Intel N100 good enough for 1Gbits internet ?

I just recently got a new ISP and new internet speed 1200/600, my current firewall with opnsense can not handle the speed (AMD GX-412TC SOC), I have been looking for a new firewall (opnsense + 2.5 Ethernet) and found several with the Intel N100 CPU (2023).

I was wondering if this CPU is good enough to handle the Internet speed and if there is overhead?

15 points · 21 comments · view on lemmy.world

21 Comments

poVoq@slrpnk.net · 11 pts · 2y (12 replies)

The problem is Opnsense, as the BSD kernel used is doing single thread network routing. So the APU can saturate 1gbit with multiple connections/threads or if you switch to a firewall with a Linux kernel like OpenWRT.

That said, a N100 probably does have enough single thread performance to do 1.2 Gbit. Not sure about the full 2.5gbit though.

JonnyJaap@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y (11 replies)

Thank you for the answers. I enjoy opnsense, it's easier to use then openwrt for me personally.

I was thinking to do some testing of the new device before I replace the old one. But I wanted to hear if anyone has experiences.

I looked at CPU benchmark net, and saw that N100 is about 8 times faster then the AMD SOC. I'm not sure if this is linear with performance increase. Currently max download is about 600-700 while upload is 300-400.

dutchkimble@lemy.lol · 1 pts · 2y (2 replies)

How are you measuring your speeds? I think cloudflare speed tests were more accurate for me then ookla, but in the end downloading a large file over usenet gives me the best picture

Edit- and that made me realise my ssd was a bottleneck, replacing that helped me go from 500-600 to about 900-950 on my gigabit connection

StopSpazzing@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y

Which is why tests like these should be done in ram.

JonnyJaap@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

I tested with seedtest-cli, libre speed test and downloading a big file (with a combination of different devices). The CPU immediately goes to 100%

When I use the ISP box directly I get full speed.

Potatofish@lemmy.world · -14 pts · 2y (7 replies)

I would try pfsense. Definitely no need for new hardware.

AtariDump@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y (6 replies)
Potatofish@lemmy.world · -16 pts · 2y (5 replies)

Yes.

Edit: How pathetic. It's software. Keep trying to convince him to buy new hardware when he doesn't need it.

AtariDump@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Again, no.

Not when they’re hostile to their end users and other projects for no reason.

Potatofish@lemmy.world · -11 pts · 2y (3 replies)

Yes.

MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 2y

Found the Pfsense employee lol

AtariDump@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

Why?

cookie@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 2y (1 reply)

I'm using a virtualized opnsense on an n100 and it handles my 1.5gb line fine.

JonnyJaap@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

That you very much for the answer.

Can I ask why you are doing your firewall virtualized? I never understood why people do it, for me using bare metal has more advanced.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 2y (5 replies)

Honestly I'm a big fan of openWRT as it can give very good performance on cheap and used hardware.

I've never used it on amd64 but it may be worth a shot.

JonnyJaap@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y

I used devices from gl iNet, the devices are good, but I find the UI of opnsense way better (compared to advance ui of openWRT) and updates are directly from opnsense.

I still have them for smaller network tests but for some reason I never got close to it. Probably another reason is that my brother uses opnsense too, if we have any issues we can ask each other for help.

StopSpazzing@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (3 replies)

Is there a good gui suggestion?

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y (2 replies)

It comes with a fairly extensive GUI

StopSpazzing@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Last time I used Luci gui was like 12 years ago. How has it improved since?

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y

I haven't been using it for 12 years but right now the Luci GUI is the most extensive router GUI I've used.

tagginator@utter.online · -2 pts · 2y
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