# Is this build compatible with latest FreeBSD?



## altiris28048 (Dec 19, 2014)

Thought I'd leave this to the professionals, I want to build a PC for FreeBSD/pfSense and I want to make sure the main things are compatible like the processor and its integrated graphics, motherboard and motherboard LAN, and that's about it.

Intel Core i3-4150 Haswell Dual Core
AsRock H97 LGA 1150 Intel H97

The motherboard has an Realtek RTL8111GR. Is this supported on FreeBSD 10 or more importantly, pfSense 2.2 RC?


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## wblock@ (Dec 19, 2014)

The i3 as a processor, yes.  The HD4400 graphics... supported only by the vesa driver for X.  A pfSense system would run in text mode anyway (as far as I know), so this would not matter.

Realtek keeps changing the 8111 series.  Most are supported, but it seems like there is a slightly different version every week.

No experience with the motherboard, but it would be surprising if it did not work.


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## altiris28048 (Dec 19, 2014)

wblock@ said:


> The i3 as a processor, yes.  The HD4400 graphics... supported only by the vesa driver for X.  A pfSense system would run in text mode anyway (as far as I know), so this would not matter.
> 
> Realtek keeps changing the 8111 series.  Most are supported, but it seems like there is a slightly different version every week.
> 
> No experience with the motherboard, but it would be surprising if it did not work.


I am glad to hear about the CPU working, not so glad about the Realtek, but I guess I'll pick another board with a different chipset.

What about a Realtek 8111F-VL? Rather...is there a list with supported chipsets?


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## Oko (Dec 19, 2014)

altiris28048 said:


> What about a Realtek 8111F-VL? Rather...is there a list with supported chipsets?


Why are we talking about Realtek crap to begin with? Can you get a motherboard with industrial grade 1 Gigabit Intel controller? You can find dual Inetel 1 Gigabit network controller on e-bay for $10.


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## wblock@ (Dec 19, 2014)

The Realteks are important because so many motherboards include them.  However, some consumer motherboard brands have started to include built-in Intel controllers.  Gigabyte has some

An Intel add-in card or two is not a bad way to go.  Be careful about the eBay ones, as most of the cheap dual Intel boards are PCI-X.  PCI-X cards should work in a normal PCI slot, but many motherboards have components placed so the extra card edge will not fit.  If enough slots are open, two single-port cards will probably be cheaper than one PCIe two-port card.

Edit: Fixed sentence to say PCI-X cards should work in a normal _PCI_ slot.  PCI-X cards were meant for servers which had the larger PCI-X slot, but the card edge was made to be backwards compatible with a standard PCI slot.  The extra contacts are just unconnected, but the motherboard must not have large components in the area where that extra card edge will sit.  I have used server PCI-X Ethernet cards in plain PCI slots.  If the motherboard had interfering components there, I was prepared to cut the extra card edge connector off of the PCI-X card (there was nothing to lose, it would have been worthless if it could not have been used).  It turned out to not be necessary, though.


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## altiris28048 (Dec 19, 2014)

Oko said:


> Why are we talking about Realtek crap to begin with? Can you get a motherboard with industrial grade 1 Gigabit Intel controller? You can find dual Inetel 1 Gigabit network controller on e-bay for $10.


Because for almost every motherboard I look at (looking for inexpensive owns, $70-$99) it has a Realtek Lan chip


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## altiris28048 (Dec 19, 2014)

I've looked for ones with Intel and FreeBSD apparently doesn't support i281 or something like that I don't remember the exact name. I will be getting a 4 port gigabit PCIe network adapter regardless.


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## altiris28048 (Dec 20, 2014)

So, I found this post of someone running FreeBSD 9.2 and their Realtek RT8111GR working out of the box, although you said they seem to be changing every so often, do you mean such as the GR being added at the end?

The thread is here, https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/issues-with-intel-i218v.21122/
 do you think I should take the shot with the the mobo that has the RT811GR mobo?


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## wblock@ (Dec 20, 2014)

There are lots of different revisions of the 8111.  re(4) does not list them all by name, and I don't know whether they change the letters each time they revise the card.  Consider one of the motherboards that has an Intel card onboard.  I've got a Gigabyte H87-D3H with a built-in Intel I217-V which works fine.

Edit: it appears the current revision of that board is the H97-D3H (untested by me, though).


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## altiris28048 (Dec 20, 2014)

wblock@ said:


> There are lots of different revisions of the 8111.  re(4) does not list them all by name, and I don't know whether they change the letters each time they revise the card.  Consider one of the motherboards that has an Intel card onboard.  I've got a Gigabyte H87-D3H with a built-in Intel I217-V which works fine.
> 
> Edit: it appears the current revision of that board is the H97-D3H (untested by me, though).


OOO! I found a board with a Intel I217-V   this one is a bit more expensive but...meh.  Some guy here is saying its supported in 9.2 https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/does-freebsd-support-one-of-these-ethernet-controllers.40385/


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## ColdfireMC (Dec 21, 2014)

wblock@ said:


> The Realteks are important because so many motherboards include them.  However, some consumer motherboard brands have started to include built-in Intel controllers.  Gigabyte has some
> 
> An Intel add-in card or two is not a bad way to go.  Be careful about the eBay ones, as most of the cheap dual Intel boards are PCI-X.  PCI-X cards should work in a normal PCI-X slot, but many motherboards have components placed so the extra card edge will not fit.  If enough slots are open, two single-port cards will probably be cheaper than one PCIe two-port card.



Intel and Gigabyte always have some models with built in Intel NICs. Almost all Intel NICs are well-supported. I have used a classic proVE100 with my old PC, and now I'm using a 82579LM, everything fine. Some of the Non-supported were expensive multi-port NICs, those have only support via proprietary blobs on Linux, so FreeBSD support is not possible yet, don't remember where i have read it, but was when I checked if my 82579LM works on FreeBSD.

you can check em(4) and igb(4) are probably the drivers. Manpage does not have a complete and accurate list. Supposedly my NIC it's not supported, but I'm here posting


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