Replace your ISP router with OPNsense, pfSense or OpenWrt on a fanless box. Multiple Intel 2.5GbE ports and stable drivers matter most — even an N100 routes multi-gigabit with IDS and VPN.
You need at least two ports (WAN + LAN); four or more lets you split VLANs physically. Intel i226-V is best supported in FreeBSD-based OPNsense and pfSense.
Routing 2.5 Gbps is easy. Suricata/Zenarmor inspection and WireGuard/OpenVPN at multi-gigabit speeds is what consumes CPU — N100 handles most home connections; N305 adds headroom.
A router runs 24/7 in a cupboard. Passive cooling removes the most common failure point; just give it airflow.
Bare metal is simplest. Running the firewall as a Proxmox VM with NIC passthrough lets the same box host other services, at the cost of complexity.
Four-port i226-V N100 boxes route 2.5 Gbps with firewall rules and WireGuard at ~6 W, fanless.
| Graphics (iGPU) | Intel UHD (24 EU) |
| Memory Architecture | 1x DDR4/DDR5 SODIMM (Up to 32GB) |
| Storage Exp. | 1x M.2 NVMe + 1x 2.5" SATA |
| Idle Power | 5W – 8W |
| Est. Barebone Cost | $120 - $180 |
OPNsense Firewall, Pi-hole, Plex DirectPlay, lightweight Proxmox cluster nodes.
Twice the cores for Suricata/Zenarmor at multi-gigabit, with Intel i226-V ports — some boards add SFP+ for 10G fibre.
| Graphics (iGPU) | Intel UHD 32 EU |
| Memory Architecture | 1x SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz |
| Storage Exp. | Up to 4x M.2 NVMe + 2x SATA |
| Idle Power | 9W – 15W |
| Est. Barebone Cost | $220 - $310 |
High-bandwidth TrueNAS SCALE box, multi-tenant router, localized NVR security server.
| Network | 2–6x 2.5GbE, ideally Intel i226-V; SFP+ for 10G fibre |
| CPU | Intel N100 or better, with AES-NI |
| Memory | 8 GB; 16 GB with IDS/IPS or as a VM host |
| Storage | Any small SSD — 128 GB is plenty |
| Cooling | Fanless preferred |
| Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics (24 EU) |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5-4800 soldered (12GB option) |
| Storage | 6x M.2 2230/2242/2280 (1x PCIe 3.0 x4 + 5x PCIe 3.0 x1), Up to 24TB |
| Idle Power | 6W – 7W (no drives) · ~17W with six SSDs |
| Price | $525 (N150/16GB/1TB) |
Intel N100 / N305 Micro Node