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25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

michael.stapelberg.ch

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Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#41

Post by j1elo »

IgorPartola wrote: post #10
j1elo wrote: post #4

I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7. In this case replacing a typical router (which consumes like a lightbulb), with a full-fledged PC (probably consuming like x100 the power). I guess some people around the world have quite cheap utility bills! For me, it's either a Raspberry Pi type of power consumption, or else a server that only…

What kind of light bulb? :) A typical consumer router will take up something like 5-10 watts. A PC will suck in 20-50. Remember that the PC will be a lot more powerful so it’ll spend most of its time with low CPU usage. Say the worst case scenario: 45W difference. 45W * (24 * 30) / 1000 = 32.4 kW*h/month. At $0.10 kWh rate that’s $3.24/month, less than a cup of Starbucks coffee.

Oh my I wish those $0.10 kWh... in here we have 3 prices through the day (depends on what time it is), and the cheapest one is already higher than that :)

Anyway I did the math and it would be $7/month. More than double your estimation, but still not horrendous. Although for that range of prices one might be able to find a managed instance machine in some cloud provider...

(edit: somewhere in the process I lost track of the fact this was a price _difference_ calculation, so it's adding $7 to whatever was already the cost with a more power efficient machine, which ofc. depends on number and type of HDs and other equipment)

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#42

Post by adamcharnock »

baybal2 wrote: post #39
adamcharnock wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remote file storage I can just about see. But most consumers are streaming content (certainly TV, but possibly increasingly games), so where are all these multi-gigabyte files coming from on average 20/30-year-olds laptop/iPad? I don’t think people are shooting that much video, are they?

Renting storage, and accessing it over 10gbps at home may be cheaper than building your own multi-tb storage rack.

Absolutely. But from what I’m seeing, the average consumer’s need for storage space is decreasing not increasing.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#43

Post by vladvasiliu »

easygenes wrote: post #36
philjohn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a middle ground - either an Intel Atom or Intel Celeron based server - typically use around 10w and you still get niceties like SATA and even PCIe

Also plenty of slightly more capable laptop class SKUs that are in this ballpark.

Can you still find "desktop" motherboards to go with them?

A long time ago, I remember there being desktop MBs for the Pentium M.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#44

Post by crispyambulance »

adamcharnock wrote: post #17

What is the practical consumer (or even SME) use of a 10 or 25G connection? As a consumer I’d definitely get it for the fun of it, but what is the point in reality? We’ve just launched an ISP a couple of weeks ago here in Europe. Peak bandwidth use is about 3mbps per customer, and customers will download the same amount of data regardless of their plan. I acknowledge this could be lack of imagination on my part, but…

I can't imagine ANY reason that a private household would actually need a 10G or 25G connection unless it's doubling as a workplace and they're hosting servers. Even that seems like a temporary stop-gap situation, get some rackspace in a datacenter already!

Maybe they're not selling enough 25G to their business customers and they're trying to get private users onto 25G?

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#45

Post by manbash »

t0mas88 wrote: post #38
ianai wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The machine's clearly massive overkill for routing. Another commenter points out it typically runs around 50w - and the OP says they're also using it as a server in this thread.

The problem is running it 24x7, then a small 50w is still 438 Kwh each year. That's more than a 10% increase in yearly use for a typical two person household...

Now it's up to the person to decide whether increase in living cost is worth it, which... is kinda normal. I think I spend more money on other things that I take enjoyment from.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#46

Post by londons_explore »

easygenes wrote: post #32
j1elo wrote: post #4

I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7. In this case replacing a typical router (which consumes like a lightbulb), with a full-fledged PC (probably consuming like x100 the power). I guess some people around the world have quite cheap utility bills! For me, it's either a Raspberry Pi type of power consumption, or else a server that only…

I have a computer in a room that’s generally otherwise too cold… so all that power is just useful heat dumped into the room.

If you pay a lot for electricity, you could get heat cheaper with a heat pump, gas furnace, or simply adding insulation on the roof/walls so any heat you do add lasts longer.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#47

Post by rzzzt »

j1elo wrote: post #4

I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7. In this case replacing a typical router (which consumes like a lightbulb), with a full-fledged PC (probably consuming like x100 the power). I guess some people around the world have quite cheap utility bills! For me, it's either a Raspberry Pi type of power consumption, or else a server that only…

I do remember a "smart NIC" making its rounds in the news a few years ago -- although "few" in this case might be >10. It was essentially a low-power machine in itself (with no Raspberry Pis in sight yet) that could finish an HTTP download or receive e-mails without waking up the host computer. But that's more high-level than the buffering/relaying of packets you are thinking of.

Edit: a bit weird, I wrote a very similar comment a year ago about this item. Now I feel slightly compelled to find the news source for it...

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#48

Post by teekert »

j1elo wrote: post #4

I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7. In this case replacing a typical router (which consumes like a lightbulb), with a full-fledged PC (probably consuming like x100 the power). I guess some people around the world have quite cheap utility bills! For me, it's either a Raspberry Pi type of power consumption, or else a server that only…

My home server is about 70W, meaning about 150€ a year (~0.20 eur/kWH). So about 12€ a month. For one of my biggest hobbies. It’s fun, but it also runs WireGuard, 3 NextCloud installs, Home Assistant and Mosquitto, 2 MineCraft servers, a FoundryVTT instance, samba, sabnzbd, Unify Controller, an Nginx static site, LibreSpeed, VaultWarden and soon a Django site. Oh and a virtual desktop (vnc) I can always leave running with stuff open.

Do I need all of that? Meh, but it’s not bad value for money-wise IMHO. Perhaps mostly because I just enjoy it.

Edit: of course the thing itself was also quite expensive but not much more than a decent NAS which I think is a must for many people anyway.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#49

Post by baybal2 »

adamcharnock wrote: post #42
baybal2 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Renting storage, and accessing it over 10gbps at home may be cheaper than building your own multi-tb storage rack.

Absolutely. But from what I’m seeing, the average consumer’s need for storage space is decreasing not increasing.

Average consumer? Internet companies are responsible for a few percents of the labour market in some parts of the world.

Not so few people genuinely need gigabit+ internet for work.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#50

Post by t0mas88 »

manbash wrote: post #45
t0mas88 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is running it 24x7, then a small 50w is still 438 Kwh each year. That's more than a 10% increase in yearly use for a typical two person household...

Now it's up to the person to decide whether increase in living cost is worth it, which... is kinda normal. I think I spend more money on other things that I take enjoyment from.

Sure, it's just that many people don't think about this impact because 50W sounds low.
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