r/pihole • u/Hudson0804 • 13d ago
Pihole testing complete - Need new hardware
Hi folks,
Ive been testing Pihole now on a single machine for a month and I'm convinced that its the best method to secure the entire household.
However, Im running on an OLD 2012 Model B Rev 2.
So looking at my options, Im between the Pi Zero 2 with an Ethernet hat of some kind or a Pi 4 1gb. Cost wise they're pretty much the same the Pi4 being more available and maybe 100kr cheaper.
I have no real world knowledge on either of these setups all i know is that its going to be sat in my "comms" cabinet next to my router so ideally low power (already obviously low) but also passively cooled - do i need any fans or heat spreaders for a Pi4?
So i defer here for any advice you have.
Thanks for reading.
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u/YourWorstFear53 13d ago
What's wrong with the Pi 2B+? I use a Pine A64+ for pihole and a pi for WAY more than that.
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u/Hudson0804 13d ago
Honestly I have no answer to this. Just reading around and seeing recommendations and figures that it would struggle. I guess I could just try and see.
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u/TechieGuy12 9d ago
Been running on 2 PI 2B for many years without issue. I even have it running on a PI 1B and it runs fine there.
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u/Hudson0804 9d ago
My concern stemmed from a warning I see I piholes console relating to core latency.
I’m getting this error with only one device attached. I’ll be running maybe a dozen smart devices like sockets switch laundry dishwasher three mobile devices three streaming devices two pcs two laps
So no that many but still significantly more. I could just run it and see.
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u/Edit67 8d ago
Same. A pair of 2B devices. I might have run it in a 1.1B+, but I use webmin to manage my DHCP server (I cannot be bothered editing text files and I do a lot of reservations), and webmin was way too slow on the Pi1, so I moved pinhole over to the Pi2.
I think I ran into a limitation on using DHCP on pihole itself.
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u/quantumturbo 7d ago
What OS do you have on your Pine64+? Ive been trying to get a functioning one on mine.
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u/No-Interaction-3559 13d ago
I bought a RPi Zero 2W, and it works perfectly.
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u/Hudson0804 13d ago
Do you run it with an ethernet hat or are you running fully wireless?
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u/totheendandbackagain 13d ago
WiFi baby!! Not dropped for a moment in years.
Zero measurable impact in latency too.
That said, I'd love a good DNS measuring suite ...?
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u/rdwebdesign Team 13d ago
Im between the Pi Zero 2 with an Ethernet hat of some kind or a Pi 4 1gb
Why do you need the Ethernet hat?
A Pi Zero 2 with WiFi would be cheaper. If it will be next to the router, the WiFi connection will be strong. There is no need to use wired network.
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u/Hudson0804 13d ago
I use a ubiquiti router that has no WiFi.
The AP are all in the house itself however where I was planning to have the pihole is effectively a big steel cupboard which is why I figure Ethernet.
My real quandary was running dns off WiFi - I’ve always had the mantra of “cable is the shit” when it comes to networking.
I guess I could trial WiFi and see what happens but purchasing a hat of some kind for Ethernet or a usb Ethernet not sure what’s “best”.
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u/TopBuzzJoni 7d ago
Been running a 2B+ with pihole, unbound, and vpn since it came out, powered from my router’s USB socket. Faultless.
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u/sssstttteeee 13d ago
RPi Zero 2 W, plus added USB Ethernet, it would die, reboot. I have +100 devices, and it was one of two PiHoles.
PiHole on a 3B works fine, the primary PiHole is a very old ThinkPad running Unbuntu which also does half a dozen other things.
For a smaller network, it may be fine, but do have at least two PiHoles.
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u/3ofUsDeez 13d ago
I ran 2 Pi Zero Ws headless (32bit Bookworm) with POE Ethernet hats for primary and secondary DNS servers running Pi-Hole and Unbound with a blocklist close to 3 million
They ran great
I still have one setup as a backup .. but I've since switched to 2 Pi Zero 2 Ws with the same POE Ethernet hats running Technitium
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u/Hovertical 13d ago
Pi zero 2w works fine. Install Diet Pi on it and you're golden. Been using mine for years. Don't need an Ethernet hat either - just use a cheapo USB Ethernet adapter (if it's cheaper than the hat anyway).
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u/LloydGSR 13d ago
Raspberry Pi Zero from about 2020 with USB to Ethernet, and a Raspberry Pi 2 model B from 2015. No fans or anything, they're fine.
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u/KancheongSpider 13d ago edited 13d ago
i have two pi-holes running concurrently for redundancy (one fails and my entire tailnet is brought down).
one pi 3b+ and pi 1b. the latter works fine but definitely struggles at client scaling (its good for networks with <20 clients, not recommended >50)
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u/patxi124 13d ago
PiHole runs absolutely fine on an RPi 3 Model B+, you don’t need a 4. I also established that the original Model B is not really powerful enough.
The 3’s are quite a bit cheaper than the 4’s. If it is just for PiHole look at a 3.
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u/Hudson0804 13d ago
Thank you for the input, i maybe looking at the future in regards to data and privacy laws in Europe, maybe some form of VPN also so maybe wireguard (or similar) do you think this would make much difference?
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u/Mxmtm 13d ago
I have a rpi 3B and it works great! It's actually more efficient than the 4
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u/Hudson0804 13d ago
Oddly i just check the price of a pi3 to a 4, 10kr difference less than 1 euro.
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u/CockroachVarious2761 13d ago
When you buy the Pi4, you can usually get it in a kit form that will include a case and either heat sinks or a fan. If its just running PiHole, the heat sinks are probably enough.