Hello, guys,

I'm setting up a network in a new apartment and need a router to act as gateway. I have a gigabit connection from my ISP and it uses PPPoE. The network will consist of a PC, TV, a few smartphones and a couple of laptops. It may grow to something more, but nothing sophisticated, like a game console or another TV. The router will be installed in a 6U 10" rack and I won't need wi-fi capabilities, as I will have another wireless router positioned in a better place. Plus, most wireless routers have external antennas which will take up space in the rack.

The setup will be something of the like: fiber optic cable from the ISP to my apartment -> ISP ONT -> my router.

Searching for Ethernet routers, I came upon MikroTik products and they seemed nice. I am no expert in networking whatsoever, but I am learning so I don't mind a little complexity. My first thought was to get the RB750Gr3, then I saw RB450Gx4 thought it has a better processor and will be more "future proof". Finally, reading the forums and reddit, I'm looking now at RB4011, which is certainly powerful, but I'm wondering if it might be overkill for what I'm doing.

Do you guys have any advice? Should I get something from MikroTik or some conventional router will do just fine?

Thanks.

The RB450Gx4 will be able to handle the 1gig connection for sure but you still need to buy a power supply and case...............
The RB4011 will handle upgrades to 2-4gig SFP and greater levels and has gobs more CPU power (1400 freq vice 700 freq) and 5x faster vpn speeds.
Depends upon budget.

PPPoE is quite CPU heavy to handle. I would definitely go for a RB4011, if you are planning to use that Gigabit.

The RB450Gx4 will be able to handle the 1gig connection for sure but you still need to buy a power supply and case...............

The retailers here offer the whole package, so that's not a problem. The use case for the router I'm looking for is an edge router and switch for my home network. I was looking at RB4011 because it has a powerfull CPU, but I keep reading complaints about its switch chip on this forum and this is one of the two functionalities I need. Seems the switch chip on RB450Gx4 is more appreciated.

As I said, I am no expert and I don't know the difference between the two chips (except that, due to the architecture used, RB4011 cannot handle VLANs). I don't think this is such a drawback for me, so other than this, is RTL8367 a good chip?

As I said, I am no expert and I don't know the difference between the two chips (except that, due to the architecture used, RB4011 cannot handle VLANs). I don't think this is such a drawback for me, so other than this, is RTL8367 a good chip?

If you don't envision to use VLANs in your network (e.g. even if you will split your LAN to two or more subnets, you'll connect them to separate ethernet ports of router), then switch chip, built into RB4011, will do just fine. It will perform wire-speed switching of LAN traffic between different ethernet ports without involving main CPU.

I Hardly think you will notice speed issues on a home network with the RB4011.