Hardware choices

[Hibbie]

Hey all, potential customer here.

I recently acquired some old machines from an IT-supplier that was going to dump them. As such, I have a few desktops that seem to be more than good enough to run an untangle firewall. For example an

i5-4590, quad core, 3.30Ghz, supports DDR3 (2x4GB currently)
i5-6400, quad-core, 2.70Ghz, supports DDR4 (1x4GB currently but room for more)

I'm wondering if DDR4 offers a big advantage over DDR3, or if raw CPU power would be better?

I've also found a PCI card with 2 additional NIC's, so that totals 3 which should be fine.

I was looking into an additional PCI card to add wifi, but I'm reading that untangle is picky on software drivers, and 'only supports US frequencies on 801.n'. I kinda know what that means but not sure if that's a problem for me in Europe. Since a simple AP at home costs close to nothing I'll probably just not risk it, right? (I'd secretly like to, though)

[oj88]

To me, both systems are over-spec'd for all but the biggest setup. I'd pick the 2nd one (i5-6400) just because it uses less power.

DDR3 vs DDR4 means little to Untangle. What does matter is size... I would pick 8GB over 4GB of RAM, but that really depends how big your network is going to be.

A lot of people advise against using a WiFi card. Those are typically optimized as clients, not APs. Consider using a true AP or even a repurposed commodity firewall that has built-in WiFi.

[donhwyo]

Look for an access point that can run openwrt so you can get updates in a timely manor.

[theoak]

I would choose the 2nd one also. It has a more modern CPU and the option for more RAM.

[balrog]

Upgrading in the future: the second.
No upgrades planned: the first.

Memory is more important than cpu in your case. As others have mentioned, just repurpose any consumer class router as AP, rather than PCI wifi card for performance and less issues in the future.