Comment by drnick1
14 hours ago
Ryzen 5 with a dual 10Gbps NIC, running Debian. Overkill for a router/firewall, but I run other services on the same hardware including an email stack, Podman containers, and small AI model for use within Home Assistant.
I wouldn't buy new hardware. Any modest machine built in the last decade would do. If possible, get a machine with an internal ATX power supply rather than an external brick, they tend to be more reliable.
If all you need is 1Gpbs and WiFi, OpenWrt on consumer hardware is probably enough though.
I have a Lenovo thin client running Debian as internet gateway/firewall. With some minor modifications and a small low power blower fan you can add a dual sfp pcie card in it (not all versions can, though there are more manufacturers of thin clients with 4x pcie slots). The blower fan is because the main fan stops often and it needs some cooling.