Semi parts bin new build

[opnsenseguy]

Right now I'm sporting OPNsense within Proxmox which has been humming along perfectly fine; however, this was just temporary to ensure that I was committed to OPNsense;  I would rather have OPNsense on bare metal.

This is for a home application with only a handful of users and really not substantial usage.  I don't run any external facing services but do VPN in (WG) here and there.

I was looking at the "off the shelf" type setups of Deciso or Protecti but I have several components already for a "custom build" and would rather have equipment that I can replace individual components.

This is what I have in my "parts-bin" just laying around:
1.  16GB DDR4 single dimm
2.  3U Rack Chassis (mATX/ATX)
3.  500GB PCIe Gen4 x 4 M.2 NVMe

My main concerns or wants are:
A.  Intel onboard NIC.  Bonus points for two!
B.  I do have SFP switch so can use SFP so any particular cards recommended?
C   Power consumption - This is going to be on 24/7.  On my current setup the CPU of the Proxmox server running 3 other VM's doesn't ever hit 2% (12th Gen Intel i5-12400).

Any motherboard/CPU/NIC recommendations?

[nero355]

would rather have equipment that I can replace individual components.

Then why the

A.  Intel onboard NIC.  Bonus points for two!

?!

Wouldn't you rather have a nice Quad Port NIC with either the Intel i226 NICs for 2,5 Gbps bandwidth or something older with just 1 Gbps per NIC ?
In case of the Intel i226 make sure you can flash it to Firmware 2.32 or that it's already flashed with it ;)

B.  I do have SFP switch so can use SFP so any particular cards recommended?

That would be Intel too, but considering :

C.  Power consumption - This is going to be on 24/7.  On my current setup the CPU of the Proxmox server running 3 other VM's doesn't ever hit 2% (12th Gen Intel i5-12400).

You might want to avoid that ?!

Any motherboard recommendations?

For some time Fujitsu motherboards were very popular for low power consumption setups.
No idea if that's still the case these days...


Have fun building/looking for parts for the right price! :)

[pfry]

[...]B.  I do have SFP switch so can use SFP so any particular cards recommended?[...]

I'd say X710 for low power, 82599/X520/X540 for lower purchase price. 82598 is probably not worth buying these days; E810 is fairly expensive and consumes more power. DAC cables are cheap and your lowest power option. You need at least a v3x4 slot for the X710 for full bandwidth from two ports; v2x8 for the 82599s. As usual, be aware of clone vs. OEM vs. actual Intel.

You didn't mention bandwidth; I assume you're looking for a few (2-4) ports. For a gigabit-class setup, a couple of i210s or an i350 are fairly inexpensive and low power, and may be more suitable from a connectivity (internal and external) standpoint. Then again, if your SFP-equipped switch is managed and you plan to use it in any case, an SFP card might be a good option.

How about form factor and other parts?

[Greg_E]

Used dual port x710 SFP+ versions are not too expensive, the quad port is around $100usd or a bit more. New 10Gtek quad port is about $125usd. Quad port i350 can be had under $50, I got a couple at $30 each with free shipping a couple years ago.

[opnsenseguy]

I do have a Dell Intel 4V7G2 X550-T2 2 port 10Gb that I could use or atleast I've used in the past and can grab from a machine or buy another.

I don't have huge bandwidth needs.  This is a residential setting and we don't do any torrents and very little streaming.

Two ports is all I need: one for WAN and one for LAN.  I have a L3 switch. 

[pfry]

[...]New 10Gtek quad port is about $125usd.[...]

10GTek is a standard OEM - they usually modify their PC boards and heat sinks (from the Intel references), and their firmware is updateable using Intel's utilities. (YMMV, of course. Intel-based cards only; my experience is with one X550.)

Heh. I haven't seen a quad X710 for $125, though (unless $150 counts).

Edit: It looks like 8257x cards are still available. I'd avoid those for anything other than Linux.