[Cerowrt-devel] x86 router boxes with 2.5G ports

[Matt Taggart <matt@lackof.org>]

Serve the Home https://www.servethehome.com/  have been doing a bunch of 
reviews of some fanless router mini-PCs similar to the Qotom that I 
researched before and got a couple of(which have been great). They have 
been buying them from Aliexpress and they are mostly the ‘Topton’ brand, 
but also some similar no-name units. What is particularly cool is they 
are now coming with 4-6 Intel 2.5Gbit I225 NICs.

Here’s a bunch of links

* A 6x 2.5GbE Intel Pentium N6005 Fanless OPNsense pfSense Firewall Option
 
https://www.servethehome.com/a-6x-2-5gbe-intel-pentium-n6005-fanless-opnsense-pfsense-firewall-option/
* Topton Intel N5095 4x 2.5GbE Firewall Review
 
https://www.servethehome.com/topton-intel-n5095-4x-2-5gbe-firewall-review/
* Cheap Intel Pentium N6005 4x 2.5GbE Fanless Firewall and Router Review
 
https://www.servethehome.com/cheap-intel-pentium-n6005-4x-2-5gbe-fanless-firewall-and-router-review/
* Topton Jasper Lake Quad i225V Mini PC Report forum
 
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/topton-jasper-lake-quad-i225v-mini-pc-report.36699/
* Two Fanless Intel Celeron N5105 4x 2.5GbE Options Reviewed
 
https://www.servethehome.com/two-fanless-intel-celeron-n5105-4x-2-5gbe-options-reviewed/
* video review
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZK1l9bXDgs

Here are the CPUs they seem to come with (in StH’s preferrred order by 
price/perf/wattage)

model, family name, release,  core/thread, base/turbo, cache, TDP
---------------------------------------------------------------
i7-1165G7, TigerLake, 2020Q3, 4/8, 2.8/4.7, 12mb, 28W
N5105, JasperLake, 2021Q1, 4/4, 2.0/2.9, 6.5mb, 10W
J4125, GeminiLake, 2019Q4, 4/4, 2.0/2.7, 4mb?, 10W
N6005, JasperLake, 2021Q1, 4/4, 2.0/3.3, 4mb, 10W
N5095, JasperLake, 2021Q1, 4/4, 2.0/2.9, 4mb, 15W

(search for "Intel" and model name to get the Intel ark page for each)

The N5105 seems the best if you care more about power usage than being 
able to host a bunch of other cpu intensive stuff on it. Also has more 
capable pci-e, faster ddr4, newer, etc.

The are also some based on this one:

J6413, ElkhartLake, 2021Q1, 4/4, 1.8/3.0, 1.5mb, 10W, LPDDR4 3733

(faster ram but less cache).

Where to buy:

* Aliexpress Topton store https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1101224793
* N5105 4x 2.5Gbit $166, no serial
   https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804153987410.html
* N5105 6x 2.5Gbit $218, has serial
   https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804173890686.html

It's interesting that most of the units are marketed specifically for 
pfSense(but often say "soft router" or "network appliance" too).

All seem to be using Intel i-225. Some specs on this product sheet:
   https://cdrdv2.intel.com/v1/dl/getContent/639476

Apparently it's important to have the B3 stepping or later of that, 
earlier revs had issues, and many of the units on aliexpress explicitly 
mention B3. There is an i-226 now too, which some units have. Some 
people are speculating that it's just a rebrand of the i-225v B3 since 
the i-225 name is tainted now.

Anyone know about the state of the linux driver for this device? Does it 
have all the nice things one would want for SQM? Any hardware features 
that are nice (or should be turned off)?

I ordered a couple of the 4-port models to experiment with.

(FYI: StH also have some reviews of inexpensive 2.5G unmanaged switches. 
some with PoE too, but I haven't looked into them much yet.)

-- 
Matt Taggart
matt@lackof.org