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Looking for a small form factor PC to use as a router (self.homelab)

submitted 1 year ago by p5f20w18k to c/[email protected]

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I'm looking for a 1L type PC, with dual gigabit, or a single gigabit (or 2.5g) port and space to put in a PCI card with more ports on it.

Planning to use it as a router, not decided on which OS yet, probably OPNSense.

Any advice on what to buy? Don't want to spend more than 150GBP, don't mind buying second hand either.

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[–] jecht360 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some of the Lenovo tiny 1L machines can take a PCI card to add more ports. I've specifically seen it done with the 720q. You'll need a riser for it to fit. If you search on AliExpress for "lenovo thinkcentre tiny network riser card" or similar you'll find some examples.

Here's a different method someone used with a Lenovo M900 using an M.2 ethernet adapter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMKvhx7z3aY

There are several threads about this on Reddit, but I'm not going to link them because of all the mess going on over there. If you search a bit you'll find them though. If they've been deleted due to the protests, try a cached copy on Google.

[–] Hut 1 points 1 year ago

+1 for the tiny lenovos... just careful on the generation. Pre Tiny4 won't work.

[–] netwren 1 points 1 year ago

I use a NUC with a USB 3.0 Ethernet. It works surprisingly well and I just use FirewallD.

[–] Kullback 1 points 1 year ago

Serve the home recently did a write up on a HP Elite mini 600 G9. Apparently there is an adapter, HP Flex IO V2 module, that adds a 2.5gb port. Worth a look, but I would just get a SFF pc to have more pci slots and options.

https://www.servethehome.com/perfect-project-tinyminimicro-pushing-a-1l-pc-as-a-server-concept-intel-hp-sabrent-crucial/

[–] StrayPizza 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I personally use a Qotom PC. Not sure if it fits your exact requirements since you can’t get a PCI card into it, but it does have 4x1Gb ports. Works really well with opnsense.

[–] Kullback 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been eyeing one of these. Just haven't pulled the trigger. Been looking at these and other 'lesser known' brands. How do they handle heavy workloads? Any temperature issues being that they are passive?

[–] StrayPizza 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’ve only been running a few services like AdGuard Home so I can’t speak to very heavy loads. I’ve had no issues with it. I probably wouldn’t run my Plex server on it but any regular network services should be fine.

I have mine sitting on a wire metal shelf so it gets plenty of air flow. I did misconfigure the Unbound DNS server to recursively query itself and CPU load was at 100% for several hours. I noticed it was warmer physically but it was not hot enough to give me any concerns. Still well within what’s safe to run.

[–] Kullback 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the reply. Mine would need to sit in a garage and would be prone to ambient temperatures. I was thinking of using one of the USB ports to power a small laptop cooling pad/fan. Just not sure of the typical CPU temp on these. I do have a pi b3+ in the same area that runs about 47°c even with a small fan.