Protectli Vault FW6A - 6 Port, Firewall Micro ApplianceMini PC - Intel Dual Core, AES-NI, Barebone

The Protectli Firewall Micro Appliance FW6C is a barebone unit with an embedded CPU that requires adding your own RAM and mSATA to function. The maximum amount of DDR4 RAM that can be supported is 32GB, and filling up both memory slots is recommended to take advantage of the dual-channel architecture. Although the FW6C runs hot, an external fan can keep the processor temperature down. The hardware does not contain a watchdog timer. Users should buy their own high-quality RAM and SSD, as the ones that come pre-installed with the box are not of the best quality. Protected Firewall Micro Appliance FW6C is perfect for those who want to run their router or firewall on pfsense. Users can utilize it for Proxmox and Untangle with Sophos UTM Home using VMware ESXi, but apparently different Untangle features have different CPU requirements. Buyers should check the PassMark score for the CPU they are getting as this particular model has a score of ~1200, whereas it would take over 1500 to get near 1Gbps on a fiber connection, even without any DPI running like Suricata. The unit has six ports and is suitable for wiring various wired and wireless devices across a dozen VLANs. The system is stable and can push full throughput at 1G without any issue. The unit has a solid and steady hardware device and performs like a tank, making it suitable for home labbing. The FW6C is built to last a while and has plenty of performance for small lan configurations. Protectli's level of customer service is high, and support for the product is excellent.