Re: [pfSense] Difference between APU4 and APU1C4

[Nickolai Leschov]

Thanks, Holger!

I didn't notice this page. So it looks like it's some kind of thermal paste
allows for adequate thermal conductivity between the CPU/south bridge and
the aluminum heat spreader, but the heat spreader is in dry contact with
the case? I find it less than adequate, but let's hope that it works. Looks
like I could manage to assemble that.

Now, how is the board held in place, inside the enclosure? Is it held in
place by 'screws and hex nuts'?

What is the thing in the second-to-last picture near the thumb of the
presenter's right hand: is it the SIM card tray? Is it accessible from
outside, after the installation?
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Re: [pfSense] Difference between APU4 and APU1C4

[Nickolai Leschov]

>
> Yes, there is a transfer "pad".

What is this pad made of: some metal or is this a thermal shim, which is a
sort of paste?
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Re: [pfSense] Difference between APU4 and APU1C4

[Nickolai Leschov]

>
> Bay Trail?  Why?  That's for tablets.

What's the difference, in practical terms?
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Re: [pfSense] Difference between APU4 and APU1C4

[Nickolai Leschov]

>
> Just like the others: dissipation through the aluminum case

How does the CPU connect to the aluminum case? Is there some thermal
interface involved? Maybe an interface between CPU heatsink and aluminum
case?

Mine get toasty but they haven't cooked yet. You could cut a fan in the
> case if you needed to.

That bothers me quite a bit, but what can you do? I would appreciate it if
the manufacturer had the wisdom to leave some margin in the design of the
device, thermal performance-wise.

You could cut a fan in the case if you needed to.

For a person like me, with a history of choosing computer hardware on the
basis of its potential to run without extra active cooling, and redesigning
computers to minimize the demand for active cooling - that's a blasphemy.
(a single low-speed PSU fan with huge CPU heatsink should be enough for
cooling a desktop; completely fanless is a bit too much by my judgement -
fried one PC that way)
The fact that this could be necessary, or advisable, annoys me greatly, to
put it mildly.
There's simply not enough possibilities out there to choose a proper silent
fan in such tight space constraints. Also, the possibility of degradation
of fan's sound profile (all fans become noisier when they age), performance
or outright failure, the difficulty of cutting the case properly and all
the possible complications that could come with it - are the issues I would
gladly sidestep entirely.

I wonder why they wouldn't just build the board with some appropriate Atom
CPU? Shouldn't that be more power-efficient? And maybe even
more performant, to boot? E3815 ,
probably? Though it's not clear whether its 6W TDP would be noticeably
better in practice than AMD's 6.4W
, but isn't
it kinda the manufacturer's job to ensure that the product won't croak with
the stock cooling?!
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Re: [pfSense] Difference between APU4 and APU1C4

[Nickolai Leschov]

The difference is not $200, but about $100 with 8GB Sandisk Extreme Secure
[sic!] SDHC card included.

1. What's *secure* about this card? I suppose it's a regular SDHC one.

2. I would like to pay less, but I'm worried about assembling it right with
regards to cooling. Can anyone clarify how is cooling achieved in this unit?
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Re: [pfSense] 802.11ac Mini PCI Express adapter for pfSense

[Nickolai Leschov]

Wow, that's some serious hardware, just from the look of it and the sheer
number of features. I was going to go for a compact solution of APU with a
build-in wireless, but I can see your point about the flexibility now.
Maybe I'll use APU with wireless card as a fallback solution (so that it
will have at least *some* wireless capability built-in), but won't have to
worry as much about the built-in wireless to be the best there is, as I'll
most likely have all of my wireless needs covered with this Engenius AP.

A couple of quick questions:

1. What will ECB1750 offer over ESR1750? I see the former is supposedly a
more consumer solution, but what's the actual difference?
2. Do you use multiple SSIDs? I suppose I could use separate wireless
networks for regular users and guests, is this the feature I'd use for it?
How does it mesh with the functionality of the (pfSense) router, I thought
it should be (wired) router's job to sort between the different networks?
3. This router boasts lots of power, which is great. Is it safe to use at
home, though?
4. What's your opinion about the criticism in this (most popular negative)
review on Amazon: have you encountered any of the drawbacks? Are any of
them fixed already?
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Re: [pfSense] 802.11ac Mini PCI Express adapter for pfSense

[Nickolai Leschov]

What is the status of pfSense 2.2?
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Re: [pfSense] 802.11ac Mini PCI Express adapter for pfSense

[Nickolai Leschov]

I had trouble finding the card that is listed in the HCL and is readily
available online; and I would like to double-check, anyway because who
knows what problems can there be? If anything, Wi-Fi looks like a less than
totally reliable and predictable technology and, even if everything works
as it should, some cards could have better performance and/or link
stability than others. I know some computers on my home network have issues
with link stability (the link regularly disconnects then connects again) -
the issue which I couldn't exactly pinpoint, though the fact that it's just
*some* computers (just Windows-based ones, FWIW) suggests that it must not
be the issue with the router.

Anyway, so far I've only found *one* model of the card available online:
WLE900VX 7A - 802.11ac QCA9880 Version 2 3x3 MIMO 3T/3R Dual Band Mini-PCIe

1. As far as I can see, it uses Atheros chipset (ath10k), so it should work
with pfSense?

2. What about the fact that this has 3 wireless antenna connectors mean
with regards to compatibility?

It would be nice to choose the hardware vetted by the community emmbers,
e.g. the one I know for sure was made to work already.
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[pfSense] 802.11ac Mini PCI Express adapter for pfSense

[Nickolai Leschov]

I would like to use a PC Engines APU  series
board with pfSense as a wireless router.

In their store, I can see 802.11n cards, at most, but can I use 802.11ac
already? Does anyone have positive experience with a 802.11ac and can
recommend a particular model?

Best regards,
Nickolai
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