I bought this mini pc because it has 4 NIC ports. Everything worked as expected. Small in size and highly functional. Have found it to work perfectly, nice hardware for firewall. With the large SSD, performance is great and this one has been very stable. Highly recommended.
I bought this to replace my awful eero pro 6 plus router supplied by YouFibre.
Out of the box this little beauty booted straight into pfSense 2.6. I connected cables to my WAN (ISP Modem) and LAN(LAN switch) and the network just ran like a dream.
I next checked the speed which reported a full 960Mbps download and 971Mbps upload. The next test was on my XBOX ONE X to download a game which reported a download speed of around 700Mbps, not bad.
During the download the router’s CPU temperature remained constant at 41degrees.
To play multiplayer games I had to open UPnP in pfsense which I did following a youtube video after which my XBOX reported an OPEN Nat.
All in all a very happy bunny:-)
When it was working this little box was great, managed to get opnsense running with wireguard vpn and crowdsec. All working fine for about a month then i noticed i couldn’t gte on to the web gui, so hooked up a monitor and it seems like the ssd was dead.
As the return window with Amazon ended 1 day before I had to contact the seller, still waiting for a response
UPDATE: After some comms with the seller it was determined that the msata ssd had failed. As it was an easily replaceable item I accepted the offer to replace it rather than go through the the hassle of returning the entire box. Having been in IT for a long time I know these things happen, it is what the seller does to rectify the problem that makes the difference. Updating my rating based on the response
Had this for a few months now. Running proxmox as os. Pfsense, home assistant, Plex server, frigate NVR with tpu. Never skipped a beat, haven’t changed the SSD either. It uses hardly any power which is really impressive. Funnily my virgin router which is just in bridge mode runs hotter than it.
I wiped the installation of windows from this compact computer and installed OPNsense. Installed with no issues works fine. The device supports power on power detection so if you have power loss it just powers on once restored. One minor issue is it can only handle around 460mbits so bear that in mind if you have a 1GB internet connection.
I bought it to run OPNsense. It installed just fine and updated but when I checked the logs I saw AHCI errors due to command timeouts which slowed the boot time to over five minutes. Being more familiar with Linux than FreeBSD I wasn’t able to solve the problem even after much web searching. The best conclusion I can reach us that there’s an incompatibility between the BSD AHCI driver and the Intel Braswell SATA hardware. Aren’t other OPNsense/pfSense users seeing this? I tried a SanDisk mSATA SSD to be sure the problem wasn’t with the supplied one, but no luck. I tried Windows 10 – no problems reported. I tried a Linux Mint Live CD image – no problems reported. So I installed IPFire (Linux-based) and I’m happy now. It doesn’t support a main plus a backup WAN, but in all other respects it does more than I need.
I wanted a pfsence firewall that did not break the bank.
while these may be listed as intended for windows 10, we all know that windows 11 is completely out of the question for these devices, and so the sellers have adjusted the price accordingly.
but for pfsence 2.6 in a small office connected via superfast broadband this is more than enough to protect your webservers, smtp mail servers etc from outside and provide a degree of control of what leaves the building.
community version of pfsence is free and easy to setup.
just make sure you go in the bios and select uefi only for boot.
would also make a great kodi box, but there are probably better alternatives for that, that are half the price.
the device has 4 individual intel 211 ports, thats not clear in the description as some competing products just have a 4 way switch. i removed the wifi card when i got mine, as that function is better done with a wifi access point. its one less thing to go wrong and not supported by pfsence anyway.
Just bought it for opnsense project at first, but i fell in love with this small box of goodness. it’s now became my permanent goto solution for my customers. i still love unifi but USG is getting old and EdgeRoute X is out of stock for more then one year in .
This little box gave my 500/500 speed with IPS on. i did not test with full gigabit internet yet.
This Mini PC works well as a Firewall with pfSense/OPNsense. It is solidly built – at 230 (at time of purchase), it is much cheaper than other Mini PCs that can be used as a Firewall/Router. Overall, happy with the Product – time will tell on durability…
Running Opnsense on Proxmox on this with hypervisor on one port, local traffic on two, and ISP on the last. Plenty of bandwidth for a small smart home with IoT network.
