Cake
Senior Member
Just got this as a replacement for my broken AC68U. Of course most people probably buy the consumer AC Asus routers is for the wireless AC and RMerlins features. I think the Asus (pre FCC rules!) routers are a very good deal for the money. I spent about 200 USD on this (32GB SSD, 2GB ram) and still need to buy a dedicated AP. I have some older stuff that can act like a AP, but very weak range and G/N only.
Well this firewall/router box alternative:
4 Intel WG82583 Ethernet controllers with a Intel J1900 CPU. You may have seen them mentioned here and on pfsense forums.
There is not much on the Internet about this box in way of details that I am interested in. So I share.
The AC adapter is 100-240V 50/60Hz (max output is 60 watts (12V 5A)) 3 pronged mains plug, I think it has some large capacitors inside (good) because when unplug the led inside the adapter takes forever to bleed it off, it can almost power up the unit for a half second. American Megatrends BIOS with the option to Restore AC Power Loss to Power ON after AC is back. There is also a cmos battery, and jumper to clear it. There is also some pins for a fan (4 pins type- variable speed), and the normal power, hd activity, reset pins as well. The design has the cpu using the metal case for passive cooling. Those black holes labeled wifi are for your antenna if you install a mini pci wifi card inside. This unit runs warm to hot. I have it located in a hot place (40 C), cpu mostly idle is at 54 C. I am interested in power consumption, but have no tools to check that. OpnSense installs nice providing you use download the right firmware- doh.
Well this firewall/router box alternative:
4 Intel WG82583 Ethernet controllers with a Intel J1900 CPU. You may have seen them mentioned here and on pfsense forums.
There is not much on the Internet about this box in way of details that I am interested in. So I share.
The AC adapter is 100-240V 50/60Hz (max output is 60 watts (12V 5A)) 3 pronged mains plug, I think it has some large capacitors inside (good) because when unplug the led inside the adapter takes forever to bleed it off, it can almost power up the unit for a half second. American Megatrends BIOS with the option to Restore AC Power Loss to Power ON after AC is back. There is also a cmos battery, and jumper to clear it. There is also some pins for a fan (4 pins type- variable speed), and the normal power, hd activity, reset pins as well. The design has the cpu using the metal case for passive cooling. Those black holes labeled wifi are for your antenna if you install a mini pci wifi card inside. This unit runs warm to hot. I have it located in a hot place (40 C), cpu mostly idle is at 54 C. I am interested in power consumption, but have no tools to check that. OpnSense installs nice providing you use download the right firmware- doh.