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Author Topic: OPNSense / pfSense used Quad Intel NIC's on ebay - some advice  (Read 2509 times)

Chunkers

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Hi guys,

I have been loving my pfSense router, have got squid and squidguard set up to manage the filtering the kids, the load balancing works great ..... its brilliant.

I recently assembled a "Junk" router from an old E6600 for a bit of fun and to make a comparison, it worked surprisingly well, if a bit power hungry.

I now plan to start having a fiddle with OPNSense and want to add a Quad Intel NIC PCIE card to my junk pile, these are very expensive new, but surprisingly cheap second hand.

Used Intel, Dell and HP ones seem to go on ebay for £20

There are a few different types with different designations - all Intel Pro 1000 but with different letters VT, PT, ET

Can anyone tell me if there is anything to avoid or any advantage in any of the particular types for my usage case?  I am guessing they will all work fine in a "normal" PC under FreeBSD .... is that right?

Cheers big ears!

Chunks
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Chrysalis

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Re: OPNSense / pfSense used Quad Intel NIC's on ebay - some advice
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2017, 01:16:08 PM »

they all should work using the intel pro driver in FreeBSD, I dont know the specific spec differences between those models tho.
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Chunkers

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Re: OPNSense / pfSense used Quad Intel NIC's on ebay - some advice
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2017, 03:37:23 PM »

I bought one of these on ebay.
Its not the "best" chipset, which is supposedly the i350-t4 but the older Intel® 82571, I am hoping that it'll be a decent match to my 2010 vintage motherboard, we'll see.

I was very tempted by the suspiciously cheap new chinese generic i350-t4 cards but after reading some mixed stories online I decided to go with a used server-pull card.

Its only for experimenting anyway.

Cheers big ears!

Chunks

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Chrysalis

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Re: OPNSense / pfSense used Quad Intel NIC's on ebay - some advice
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2017, 04:25:04 PM »

For most types of use, especially at home, all that matters really is stability, which any intel nic should be. :)

These top end nic's with specific features and processing power are only really needed on very extreme networking requirements.

My 2 port i350 card was £50, wasnt even aware it was the most rated intel NIC, it was just about what I could find that I could put in my unit.
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