Has anyone installed OpenWrt on a pcengines system board?
https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2.htm
As I understand it this is an x86 based board.
Plenty of people using them. I'm running one myself.
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I run a apu2d4 with 2 mikrotik adapters.
Great little device.
As long as this is the form factor you are after, in my opinion probably the best device for a DIY router.
Only downside is its a bit pricey.
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What sort of price are we talking about?
Do you have a WWAN card installed? If so which?
Another happy APU user here. No WWAN, just have a wifi card in mine.
In terms of pricing, mine was around 200 USD. You can price it in their online store, or contact a distributor listed on their store page if there is one in your country.
Looks like pcengines boards are way out of my budget, I'm only interested in a small home system.
Is there a cheaper (X86 based system) altenative available?
It really depends on what you need. Nearly any x86 PC can do the job, so any mini-PC with 2 network interfaces is a fine choice. If you need wifi as well then you will want mini-PCI slot(s) (from what I recall, most USB wifi adapters don't have great driver support for use as an access point).
All that said, budget and x86 aren't really compatible. The more PC-like your device, the more energy (and cost) it will use over time. That's one of the advantages of the APU series - very low energy. So if there's not a really compelling reason to need x86 (like heavy packet inspection, >500Mbit throughput, high speed VPN connection) then it might be better to look at flashing an existing router or choosing one of the good SoC options (like products in GL iNet's range, for example - the AR750s-Ext is very good for the money and comes with OpenWRT preinstalled).
I installed OpenWRT on an APU.2e4, with a 16GB mSATA SSD and an LTE PCIe module for backup Internet access.
It is supposed to replace my Fritzbox router eventually once the configuration is mature. I have installed OpenWRT v19.07.1 without much trouble, but the configuration is in an early stage.