Does anyone have experience, or knows about in using a PC and Linux as a
high speed router?

I currently have a situation where I have about 230 nodes on a switched
network using a single class C address.  I am going to have to add about
24 more nodes in the next couple months which will use all of my
available addresses.  I also don't really want a switched network that
large.

I'm currently thinking about using a small Linux distro, about a 1
gigahertz PC, and gigabit NIC's.  I would like to use a small distro
that is current (not LRP) and easy to manage.  If it can gather stats
and stuff that would be cool too.  I would also like to be able to
expand the router to 4 NIC's in the future.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Thanks
Jim Streit