Speed Tests with VPN and Encryptions. Help by Sharing your results :)

[Nullity]

Is physical box in your opinion guys better then messing around with vmware. Some of those high cpu usage were little discouraging on pfsense forum. Thoughts?

I think bare-metal (physical box) is best unless you are well acquainted with virtualization and what hardware setups work best with it.

A used, ~$50 server PC from eBay with a couple of Intel NICs.

My pfSense PCs were freebies from friends that were upgrading or discarding old hardware.

 

[Rango]

hahaha...got it!!!!

 

[Rango]

I think bare-metal (physical box) is best unless you are well acquainted with virtualization and what hardware setups work best with it.

A used, ~$50 server PC from eBay with a couple of Intel NICs.

My pfSense PCs were freebies from friends that were upgrading or discarding old hardware.

Thanks bud. I already have Intel Pro 1000 MT Dual port Server nic so plan to utlize that. I will give a shot over a weekend running threw the guide but if i fail i will drop this virtualization as it's too much learning curve for me for now. My intention was to try pfsense and get this up to 87mbps and see if i like this solution. Not sure at the moment i want to build server for scratch just for this little project. At least for now i can play around with pf in p3 box. So buy something cheap or virtualize what i'm aming at i think.

 

[System Error Message]

The difference between buying cheap or prebuilt for pfsense is NIC and wifi. You could scavange parts and go for micro-ATX for cheap but than you would need to get parts yourself whereas prebuilt is usually plug and play.

if you look at the wikipedia page on AES instructions, just pick one of those CPUs that have it. It doesnt matter whether it is intel or AMD as all the architectures listed there will run pfsense very well and once you have AES-NI than the CPU itself doesnt have to be very fast. AMD's architecture actually seems ideal for pfsense if you use an intel NIC since AMD has always been a good platform to run servers on that dont require doing many calculations, things that dont benefit from AMD's lack of SSE performance.

You could go for a used 4 core bulldozer which is more like a dual core CPU with hyperthreading.

 

[Rango]

Good thoughts system and nullity. I will think about it. I looked it up and bulldozer pc is ~$300 so not that cheap unless somewhere else but newegg.

System u think even on AES256 core 2 3Ghz can pull 87Mbps ?

 

[Rango]

Hey guys. I did some digging around and I came to the conclusion. Total cost of ownership of pfesne on 200W pc over period longer then 1 yr makes NO SENSE at all.
If pc would be on and has to be on at idle for full year cost of this pc would be $200+ per year. 200W power supply pc is out of question for me.

I will get that $55 pc for testing and playing around for few months but that $189 pc it out of the picture due to it's high cost later on. Since what i want will cost $380 i will have to wait and get that pc for testing as temp solution. Here is what i will build later on but it's better to stick with router as TCOO is lowwww. This pc is low wattage.

http://www.pcmech.com/article/much-pc-cost-electricity/

Supermicro C2558 Rangeley (2.4 ghz, 4-core, AES-NI and Quickassist enabled, 4 ports)
4gb ECC RAM (Had to go ECC here as non-ECC isnt supported on this board)
30GB mSata w/ 2.5in adapter
80W pico PSU and PS
M350 Mini-ITX Enclosure

Total cost = $380 USD

 

[L&LD]

Hey guys. I did some digging around and I came to the conclusion. Total cost of ownership of pfesne on 200W pc over period longer then 1 yr makes NO SENSE at all.
If pc would be on and has to be on at idle for full year cost of this pc would be $200+ per year. 200W power supply pc is out of question for me.

I will get that $55 pc for testing and playing around for few months but that $189 pc it out of the picture due to it's high cost later on. Since what i want will cost $380 i will have to wait and get that pc for testing as temp solution. Here is what i will build later on but it's better to stick with router as TCOO is lowwww. This pc is low wattage.

http://www.pcmech.com/article/much-pc-cost-electricity/

Supermicro C2558 Rangeley (2.4 ghz, 4-core, AES-NI and Quickassist enabled, 4 ports)
4gb ECC RAM (Had to go ECC here as non-ECC isnt supported on this board)
30GB mSata w/ 2.5in adapter
80W pico PSU and PS
M350 Mini-ITX Enclosure

Total cost = $380 USD

Ha ha, there is no way that $189 pc will use 200W 24/7. As the article you pointed to stated; it is assuming it is using 200W continuously.

