t2 NIC for $40, a 32Gb Nvme SSD for $25, and a 4gb 2666 stick for $20.

But I could of just bought a single Gb NIC and would of worked.

Use LGA1200.. so you can buy an i5 or i7 later for more HP and upgrade the ram overtime.

A decent refurbished system upgradeable. Spend what you can afford now and upgrade over time so you do t have a big hit to your wallet at once.

[aponomarenko]

See list of tested hardware here: https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=21120.msg98706#msg98706

[koushun]

ASRock J3455 is a bit dated, but cheap. Works well. Fanless. I have a mini-itx case from Intertech which fits OK in the living room.