My mission: To build a low power many port router for pfsense that i could use for content filtering, vpn's, and multiple gateways for my vast and complex network.

Ok so it's not exactly $35, i did use some parts laying around, BUT the cpu/mobo, riser, and quad nic were $35. I just added some cheap ddr3 ram i had laying around, an 8gb ssd i bought for $10 just for hte hell of it a few months ago. Hooked up a psu i had laying around, and BAM.

First was a cheap ass cpu/mobo combo. I found the GIGABYTE GA-D525TUD on ebay for $25 with atom d525 dual core 1.8ghz cpu. Then I needed a riser. Ebay has those floppy pci risers, and not knowing what type of 1u case I'd end up with it seemed good.

Then, I needed a nic. Quad port or better, I wasn't messing around. Now, I know and love my PCI-X intel PRO/1000 quad nic's I have in my file servers. They're fast and cheap. And PCI-X is backwards compatible. Now, this is where it gets complicated. PCI comes in a few different flavors. You have 32 bit, 64 bit, 3.3v, 5v. The mobo is keyed at hte back, indicating 5v, where-as the intel is keyed at the front, indicating 3.3v. However if a card is keyed in both slots, it's universal, and that's what I was counting on.

The intel PRO/1000 is keyed in the front, but there's no pin in the rear where the key would go. So I thought, what if it's just not cut. It's a $7 card and a $25 board, if i break it, i break it in the name of discovery.

There is one VERY IMPORTANT limitation of this build! 32bit PCI bandwidth is ONLY 132MB/sec. That's 1gb/sec. If you internet is FASTER than 1gb/sec and need all 4 of those ports to go at full speed, you're on your own. This will work fine for 99.99% people out there. My internet is not that fast, so I don't care.

First, testing with my truely universal pci-x dual port nic that is keyed in both slots, with the riser that everyone told me would never work. You can see the dual port netxtreme on the monitor in the background:



Here's the nic before surgery:



The razor didn't work, but a jewlers file did



It booted, so the whole hting didn't fry, just had to wait in great anticipation to see if it actually recognized the nic's, was the card actually working.



Miraculiously, it worked and was recognized!



It worked and is now installing as I type.

So to all you adventuring computer folks out there, try something different even if people tell you it won't work.

To all those in irc who said it'll never work, my gear is shit, I don't know the difference between a toaster and a server and who were generally rude, I hope you get hit by a bus.