Which NanoPI for 1G Symmetric?

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hello everyone!

I've been scouring the documentation / web / forum for some advice about my needs:

  • No WiFi (will explain later)
  • As small / power efficient / as possible
  • Supports "comfortably" 1G / 1G Fiber at home
  • Support sometimes 2 people (2 phones, 2 tablets, 4 computers), but it's not unusual to have family over so we can get 8+ people (I know it's not much, but just to give a ballpark).

Some context:
I recently moved to our new apartment, and the fiber terminates in a stupid part of the home (kind of a corner), and that's where the ISP ONT is, and where the contractor put a mini-rack where all the LAN for the apartment terminates. I did not have any say in this, it's "standard" (well, I could, but it would have cost extra). "Wife approval factor" is already at its maximum because the mini-rack is kind of hidden away. Inside there already is:

  • The ONT
  • Our current router, that have absolutely nothing to complain about, a Dynalink DL-WRX36 with proper OpenWrt flashed on it
  • A PoE 8 Port 2.5G switch (with 1 10G SFP+)
  • A mini-server that runs all my docker containers and it is kind of at its limits
  • Cameras NVR, Security System Hub, etc etc

So the space is crammed and hot even with a fan. The Dynalink is temporarily "shoved in there" because well, there were other priorities than optimizing the space during the move. As you might imagine, WiFi performance is terrible because of both the physical position of the mini-rack itself, and how shoved the Dynalink is in there.

Now, as the why I am asking this.

From work I got my hands on two Zyxel NWA50AXPRO. I flashed them with OpenWrt. Then I positioned them in a more considerate way around the apartment. WiFi has been considerably better. Okay, it's not 6E or 7, but much better than before.

The poor Dynalink is doing its job with wifi off, but in there its getting really hot and I wouldn't mind spending 100-150 EUR to get a 1 purpose router for this (and not going to lie, would love to tinker a bit more). Then recoup some of the investment by selling the Dynalink. I've landed on this models (from cheaper to most expensive), feel free to correct me if I'm wrong:

  • NanoPi R76S
  • NanoPi R5S-LTS
  • NanoPi R6S

I would have gone immediately for the R76S, seems perfect for me, but reading around it seems to have some hiccups, also checking the support it seems to be lacking behind (25.12.4 vs 25.12.5). I've been bit more than once by platforms that have great initial support from talented people, but then they need to be inevitably dropped because of their hardware limitations.

So I ended up with decision paralysis.
That's what brought me here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2

12.5 is available - https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?target=rockchip%2Farmv8&id=friendlyarm_nanopi-r76s

I would go with a passive x86, but the usual suspects (often < $50) seem hard to find in EU;
Lanner NCA-1010B, Advantech ARK-1123 and Cloudgenix ION 2000.

There's the Fujitsu Futro S920 (quad core version) and S940, but they're larger.

3

Those three options you mentioned are indeed very hard to find here in the EU. They all seem good options.
And while the Fujitsu Thin Clients seems great (also because of the expansion), they are definitely too big. They could be "shoved" like the Dynalink, but I worry they'll cook themselves since they're passive.
So going x86 is so much better than staying on NanoPi (or whatever other version)?

4

probably not, x86 is just nicer, IMHO ,)

5

I'll probably wait and see if I can score some decent x86 deal on ebay (that's not from the US.. 85$ shipping lol). Otherwise, I'll go with NanoPi. As soon as I figure out which one is best!

6

Oh, look at that!

I just found a spare ARK-1123 right here, on my desk ,)

7

My only complaint is that "spare" is GbE. My ISP does have the possibility to upgrade to 10G / 1G fiber.. Not that I will do it now, but.. :sweat_smile:

8

I've had the possibility to upgrade to 10/10gbit (from 1/1) for the last 8 years or so (5-10€ extra/mo), still haven't been able to find a reason why I should, and I already own the hw required.

if you want to future proof your hw (it's usually a bad idea, at least financially) there's the w1700k shipping to EU from US Amazon.
it does have wifi though, and a fan.

9

You can't just drop the name of a shiny new toy to someone that likes to tinker and call it a bad idea.. I would jump on it this instant. :sweat_smile:
I can get it for 122$ delivered to my door. It is a bad idea tho.

10

I've used a R5S, it can do 1Gbit with SFO enabled easily and doesn't have hybrid cores to mess with to get good performance. But not sure about symmetrical, this was on an asymmetrical cable modem (1gbit down 50mbit up).

I say go with the new R76S to have the headroom, just know that since it has heterogeneous cores you will need to tweak it with irqbalance and/or flow pinning to the faster Corex-A72 cores to get that kind of throughput. Don't worry about a few early software hiccups, by the time OpenWrt 26.x hits (kernel 6.18) it'll be another incredibly solid device choice for >1Gbit connections.

Edit: if you're not sure what I mean about flow pinning you can see a guide someone did for the R6S here, the R76S would be similar.

A new device to look at is the Slate 7 Pro (GL-BE10000), it has 2x 2.5Gbps ports, and the Filogic SoC it has can do hardware offloading so 2.5Gbps symmetric will be easy with low CPU load. It's brand new so a bit pricey and hard to find still though though.

11

Thanks! I think the Slate 7 Pro is pushing the budget quite considerably, even if it is a very very nice piece of hardware. Maybe a bit of a shame to hide it in a mini-rack hidden in a closet.
I think currently the run is between the R76S (for which you gave me pretty good reasons to trust) and the W1700K (with WiFi off).
Both allow me to tinker (in different ways) which I find satisfying, both seem to be tailored to my needs, and both can be acquired for around 120$ shipped (If we consider a case for the R76S included in the price).
All in all, great advice.
Thank you all! :slight_smile: