Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 19:16 Post subject: Another happy customer
Router has been running flawlessly so far. Running r42410 with ovpn running, and for an added challenge, I use purevpn, which can be a pain to get working. As I mentioned in a different thread, it is running on pretty antiquated hardware.
Intel quad core @ 2.8ghz
8 mb ddr2
Gigabyte mobo has the onboard nic
Tp-link pci nic
running from a flash drive
Right now for testing it is running all strewn about on a table top until I decide whether to stick with the hardware for now or not. So I have a few questions going forward, for you experienced users.
Flash drive or hard drive?
As far as future hardware upgrades, obviously based on what I have, it will be all or nothing. I read somewhere about Intel AES technology being important for performance with these routers. Is that so?
Once I settle on a processor, is it better to get a mobo with dual nics if possible?
How much ram is sufficient?
My goal, as is probably everyones, is to get as close to 100% of the speed I get from my ISP. Right now I'm at about 50%
Basically any processor from the recent past support AES.
you're going to want to find the highest frequency processor you can find.. I believe that DD-WRT really doesn't take advantage of multi core and i can guarantee that OPENVPN standard 100% does not use multiple cores.... get a good cooler and overclock the processor as much as you can if you're finding you can't max out your download speed (i'd probably stay with Intel processors for this... and again.. core count beyond dual core really doesn't matter IMHO... highest frequency is king is this use case)
Flash drive or Hard drive really doesn't matter... i prefer hard drive / SSD as its inside the computer although i guess you could get a USB drive mounted inside the pc....
8 gigs of ram is way more than enough....
I use a Intel quad gigabit NIC in my setup... makes it nice and simple and provides good quality chipsets and is easily replaced if it fails.
Thanks for the pointers. I'll keep them in mind when I get ready to shop . For now, I'm happy with about 150% improvement over the old dlink I was using, not to mention how much more dependable it is!
I've previously used pfsense but that's just way too much complication for my home setup...
I went back to a conventional router for a bit buying an expensive Asus GT-ac5300 witha 1.8ghz quad core broadcom but after upgarding to gigabit internet at home i found that with QOS enabled the Asus router topped out at ~400mbps... if i turned off QOS it would get the full "gigabit" (roughly 900ish mbps) however switching to DDWRT on x86 i can run QOS and still get full gigabit... definitely the way to go.
only having some issues with he Default Bandwidth limit not working right now..
I'd be interested in tinkering with OPNsense (an offshoot of pfsense) but again i don't think that really fits my needs.
Thanks for the pointers. I'll keep them in mind when I get ready to shop . For now, I'm happy with about 150% improvement over the old dlink I was using, not to mention how much more dependable it is!
one other thing to consider is what is the maximum throughput of the VPN provider you have...
I've used PIA and NORD in the past and i'm not sure their servers can handle 900mbps... it's possible you've found the limits they have configured into their servers...
That's very true. I only have 100mbps from my isp. What I get through my vpn seems to vary depending on what country I connect to. I can get 90+ connecting to Mexico, but it's a struggle getting to 70 on a US server.
(i'd probably stay with Intel processors for this... and again.. core count beyond dual core really doesn't matter IMHO... highest frequency is king is this use case)