CPU Recommendations?

[XrayDoc88]

I've been running pfSense for many years on mini PCs.  I'm thinking about upgrading my two home networks to at least 2.5G, and probably 10G.  I think I'm also going to switch to OPNsense.  Both home networks are currently connected with an IPsec site-to-site VPN.  When I upgrade, I plan on switching to wireguard.  Each home network has multiple APs, a NAS and several PCs.  Both homes have 1G fiberoptic WAN connections.  I also plan on creating VLANs on both networks, which I currently  do not have.  I'd like to stay with mini PCs if possible.

What would you consider the minimum CPU to get?  Is the Alder Lake-N150 adequate?  Should I get better?  Thanks!

P.S. I wouldn't mind mini PC suggestions either.  I've looked at the "official" OPNsense options.  I currently have Qotom, but want 10G connections.

[pfry]

I don't have any advice on mini PCs. But in general I would ask: What's your budget, for money, space, power, etc.?

[BrandyWine]

Intel i3. And I have a few N150 devices, some doing work and others rather idle like my opnsense fw, the N150 can do work.
I guess it depends on what type of work your fw will doing.

Is 10G an interface spec, or do you expect 10G worth of data all the time?

[XrayDoc88]

Budget is fluid.  I have to build or buy two mini PCs so I'd like to keep each purchase less than about $700.  The actual price will depend a lot on the current pricing of RAM, which is still ridiculous.  I obviously won't have 10G service from my ISP, but I'd like to upgrade my local networks to 10G.  Do I absolutely need that, no.  But we do stream a lot of movies from our local NAS servers and sometimes across the internet from a remote NAS.  We do have a fair amount of 4K movies to stream.  We're in the PLEX eco system for all of our media.  Plus, I work remotely and want the fastest site-to-site VPN, internet download speeds, etc.

[nero355]

I obviously won't have 10G service from my ISP, but I'd like to upgrade my local networks to 10G.  Do I absolutely need that, no.  But we do stream a lot of movies from our local NAS servers and sometimes across the internet from a remote NAS.  We do have a fair amount of 4K movies to stream.  We're in the PLEX eco system for all of our media.

You don't need 10 Gbps for that : Movies needing more than 120 Mbps are rare AFAIK so in theory you can stream 8 of those via 1 Gbps ;)

I don't see any WAN Connection info :
- Does your ISP perhaps use PPPoE ?
- What will be the WAN bandwidth ?