Typically, it will be less than 30W to 50W, depending on other components installed (remove any gpu's if it has a igpu on the processor).

Now, we're made the system make sense for 4 times longer or more.

 

[Rango]

Well cost of 24/7/365 even at idle will $130/year at minimum and that's assuming pc manufacturer used 80 plus silver PSU. It's funny i don't sleep or hibernate my rig but now i will ...lol...Now i wonder how much Watts asus router uses. Must be low probably?

Makes sense to build low power consumption unit or stick with router right?

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...cy-power-supplies-cut-your-electricity-bill/3

 

[Rango]

you want AES-NI as it is actually worth it. Take the mikrotik RB1100AHx2, it does 500Mb/s of IPSEC AES per core so it would have no trouble doing openVPN using AES.
avx does processing of 256 bit data or larger much faster than SSE.

The iseries is 50% faster than core2 clock per clock and they have more execution units so hyperthreading is a big boost for them. If you need more processing the i3 would be the better choice otherwise the core2 would suffice. Neither CPU have AES instructions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES_instruction_set explains some CPUs that support it. Dont forget theres AMD as well and the piledriver is also a choice for routers as well. You could also assume it takes 28 cycles per byte so that should give you a hint to how much cpu frequency you need so the core2 is fast enough after giving a lot of headroom.

System this may intrest you....it's so cheap. Only if i knew how to program manually those routers i would get this. It's $100 and it does 1M pps. It doen't look like it has openvpn and no gui for openvpn.

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-lite/

 

[L&LD]

Well cost of 24/7/365 even at idle will $130/year at minimum and that's assuming pc manufacturer used 80 plus silver PSU. It's funny i don't sleep or hibernate my rig but now i will ...lol...Now i wonder how much Watts asus router uses. Must be low probably?

Makes sense to build low power consumption unit or stick with router right?

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...cy-power-supplies-cut-your-electricity-bill/3

You're not comparing the cost of your actual electricity bill with the equipment you're considering.

A 750W desktop system is not what your $189 will buy you.

 

[Rango]

You're not comparing the cost of your actual electricity bill with the equipment you're considering.

A 750W desktop system is not what your $189 will buy you.

I'm assuming you're saying 200W pc will have marginal cost of that $130 electric bill cost per year as it's idle will be lower then 750W?
I mean they all have idle/minium idle wattage they pull (35-45W?) and i assume 750W and 200W pc will have similar idel or 25% load wattage with 750 slightly higher,
and only at max load the difference will be noticable. Am i wrong here?

 

[Nullity]

System this may intrest you....it's so cheap. Only if i knew how to program manually those routers i would get this. It's $100 and it does 1M pps. It doen't look like it has openvpn and no gui for openvpn.

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-lite/

(He's aware of it.)

Also, there's the newer EdgeRouter X. It does not make use of HW accel, but it does have a faster CPU and it can actually push more throughput when QoS is used. I am eventually going to get an ERX myself because I wanna try a Ubiquiti product.

 

[L&LD]

I'm assuming you're saying 200W pc will have marginal cost of that $130 electric bill cost per year as it's idle will be lower then 750W?
I mean they all have idle/minium idle wattage they pull (35-45W?) and i assume 750W and 200W pc will have similar idel or 25% load wattage with 750 slightly higher,
and only at max load the difference will be noticable. Am i wrong here?

I would think you're wrong. (Sorry!).

But we can't compare anything directly as far as I can tell. The article you linked doesn't state what components were used, but 120W idle (see previous pages of the article) is a lot more than what the $189 system should be.

