Summary

We are in need of a faster Gateway. While our current Gateway (a Intel Pentium J4205 has an average passmark of 2442 (918 single) is more than powerful enough for our gigabit connection;

just a single wireguard connection can easily spike the CPU usage to around 70%. We also want a smaller case (1U) so that we can have more space left in the rack.

Notes

an 11th gen Intel i3-1115G4 (6158 passmark, 2665 single) could easily do wireguard at ~2GB/s so ideally we want to get a system just as powerful or more powerful.
one option would be to move wireguard to Erratic instead, however that means that a remote reboot of Erratic will kill all connections.
Right now we have an UniFi Dream Machine Pro on loan to test if we like it.
CPUs are compared using cpubenchmark.net, cpus should be faster than what we have now.

Needs

The following things are what our new gateway should definitely have:

More than one nic (2 or more)
Replaceable ram and storage
1U case (although for motherboards we can put together or own 1U case)
Low power usage
Intel NICs
Minimal VGA output
No locked down cloud bullshittery
Ideally opnsense

Options

Bkhd 1U Server Intel Atom Quad Core C3558 6 Lan 2 Sfp + 10G

Link: https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005005238535931.html

Comes in a 1U case, can be configured with either a 4-core Intel C3558 (2417 passmark, 852 single) or a 8-core Intel C3758 (4750 passmark, 868 single). Has 6 lan ports and two SFP ports. See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3EMMYTdOYo

According to the Youtube video it idles around 20w and would spike up to 25w under load. (4-core version)

4-core price (w/8GB ram & 8GB eMMC): €502,27

8-core price (w/8GB ram & 8GB eMMC): €610,80

pros

Comes as a 1U case
Seems to come with a 12v Meanwell PSU build-in
Lots of lan ports
Has two SFP ports
The 8-core is about twice as fast as our J4205 in multi-threading

cons

Slower than than our J4205 single core wise.
The 4-core version is slower
China, so support could be icky (though we are a hackerspace)
No video out, only console.
Rather expensive. (Especially considering the performance)

Topton Intel I226 4x2.5G 11th gen i3-1115G4

Link: https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005005101103120.html

Configurable as Core i3-1115G4 (6158 passmark, 2665 single), Core i5-1135G7 (9939 passmark, 2709 single), i7-1165G7 (10378 passmark, 2846 single). Priced are €237,69, €393,10, €466,23.

Known to work nicely with proxmox and opnsense (I226 passthrough works without any issue). Also comes with a NVME slot and replaceable ram.

pros

Good bang for buck.
4 lan ports, console port and video out.
additional support for a 4/5G modem.
Even the cheapest option has a faster single-core performance than our J4205 in multi
Topton is a decent brand and their systems are often used for these applications.
Has 4x2.5G nics

cons

Runs a tad hot (imho - Melan)
Not a rack mountable design, though system is fairly small itself.

Topton New Soft Router

Link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006009250441.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2nld

A small mini-router that has a plectra of ports making it future proof, the default config is with 4x Intel 2.5gbe ports and it can be configured with either a extra 4 ports or 2 SFP+ ports. Meaning we could very easily plug-in directly from the XGPON. CPU wise, it has the following options:

Intel Core i3-8145U (3809 passmark, 2124 single) €354,78

Intel Core i5-10210u (6249, 2188 single) €423,76

Intel Core i7-10510U (6667, 2317 single) €443,46

Both the i5 and i7 are suiteable for our needs.

pros

2.5gbe and SFP+ makes it very future-proof
Console port
Topton
i226v

cons

Expensive
Not a rack mountable design
Highest 10th gen CPU is still very close to the 11th gen (even slower single core!?)

New R86S-N Mini Router

Link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005792590190.html A even smaller router, that comes with a 3*2.5G ports and two 10G SFP+ ports as well as a 12th gen Alder Lake CPU. Configureable with either a Intel N100 or a Intel N305.

Intel N100 (5628, 1974 single) €442,63

Intel Core i3-N305 (10110, 2252 single) €623,02

pros

2.5gbe and SFP+ makes it very future-proof
Small, low power consumption
i226v
Comes with 128GB MMC and 8GB ram, wi-fi 6

cons

Very expensive for minimal peformance gain