pcengines replacement

rootbert

rootbert

I am looking for a replacement for my pcengines apu2 ... while it is an almost perfect fit for my needs, I need a somewhat faster device. Faster in the sense of I/O. I use it as firewall and storage system (via sshfs) - with 2 USB enclosures with 4x12TB HDD each. Accessing the USB disks is at about ~ 15-25MB/sec (compared to my AMD Ryzen system with ~ 150MB/sec) ... ~ 50MB/sec should be enough.

My requirements are:
  • fanless
  • ECC memory
  • CPU with AES
  • low power consumption (< 8W idle, <20W on average usage)
  • 2 ethernet interfaces, 3 would be ideal
  • at least 2 USB 3.0 ports, 3 would be ideal
  • smallish in size

any suggestions?
 
Doesn't fit you requirements precisely but as nobody else chimed in so far: At home I run an HP MicroServer Gen10+.
I have no complains with it so far (running it for three or four years now).

While it isn't fan-less it's extremely quiet. Unless I am pushing it the fan never reaches an audible level. In any cases, the disks are much more noisy than the one fan it contains.

Not sure if there are different versions but mine has 4x 1 Gbps Ethernet and 4x USB 3.x.
 
Unless you're going for used hardware (beware of hardware vulnerabilities) that's going to be relatively hard to find right now especially if you're looking for a low power device.
I think your best bet for now is a HPE MicroServer Gen10+ but its not in the same ballpark pricewise as your APU2 and not fanless.
https://www.servethehome.com/hpe-proliant-microserver-gen10-plus-review-this-is-super/6/ regarding power consumption

There are some nice ARM-based systems available but they don't tick all your boxes
 
thanks for the replies so far. All the nice boxes on various platforms like aliexpress such as HISTTON or qotom do not state anything about ECC memory. I might look into used thin clients with ECC or smaller Intel Atom systems
 
rootbert
If you're willing to sacrifice your ECC you have lots of options, I would however personally a bit careful about cheap chinese boxes especially since you most likely want bios updates etc for security concerns.
 
With storage systems, it's not "buy cheap, buy twice". It is "buy cheap, loose everything".
I would avoid these AliExpress things like the plague. Or if you could afford to loose the data they control.
 
Those Aaeon network appliances look very nice. One of the rack-mount ones could be a worthy replacement to my aging Sokeris net6501 when the time comes.
 
yeah I am fine with cheapos doing firewalling stuff where I can just throw in another box and deploy the config, however, I am hesitant with systems where I attach valuable data storage.

Protectli has nice boxes, but no ECC. I would like to buy something from the opnsense shop to support the project, however, they also do not have variants with ecc. Onlogic has some nice boxes, but > 2k € is a bit too much. The Aaeon look nice. And also the kobol with the ECC variant seems to be very attractive: https://wiki.kobol.io/helios64/intro/ - according to the wiki the chipset is supported by FreeBSD. Sadly the repositories on github have been idle for quite some time, but a benchmark suggests internally ~ 80MB/sec or via network ~40MB/sec speed - benchmark in german .

Jetway has some nice mainboards, but too expensive. Seems like I am really hitting a niche market, ECC is usually just offered for the upper performance class server/embedded stuff. www.minipc.de is a cool shop though an awkward webinterface should someone stumble upon this thread ...
 
Helios64 uses the same SoC as RockPro64, it's more or less the same hardware and a JMB585 SATA controller. A rough estimate would be that it's about twice as fast as your APU2 however per core performance is probably about the same.
 
Crivens said:
With storage systems, it's not "buy cheap, buy twice". It is "buy cheap, loose everything".
I would avoid these AliExpress things like the plague. Or if you could afford to loose the data they control.
Click to expand...
I think that our basic philosophies are similar, but I suspect my risk management profile may be different.

I don't want to tempt fate too much, but there is nothing in my hardware collection that can't be recovered from backup, so the probability of "lose everything" is actively managed, and extremely low. But, as you suggest, my "storage systems" are not Chinese origin...

However, at the extremities of my networks I have routers, firewalls, and media clients that generally boot from USB, and can be recovered quickly and easily, often with a simple hardware swap. This is exactly where these "AliExpress things" seem fit for purpose.

I have had one AliExpress thing for about 6 months, for testing and playing. I bought it bare-bones, and added branded memory sourced locally, plus a good quality 64G USB3 stick to boot from. It has no moving parts, and draws less than 10W idle (which is its usual state). I liked it so much that I just ordered another -- not exactly sure how I will deploy it, but I have a lot of 10+ year old hardware (with lots of noisy power supplies and fans) that's reaching end of plausible life.

I don't know how reliable this Chinese stuff will turn out to be in the long term, but it's not much different to a Raspberry Pi to me. It's cheap, highly functional, low power, noiseless, readily replaceable, and does the intended job very well. If it breaks, I drop it in the bin, and spend a bit more on the new hardware. I'm comfortable with that level of risk.

[Caveat: The integrated Intel graphics chips on these mini-PCs do not yet have main-stream support on FreeBSD. That will change in due course, but I am using Ubuntu 22.04 desktop LTS because it has a recent Linux kernel which supports the hardware. For the time being, FreeBSD runs fine in a KVM (and the Pentium N6005 CPU has enough grunt to make that pleasant). I have not yet tested pfSense or OPNsense on the hardware, but will probably do so when the next box arrives.]
 
Apart from possibly questionable reliability you rarely see any kind of aftermarket support and that include bios/firmware support which is a huge concern in my book.
 
diizzy said:
Apart from possibly questionable reliability you rarely see any kind of aftermarket support and that include bios/firmware support which is a huge concern in my book.
Click to expand...
My AliExpress things have an AMI BIOS, so plausible. But if I look at all the motherboards I own, or have ever owned, very few have ever had a BIOS upgrade. So, to me, (lack of) availability of "bios/firmware support" is just a part of the risk equation.

I am most worried about board level components failing prematurely.

However, it all comes down to cost, functionality, reliability and durability. The reliability and durability are uncertain, but the functionality is high, and the cost is low enough for me to be willing to take a (managed) risk.

I'll let you all know if it turns pear shaped :cool: .
 
While Denverton is 6 years old there are still manufacturers producing designs on it.

Some of the mature manufacturers.

NCA-1515

The NCA-1515, a desktop network appliance powered by Intel® Atom® C3000 (codenamed Denverton) CPU, features robust performance and Intel’s QuickAssist Technology, offering cryptographic acceleration and commercial-grade LAN functions in a 231mm x 200mm x 44mm (WxDxH) form factor.
www.lannerinc.com www.lannerinc.com

DTA 1160 - CPE/vCPE Appliance - Overview - NEXCOM

This page describes the Overview of NEXCOM DTA 1160 - CPE/vCPE Appliance. NEXCOM’s desktop appliance DTA1160 countenances inexhaustible possibilities of 5G applications.
www.nexcom.com www.nexcom.com
www.ieiworld.com

PUZZLE-IN003A Desktop Network Appliance

PUZZLE-IN003A Desktop Network Appliance with Intel® Atom® Processor C3000 Processor, up to 8 x 1 GbE on Board with 2 (by sku) bypass segments, 1 x eMMC 32GB
www.ieiworld.com www.ieiworld.com

Ryzen is a nice competing platform. I don't have any experiences.
The dual core C3336/C3338 is really low power.
 
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