The total cost of the system is important, granted. A gpu seems that it was obviously used in the linked article, while the $189 system has an igpu (no additional power required above the processor, ram and hdd).

There are other factors in play too. You won't need to power a monitor for this system (use RDP as needed). Speakers are not required so you might be able to disable the sound card/chip too.

A NUC type system will be even more frugal with power, but the total cost of ownership will be far more for the same time frame (4 or 5 years).

 

[Rango]

btw i'm not trying to argue with you but just trying to get the total cost of ownship of this venture i'm trying. At minimum i would think this pc would use $100 a year in electric bill as this pc will run at all times and let's say will be 25% load under openvpn usage. With encyryption being power hungry cpu usage will rise and therefore wattage.

Pfsense i think just become expensive i think. I dunno but makes sense. I will look up that NUC system setup. Check this out and this is even higher then what i said

"A typical desktop-style PC consumes anywhere from 75 W to 300 W when idling and from 150 W to 600 W under a load, depending on the configuration, age, and design of the system. This does not include monitors, which for LCDs range from 25 W to 50 W while active, whereas CRTs range from 75 W to 150 W or more. One PC and LCD display combination I tested consumed an average of 250 W (0.25 kilowatts) of electricity during normal operation. The same system drew 200 W when in ACPI S1 Sleep mode, only 8 W while in ACPI S3 Sleep mode, and 7 W of power while either turned off or hibernating (ACPI S4 mode)."

Electricity Cost: $0.10 Dollars per KWh
PC/Display Power: 0.250 KW avg. while running
PC/Display Power: 0.200 KW avg. while in ACPI S1 Sleep
PC/Display Power: 0.008 KW avg. while in ACPI S3 Sleep
PC/Display Power: 0.007 KW avg. while in ACPI S4 Sleep
PC/Display Power: 0.007 KW avg. while OFF
Work Hours: 2080 Per year
Non-Work Hours: 6656 Per year
Total Hours: 8736 Per year
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual Operating Cost: $218.40 Left ON continuously
Annual Operating Cost: $185.12 In S1 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Operating Cost: $57.32 In S3 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Operating Cost: $56.66 In S4 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Operating Cost: $56.66 Turned OFF during non-work hours
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual Savings: $0.00 Left ON continuously
Annual Savings: $33.28 In S1 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Savings: $161.08 In S3 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Savings: $161.74 In S4 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Savings: $161.74 Turned OFF during non-work hours


Using those figures, here are some calculations for annual power costs:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/power-supply-protection-calculate-consumption,review-32356-4.html

 

[Nullity]

I even run a CompactFlash card as my drive in my pfSense PC, mostly as a curiosity, but also because it saves power.

Like @L&LD said, the peripherals are important.

 

[Rango]

I even run a CompactFlash card as my drive in my pfSense PC, mostly as a curiosity, but also because it saves power.

Like @L&LD said, the peripherals are important.

What's your cost guys of pfsense on pc platform per year or month and is it regular pc or custom build ?

 

[System Error Message]

System this may intrest you....it's so cheap. Only if i knew how to program manually those routers i would get this. It's $100 and it does 1M pps. It doen't look like it has openvpn and no gui for openvpn.

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-lite/

i have the edgerouter pro and i use it as a server not a router. As a router it doesnt compare to mikrotik. It has hardware acceleration but it cant accelerate opeenvpn and its software routing throughput (like if you have to use QoS and firewall) is so much slower than their claimed "wirespeed". Even mikrotik is wirespeeed with layer 3 routing same with any consumer router.

 

[L&LD]

btw i'm not trying to argue with you but just trying to get the total cost of ownship of this venture i'm trying. At minimum i would think this pc would use $100 a year in electric bill as this pc will run at all times and let's say will be 25% load under openvpn usage. With encyryption being power hungry cpu usage will rise and therefore wattage.

