PFSense - Hardware - Power Consumption
pfSense does not need to run on very powerful hardware. It does not require much power to run
Ideally it would make sense to have pfSense installed on a small low-powered fanless device as these consume very little power (10w on idle); but these are costly (£500)!
An alternative would be to have pfSense installed onto an old PC. A PC however is more likely to have a larger PSU (80w or higher), which will cost more to run due to using more electricity.
What we should take into consideration is not what we pay now, but how much we pay in total over a period of time.
- Lets take a 5 year view, as this is a common length of ownership for a PC.
- Cost per unit of electricity is around 16 pence. 1 unit is 1kw/hr.
Here is a breakdown:
| Low Powered Device | Repurposed PC | |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Price | £500 | £0 |
| Typical idle | 10W | 80W |
| Cost of running 24h | 3.84p | 30.72p |
| Cost of running 365 days | £14.02 | £112.13 |
| 1st Year Cost (Initial price+1 year running) | £514.02 | £112.13 |
| 5 Years Running Cost | £570.01 | £560.65 |
NOTE: Even after five years, the Repurposed PC is still cheaper.
So from a cost perspective a PC would make sense to run pfSense.
Another benefit of using a PC is that it is highly likely it will have a higher spec CPU (and possibly have more cores / threads) which will provide better performance.