Linux kernel WireGuard can go 'fast' on decent hardware

by zdwon 6/17/2025, 12:34 PMwith 8 comments

by Octoth0rpeon 6/17/2025, 12:50 PM

This mirrors my anecdata on consumer (<$150) wifi router hardware. I recently upgraded my home router specifically for wireguard and it's been 5x faster than openvpn.

by hexmileson 6/17/2025, 1:17 PM

In addition to been faster it is also the only vpn that reliably handle roaming, without interrupting active connections.

by justincormackon 6/17/2025, 1:05 PM

My laptop can run chacha20 at 2GB/s on a single core. Encryption performance hasnt really been an issue for a long time. Most VPNs will be running AES128 that has hardware support and should be even faster.

by lotharcableon 6/17/2025, 2:03 PM

Used 10GbE ethernet components are cheap on ebay.

I built a 10GbE 'switch' by buying 2 4 port SPI+ PCIE cards off of Ebay and then joining them together with a conventional Linux Br0 bridge on a old Intel gaming machine. Had no problem keeping up with line speed.

I didn't test wireguard with it, but it should work pretty effectively for testing what speed it can get up to.