The hardware. Seems solid, been running 24×7 for a couple of months now.
root@hypprox04:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series SoC Transaction Register (rev 0e)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display (rev 0e)
00:13.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series SATA AHCI Controller (rev 0e)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx, Celeron N2000 Series USB xHCI (rev 0e)
00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 0e)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller (rev 0e)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 0e)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 0e)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 0e)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 0e)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Power Control Unit (rev 0e)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series SMBus Controller (rev 0e)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
root@hypprox04:~#
I checked the SSD, and it has been unused except for the Windows 10 installation. However, the SSD is plugged into a lower-gen SATA port, so the read and write performance is much lower than expected in benchmarks.
I may need to reapply thermal paste between the CPU and the case, as this seemed to slide a bit when I plugged some cables into the PC.
I’m using the machine as an OPNSense firewall. It works very well, though my boot is prolonged by some sort of timeout error related to the disk. Doesn’t actually seem to affect the running of the machine, though.
I bought this to replace another fanless pc running my firewall. I dropped opnsense on it and it works absolutely fine. I code to go with the option of a disk and some RAM. Neither were from a brand I’d heard of before, but both seem to do the job just fine. I measured a read speed of 252MB/sec on the disk, which is not great on an NVME drive, bit for the price extra for the disk I can’t complain too much.
The NICs are Intel and so should be widely supported, I’ve not used the WiFi, it is recognised by opnsense.
In all, not much to complain about, i I’ve only run it for a few weeks, but no issues at all in that time. I’d have liked a more advanced processor, but what is there is perfectly good for my needs and is clearly the reason it hits this price point.
I’ve included some photos of the inside as I couldn’t see any when I was buying.
Using as a home router for FTTP. Nice to see it instantly running windows 10 perfectly well on initial boot.
Had it working with OPNSense and ipFire with default configs, cpu stays well below 5% and outer shell temperature is around 35degrees.
Only disappointing property so far is the WAN-LAN throughput which in testing has only reached max up of 840 and max down of 700 which becomes the bottleneck of my 900/115 FTTP.
I’m using a couple of these – running a version of *BSD – as DNS and DHCP servers. The build quality is good and they are coping well so far with the demands placed upon them.
I bought this mini pc because it has 4 NIC ports. Everything worked as expected. Small in size and highly functional. Have found it to work perfectly, nice hardware for firewall. With the large SSD, performance is great and this one has been very stable. Highly recommended.
I bought this to replace my awful eero pro 6 plus router supplied by YouFibre.
Out of the box this little beauty booted straight into pfSense 2.6. I connected cables to my WAN (ISP Modem) and LAN(LAN switch) and the network just ran like a dream.
I next checked the speed which reported a full 960Mbps download and 971Mbps upload. The next test was on my XBOX ONE X to download a game which reported a download speed of around 700Mbps, not bad.
During the download the router’s CPU temperature remained constant at 41degrees.
To play multiplayer games I had to open UPnP in pfsense which I did following a youtube video after which my XBOX reported an OPEN Nat.
All in all a very happy bunny:-)
When it was working this little box was great, managed to get opnsense running with wireguard vpn and crowdsec. All working fine for about a month then i noticed i couldn’t gte on to the web gui, so hooked up a monitor and it seems like the ssd was dead.
As the return window with Amazon ended 1 day before I had to contact the seller, still waiting for a response
UPDATE: After some comms with the seller it was determined that the msata ssd had failed. As it was an easily replaceable item I accepted the offer to replace it rather than go through the the hassle of returning the entire box. Having been in IT for a long time I know these things happen, it is what the seller does to rectify the problem that makes the difference. Updating my rating based on the response
Had this for a few months now. Running proxmox as os. Pfsense, home assistant, Plex server, frigate NVR with tpu. Never skipped a beat, haven’t changed the SSD either. It uses hardly any power which is really impressive. Funnily my virgin router which is just in bridge mode runs hotter than it.
I wiped the installation of windows from this compact computer and installed OPNsense. Installed with no issues works fine. The device supports power on power detection so if you have power loss it just powers on once restored. One minor issue is it can only handle around 460mbits so bear that in mind if you have a 1GB internet connection.
Don’t give full 1gbps but gets close at about 700-800mbps to my WAN.