Pfsense i think just become expensive i think. I dunno but makes sense. I will look up that NUC system setup. Check this out and this is even higher then what i said

"A typical desktop-style PC consumes anywhere from 75 W to 300 W when idling and from 150 W to 600 W under a load, depending on the configuration, age, and design of the system. This does not include monitors, which for LCDs range from 25 W to 50 W while active, whereas CRTs range from 75 W to 150 W or more. One PC and LCD display combination I tested consumed an average of 250 W (0.25 kilowatts) of electricity during normal operation. The same system drew 200 W when in ACPI S1 Sleep mode, only 8 W while in ACPI S3 Sleep mode, and 7 W of power while either turned off or hibernating (ACPI S4 mode)."

Electricity Cost: $0.10 Dollars per KWh
PC/Display Power: 0.250 KW avg. while running
PC/Display Power: 0.200 KW avg. while in ACPI S1 Sleep
PC/Display Power: 0.008 KW avg. while in ACPI S3 Sleep
PC/Display Power: 0.007 KW avg. while in ACPI S4 Sleep
PC/Display Power: 0.007 KW avg. while OFF
Work Hours: 2080 Per year
Non-Work Hours: 6656 Per year
Total Hours: 8736 Per year
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual Operating Cost: $218.40 Left ON continuously
Annual Operating Cost: $185.12 In S1 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Operating Cost: $57.32 In S3 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Operating Cost: $56.66 In S4 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Operating Cost: $56.66 Turned OFF during non-work hours
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual Savings: $0.00 Left ON continuously
Annual Savings: $33.28 In S1 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Savings: $161.08 In S3 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Savings: $161.74 In S4 Sleep during non-work hours
Annual Savings: $161.74 Turned OFF during non-work hours


Using those figures, here are some calculations for annual power costs:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/power-supply-protection-calculate-consumption,review-32356-4.html

Nobody is arguing, just trying to help with pertinent information.

I think that article is outlandish, if not outdated.

Again, it does not give any details and up to 75W for a motherboard and 30W for a hdd? From which century? Lol..

I had a very high end desktop system that when idle would use less than 45W of power (the entire system with the dual monitors in standby mode). This was an i7 2600K with 32GB of ram and 4, 2TB (each) hdd's that I would allow to spin down, but the main system was always 'on' and never allowed to sleep.

The point is that a semi modern desktop system configured for the use you need won't use anywhere close to the articles you're linking to. And I would guess even at the systems full load.

250W 'average' while in use and 200W 'average' while in S1 sleep mode is a ridiculous claim for such a system (even if it applied to the test systems the article is about).


The $189 system you linked to with a 240W nominal power supply (with estimated sustained use of 180W or less, btw) cannot possibly be compared.

What you'll benefit from that system (as SEM has verified) is the added capabilities of that processor vs. all other options for a few dollars more. And, I would further assume it can give that superior performance while using less power too (dedicated hardware circuits always use less power than the general purpose processor will).

Yes, I don't think it will run at it's maximum capabilities ever as an pfsense server (but that is a good thing as it means the power required will be comparatively lower too).

What is your cost for each KWh of electricity?

If the $189 system gives you want you require for even 30W/h 24/7/365, I think you're still further ahead than a lower performance system which will run at 100% load and effectively much lower efficiency too. Not to mention a shortened lifespan.

 

[Rango]

Ok i think you're right. I just looked up the pdf spec for that 8100 pc and it uses 40W, i'm assuming /hr so it actually seems very low....weird.

40wx 24hr (day) x 365x (full year) = 350,400 watts :1000(kw) = 350.40 kw x 0.07596 cost/u =$26.61/ year

Hmm....that's really low....40w seems low but it's in specs ...hmm...if that's the case i'm sold

Unless they are severely under estimating it just to show under best conditions it uses this.

That can be reduced with SSD drive and other stuff you said. Interesting. I thought pcs were still hogging power.

Thanks man

 

[Rango]

And there is that 200w/idle ..... lol

@150w/idle his bill at idle is $99.81/year. Granted this is 4Ghz pc.

I don't know about my pc specs. It seem severely understated for Power Star ratings.