Computer for Router?

[jsrip2012]

I'm thinking of building a Small router setup at home running either pfsense or m00nwall.

Was wondering the advantages and disadvantages from a computer setup as a router or a router bought from a shop.

I was thinking of building one because of the advantages of having a vpn solution, better firewall and intrustion detection systems etc, but not sure whether to invest or not.

Anythins appreciated

 

[t53186]

A decent cisco router will give you all the protection you need along with a vpn, unless you have some reason to protect some highly sensitive information. If that is the case, build a server to use as a dns, dhcp, firewall, and proxy server to keep your LAN computer away from direct connection to the web.

 

[Kewlx25]

A decent cisco router will give you all the protection you need along with a vpn, unless you have some reason to protect some highly sensitive information. If that is the case, build a server to use as a dns, dhcp, firewall, and proxy server to keep your LAN computer away from direct connection to the web.

You can build your own router that can handle 10Gb forwarding rates(minus the 10Gb NICs) for about the same price as a Cisco router that can handle 100Mb/s.

The biggest difference is you can call Cisco for support and an embedded router consumes a lot less power, right now. Haswell CPU next year should make a custom-built router quite power efficient.