Recommend hardware for my setup?

It’s a good question. The answer is pretty simple though, it doesn’t actually do anything, that is nothing that you can control. Only control you have is WiFi ssid and password. No other control at all. Not static ip, no vpn, no well you get it…

If you only need wired pretty much any Marvell (ARM 32/64-bit) based solution should be fine.
Like this https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mv1000/ (64-bit)
If you can find a Edgerouter Lite (3-port) dirt cheap it would do the work however MIPS64 is pretty much dead but if you can find one for like 20-30£ I'd still say its a good buy since it's not a fortune if you need to upgrade later on. A used Linksys WRT1900ACS or WRT32XWRT3200 would also be solid choices.

I would pass on the GL-MV1000 (Brume). It is only a dual core ARM A53 at 1 GHZ and costs $139 shipped from amazon, whereas a quad core ARM A53 @1.3 GHz NanoPi R2S with metal case is only $62 shipped from FriendlyElec, plus another $10 for a 5Vx2A USB power plug if you do not already have one.

Why pay twice as much for a Brume with half the capability of a NanoPi R2S in your use case? You have AP's - you do not need WiFi - and you already have an Edge8x switch providing all the ports you need (and the Brume has few of those anyway).

If you can find a Marvell based WRTxxxxx for throw away cost and you have the space for it, then I'd agree, why not? But then, a NanoPi R2S is not very expensive either.

The Marvell hardware is much more solid than some bolted on Realtek PHYs/NICs (one is also connected via USB) but if you want to go that route sure... :wink:

because unless you paying for a business level fibre to your home, the top consumer fibre tops out at 1gb. Thus 1gb WAN is fine.
2.5gb internal lan gives you a better backbone for high traffic situations like backing up internal LAN clients to a NAS or streaming media from NAS/Plex server. In crowded households this would be preferable. Currently 2.5gb and 5gb backbone systems are usually pro business solutions and are expensive. The R5S makes it very cheap in terms of a solution. Usually you would have to go fibre internally for a backbone. Now you can do it with Cat7 cables instead.

Think of it like water pipes. You can only get a fixed size from internet but your internal pipes and storage tank in loft means everyone can have decent showers at same time (till the tank runs out).

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I suppose if accidentally dropped from sufficient height on a hard floor, the flexible plastic Marvell case might be less likely to show a ding, if its plastic doesn't chip or crack, than the solid machined aluminum NanoPi case.

Otherwise, their ports both support 1 Gb. I'm left wondering in what way one is any more functional than the other.

Look at how much ram you get with these other devices.

R4S gives you 4gb of ram. That is MORE than enough to run adblocking software like AdGuard Home and a docker for your Ubiquiti controller AND still have spare ram. the 6 cores it has will spread load around and you can even manually tweak which cores support what loads. A guy in the r4s thread uses his for motion detection on his cameras.

Most of those all in one routers have between 128mb and 512mb of ram. Thats not alot of memory if you want to have more than basic router capability. I looked at newer routers with all in one capabilities and some were up to £300 with wifi 6 but most were broadcom and fixed firmwares.

Yes £90 is expensive for the R4S but i have a business level router with enough ram and simple sdcard flash to configure in my way. If i upgrade to wifi 6 i swap my AC-Lite for most likely a ubiquiti wifi6. Combine that fact with it being cheaper than new routers and you have to ask why pay those prices for a less flexible solution?

90 for R4S
20 for my 8 port tp link switch
50 for my AC-Lite.

But now i can swap any of them for better upgrades for less than cost of doing similar with an All in One routers. And still cheaper than some the newer routers out there?

This is why i say to stop and think about what you want and what you have. Also consider all the vulnerabilities that have been released for older routers. Most of those aren't being patched or even supported by manufacturers anymore. Do you want your internet serving as someone else's botnet?

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/07/enterprise-wi-fi-at-home-part-two-reflecting-on-almost-three-years-with-pro-gear/ - Lee basically says similar here. You have a setup YOU control and upgrade as required, and is far more flexible for essentially similar price. The average consumer will just throw their old router and get a new wifi6 one. A smart person just gets a wifi 6 point and plugs it in and turns off their old wifi.

I am all for reusing old hardware if its cheap or even already yours or donated. But most the older routers are mips and really are getting EOL. My Bt hub5 just about managed minor blocking lists and routing. It was rather underpowered and lacking in ram. I would use it as a little router for a small house or a temporary fix to get someone running when their kit died. But the reality is most kit like that really needs recycling.