I bought it to run OPNsense. It installed just fine and updated but when I checked the logs I saw AHCI errors due to command timeouts which slowed the boot time to over five minutes. Being more familiar with Linux than FreeBSD I wasn’t able to solve the problem even after much web searching. The best conclusion I can reach us that there’s an incompatibility between the BSD AHCI driver and the Intel Braswell SATA hardware. Aren’t other OPNsense/pfSense users seeing this? I tried a SanDisk mSATA SSD to be sure the problem wasn’t with the supplied one, but no luck. I tried Windows 10 – no problems reported. I tried a Linux Mint Live CD image – no problems reported. So I installed IPFire (Linux-based) and I’m happy now. It doesn’t support a main plus a backup WAN, but in all other respects it does more than I need.
I wanted a pfsence firewall that did not break the bank.
while these may be listed as intended for windows 10, we all know that windows 11 is completely out of the question for these devices, and so the sellers have adjusted the price accordingly.
but for pfsence 2.6 in a small office connected via superfast broadband this is more than enough to protect your webservers, smtp mail servers etc from outside and provide a degree of control of what leaves the building.
community version of pfsence is free and easy to setup.
just make sure you go in the bios and select uefi only for boot.
would also make a great kodi box, but there are probably better alternatives for that, that are half the price.
the device has 4 individual intel 211 ports, thats not clear in the description as some competing products just have a 4 way switch. i removed the wifi card when i got mine, as that function is better done with a wifi access point. its one less thing to go wrong and not supported by pfsence anyway.
Just bought it for opnsense project at first, but i fell in love with this small box of goodness. it’s now became my permanent goto solution for my customers. i still love unifi but USG is getting old and EdgeRoute X is out of stock for more then one year in .
This little box gave my 500/500 speed with IPS on. i did not test with full gigabit internet yet.
This Mini PC works well as a Firewall with pfSense/OPNsense. It is solidly built – at 230 (at time of purchase), it is much cheaper than other Mini PCs that can be used as a Firewall/Router. Overall, happy with the Product – time will tell on durability…
Those little computers I use for cloud servers by running linux OS on each.
No problem what so ever. Do not overheat. Using BIOS I set to wake up on power recover. Distributed network card seems capable to handle max capacity.
The last feature remaining to be tested is the USB capacity (are they separated or joined hubs).
The hardware. Seems solid, been running 24×7 for a couple of months now.
root@hypprox04:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series SoC Transaction Register (rev 0e)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display (rev 0e)
00:13.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series SATA AHCI Controller (rev 0e)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx, Celeron N2000 Series USB xHCI (rev 0e)
00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 0e)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller (rev 0e)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 0e)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 0e)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 0e)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 0e)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Power Control Unit (rev 0e)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series SMBus Controller (rev 0e)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
root@hypprox04:~#
I checked the SSD, and it has been unused except for the Windows 10 installation. However, the SSD is plugged into a lower-gen SATA port, so the read and write performance is much lower than expected in benchmarks.
I may need to reapply thermal paste between the CPU and the case, as this seemed to slide a bit when I plugged some cables into the PC.
I’m using the machine as an OPNSense firewall. It works very well, though my boot is prolonged by some sort of timeout error related to the disk. Doesn’t actually seem to affect the running of the machine, though.
Great little computer, but got too warm for where I needed it to go.
The NICs are Intel and so should be widely supported, I’ve not used the WiFi, it is recognised by opnsense.
In all, not much to complain about, i I’ve only run it for a few weeks, but no issues at all in that time. I’d have liked a more advanced processor, but what is there is perfectly good for my needs and is clearly the reason it hits this price point.
I’ve included some photos of the inside as I couldn’t see any when I was buying.
Had it working with OPNSense and ipFire with default configs, cpu stays well below 5% and outer shell temperature is around 35degrees.
Only disappointing property so far is the WAN-LAN throughput which in testing has only reached max up of 840 and max down of 700 which becomes the bottleneck of my 900/115 FTTP.
I’m using a couple of these – running a version of *BSD – as DNS and DHCP servers. The build quality is good and they are coping well so far with the demands placed upon them.
Very small, versatile and powerful. I created a nice router/firewall. Cheap hardware and installed open source so get all enterprise router features