Best EVER Fanless Mini PCs for Virtualization and Firewalls?

The biggest processor innovation in a decade for these fanless firewalls and virtualization nodes brings a massive performance boost. We take a look at the newest fanless firewall and virtualization hosts from CWWK and Topton and see why this might be the OPNsense, pfSense, and Proxmox VE node of choice for quiet #homelab setups in the future. STH Main Site Article: https://www.servethehome.com/almost-a-decade-in-the-making-our-fanless-intel-i3-n305-2-5gbe-firewall-review/ STH Top 5 Weekly Newsletter: https://eepurl.com/dryM09 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Where to Find The Unit We Purchased Note we may earn a small commission if you use these links to purchase a product through them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - CWWK N305: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DEKRDej - CWWK Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qhLmKN - Topton N305: hhttps://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DD9Pm4B If you are trying to save money with the barebones, this is probably what I would outfit the system with: - Amazon (Affiliate) G.Skill 16GB DDR5: https://amzn.to/45QicSX - Amazon (Affiliate) WD Blue 500GB SSD: https://amzn.to/42pf7WY You want something cool with fanless systems, not hot and fast. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Become a STH YT Member and Support Us ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Join STH YouTube membership to support the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv6J_jJa8GJqFwQNgNrMuww/join STH Merch on Spring: https://the-sth-merch-shop.myteespring.co/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Where to Find STH ---------------------------------------------------------------------- STH Forums: https://forums.servethehome.com Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ServeTheHome Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servethehome-com/ Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServeTheHome/ Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servethehome/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other STH Content Mentioned in this Video ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Intel N100 and N200 Fanless: https://youtu.be/58nVTNYrJ3E - Intel Alder Lake Fanless: https://youtu.be/6rtRwKlJTgU - Beelink EQ12 Pro with i3-N305: https://youtu.be/69ZsA_QToBE - Example of setting up Proxmox VE with OPNsense/ pfSense: https://www.servethehome.com/topton-intel-j4125-4x-i225-fanless-virtualized-firewall-appliance-review-pfsense-opnsense-proxmox-ve/3/ - iKoolCore R1 N6005 Review: https://youtu.be/evbuR8WvA6s - R86S Review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-YLy-RRZnM - ASRock 4x4 AMD Ryzen 7 5800U: https://youtu.be/oqwnD5zKXqQ - Three 6x 2.5GbE Fanless Systems: https://youtu.be/tZK1l9bXDgs - Two Fanless N5105 Systems: https://youtu.be/xExmvIHEQao - VMware ESXi and pfSense on a 6x 2.5GbE Core i7 Fanless System: https://www.servethehome.com/topton-fanless-intel-core-i7-1165g7-box-running-vmware-esxi-veeam-and-pfsense/ - 4x 2.5GbE J4125 Unit (Topton): https://youtu.be/IJhlqb4iGn4 - 4x 2.5GbE J4125 Unit (Hnsun): https://youtu.be/wUcDg_ms0is - 4x 2.5GbE N5105 Unit: https://youtu.be/rUuaAPG0PxU - 4x 2.5GbE N6005 Unit: https://youtu.be/Q4_SyLV7s60 - Netgate 4100 pfSense Plus Review: https://youtu.be/8-qT2D5wDD0 - TinyPilot Raspberry Pi KVM: https://youtu.be/l7i-hm_E2ls - Lenovo M80q Tiny Gen 3 review: https://youtu.be/kbMnivjy-E0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Timestamps ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Introduction 01:38 External Hardware Overview 05:05 Internal Hardware Overview 10:38 Performance 13:17 Power Consumption 15:52 Key Lessons Learned 18:02 Wrap-up