RyzenRouter

[tictoc]

The gem of this build is the 1.5U chassis.  This oddball chassis size will allow for quiet 60mm fans, and a dead silent cooler for the CPU. 

 

This router will slot right into the top of my quiet networking/power rack.  The switches and UPS's in the rack have already had transplant surgery to swap out the stock 40mm and 80mm fans for some quieter Noctua fans.

 

Parts List:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 Pro 4350G

Motherboard: AsRock B550M-ITX/ac

RAM: 2x 16GB Micron DDR4 3200 ECC UDIMM

SSD: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 500GB

NICs: Intel X550-AT2 10GBASE-T; Intel E1G44HT 10/100/1000

PSU: FSP FlexGURU 500W 

 

 

The stripped down chassis.

 

There will be some mods to the chassis. 

• IO will be facing the front along with the 2 NICs, and the provided plates don't have provisions for that setup. 
• PSU will also be relocated to what will now be the rear for tidy power cable management.
• Add a filtered intake to the top for the CPU cooler

 

I am also going to try and stuff one of my PiKVMs into the chassis.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to squeeze it between the PSU and the front of the chassis, but there should be just enough room to get it in there.

Edited November 1, 2022 by tictoc

[Cerberus]

one pci-e but two cards?

[The Pook]

30 minutes ago, Cerberus said:

one pci-e but two cards?

 

assuming he's going the bifurcation route? 

 

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Cerberus]

31 minutes ago, The Pook said:

 

assuming he's going the bifurcation route? 

 

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*hey, eyes, look more better*

[Sir Beregond]

28 minutes ago, Cerberus said:

*hey, eyes, look more better*

[tictoc]

2 hours ago, Cerberus said:

one pci-e but two cards?

 

2 hours ago, The Pook said:

 

assuming he's going the bifurcation route? 

 

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

You assume correctly.

[pio]

Moar!  

[ENTERPRISE]

Nice. I love small compact builds. Always gives me inspiration for my next pfsense build, though that is a little way off at the moment. 

 

Is that a Noctua low profile CPU cooler in the picture?

[Sir Beregond]

6 minutes ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Is that a Noctua low profile CPU cooler in the picture?

Looks like a NH-L9i in black.

[ENTERPRISE]

1 hour ago, Sir Beregond said:

Looks like a NH-L9i in black.

That's what I was thinking to be honest. The low profile coolers from Noctua are awesome.

[tictoc]

Things have been busy, but I had some time over the weekend to get this partially up and running.

 

 

 

I'm leaving the PCIe cables just in case this chassis gets repurposed some day.  The rest of the cables are stashed under the PSU.

 

Currently stress testing (mprime, y-cruncher, and stressapptest) on a minimal Arch install. 

At stock clocks, CPU boosts to 4050MHz all-core while running mprime blend, with CPU fan set to "Standard" mode in BIOS.  Looks like there is quite a bit of headroom on the CPU, so I will be OCing the CPU on the overkill router.  Currently power usage is sitting at 85W at the wall while running mprime.    

Both NICs detected and all ports are working with the PCIe slot set to x8 x8.  Bifurcation options in the BIOS are x8 x8, x8 x4 x4, and x4 x4 x4 x4.  

ECC UDIMMs booted right up at 3200MHz, and can be monitored for errors via rasdaemon.  Totally unnecessary for a router, but I have a bunch of extra ECC UDIMMs, so into the router they go.  No issues at 3200 with jedec timings, so it looks like I will also be OC'ing the RAM.   

 

List of things still to complete:

• Fab custom top panel with filtered cut-outs for cooler intake and intake above the NICs
• Replace secondary 8-pin EPS with custom length 4-pin EPS for the bifurcation card
• Fab/install power switch, power LED, and activity LED
• Install and wire up remote power break-out board for PiKVM

 

Once I finish the rest of the build, then it will be on to testing VyOS. 

Edited November 1, 2022 by tictoc

[tictoc]

Life got in the way over the last many months, and I haven't put this router in to production.  I am currently just running off of my old EdgeRouter, but I will be putting this build online in the next month or so...

 

Here are some final pics with everything installed and wired up. 

• PiKVM tested and fully functional with the ability to power on/off and access the UEFI remotely.
• Hardware power and reset buttons are installed behind the front mesh, to the right of the NICs, just to make sure I can't accidentally hit the buttons if I am working on the rack.

 

 

 

I am still leaning towards VyOS, but I might ultimately go with OPNSense.  I'll post some final pics after it is up and running in the rack.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by tictoc
typos

[Fluxmaven]

I considered building something like this when I did the last network refresh, but I knew I wouldn't spend the time to get it right and implemented so I went the easy route and just dropped in a UDM Pro.

 

Build came out nice though. It's cool that you were able to stuff the PiKVM into the chassis.