New pfsense box, thoughts?

R

Rakinos

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 31, 2001
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My embedded alix setup just died after 7 months (yay :( ), and I've realized that for 20 bucks more than the cost of a new board, I can just go the Intel atom route (esp now that I have a switch that supports vlans).

What are your thoughts on this jetway, this intel nic, with this memory?

I'll also be picking up a mini-pci to pci adapter, so that I can continue to use my current wirelss card from my alix setup.
 
I think I'd rather go with the Intel Atom board and a different case, just because I don't trust Jetway branded stuff. I'm running such a setup and it works great with pfSense, but I am using a dual-port Intel 1000MT I picked up on eBay for about $30 new. The desktop cards work excellent with as well.

Your problem is that all the Atom boards I'm aware of (at least at a reasonable price) only have 1 PCI slot (including this Jetway), so if you want wireless and a non-crap NIC you're out of luck. MSI has an Atom board that uses dual Intel GigE onboard instead of the crap Realtek, but it's pricey and hard to find. It's also fanless, so I guess the value isn't too bad, but it costs more alone than that barebones box: http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=388&prod_no=1693

Edit: You also get miniPCIe, which might be handy and would solve your wireless problem - if it still existed after adding the Intel onboard GbE ;) This is basically an ideal pfSense board, except for the price... but compared to ALIX it's a lot more capable, so I still think it's good value.
 
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Yeah, I saw that board, but I couldn't justify the cost if I can just run vlans (one cable going between router and switch, and then just plug the modem into the switch). From what I've read, the intel board can use the dual slot pci riser, so I would just need to find a cheap case that has the same riser setup. Any suggestions?

Side note: why is everyone so turned off by Jetway?
 
A riser card would work, that case doesn't seem to use one, but a compatible case with riser should be fine. The PCI bus is the PCI bus, it's not limited because there's only one slot. Should work with any board.

As far as cases, I haven't personally seen anything other than 1/2U rackmount gear and OEM cases that uses the riser configuration. You might have a tough time finding an mATX case with this setup; a bit of dremel work would make a poor man's solution though.

I've heard a couple horror stories about Jetway motherboards, and I'm generally wary of any budget OEM anyway. They definitely know what they're doing as a contract manufacturer, but at the price point they seem to be targeting I don't see how they can be using high quality components.

Side note: Those Realtek chips must be fucking cheap if Intel themselves can buy them for less than they can make a proper NIC. Their low-end stuff all has Realtek shit in it now, which really sucks, they used to be the route to go for a cheap motherboard with a good NIC.
 
Steer clear of Jetway. I went through four DOA and/or defective boards before I just said "screw it" and blacklisted them.

MSI has a couple very good boards, and honestly, you can't go wrong with a C7 or Nano. Especially one packing VIA Rhine flavored ethernet. People dryhump Intel all day long, but the VIA Rhine is a more than capable MAC+PHY in it's own right.
 
Another option, and it's been what I've been running on....and it's budget friendly.
Hit up ebay for some IBM/Lenovo T series. Shoot for a T41 or so. Pentium M about the same speed as the Atom, the Intel chipset and onboard Intel NIC work great with PFSense. Slap in a PCMCIA NIC for your second NIC....I've used DLink and Linksys NICs and PFSense works with them fine.

*Small space
*Low heat and noise
*Built in keyboard/monitor
*Built in battery backup.
 
Comes with the riser and everything. Awesome.

I love NewEgg's search as much as the next guy, but stuff like that is tough to find. Nice work.
 
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