PC for BI

First post here, and I'm let's say a little more than a little tech disabled. I've more or less avoided anything that requires spec'ing equipment.

So I initially was going to go the NVR route with a lorex kit(for simplicity). But the sale price disapeared after I added to my cart, and left me a little irritated. So I started researching everything else. Which led me here.

My brother recommended a BI setup, as that is what his co workers run(no first hand exp.), and that led me to more research here. And I've decided I'm going that route, and this will provide me the opportinity to become less tech ignorant in the process.

So I've been running through Ebay looking for used PCs that will fit the bill per the reccomendations in the WIKI. I believe I found one, but how do I know if it will accept or support 2 extra 4TB HDDs, or a second NIC? The descrption is as follows:

Dell Optiplex 7060 MT Intel i7-8700 16GB RAM 512GB NVMe SSD WIN 11
Condition is used. In full working condition. May show some signs of wear on body.
500GB NVMe m.2 SSD installed. Fresh install of Windows 11 installed and activated.
Will come with power cable.

This is priced at $250.00 shipped, I figured with the extra storage will put me at an aprox. Price of the NVR I was considering through empire tech.

I plan to roll this stuff together slowly and attempt to teach myself a bit about this world, but expect to add equipment as my knowledge & needs develop.

Will this be a suitable base to get things rolling?

TIA

crazy to pay 250 for a 6.5 year old pc..
You can look up the specs on dells website for storage bay capacity.

Ok. Thanks, I'll keep looking.

It looks like most all of the business class computers will only accept (1) 3.5" or (2) 2.5" hard drives, I see most recommendations are to run (2) 4TB drives for storage. Should I be searching for something other than optiplex, elitedesk & prodesk machines to be able to accomodate (2) 3.5" drives?

Is sub $200.00 for a 9th gen system still considered decent?

Here are a few I have "watched"

Dell OptiPlex 7070 Tower i5-9500@3.00GHz 8GB DDR4 RAM 256GB SSD Win11Pro +CM094 | eBay

Dell Optiplex 7070 Tower i7-9700 8-Core/16Gb/512Gb Nvme SSD/DVD-RW/Windows 11 C8 | eBay

Dell OptiPlex 5060 MT 3.00GHz 6-Core i5-8500 256GB SSD 16GB RAM Windows 11 Pro | eBay

DELL Optiplex 5060 SFF SIX Core i5-8500 3.00 Ghz 16GB NVMe 256 SSD + 1 TB HDD | eBay

Has DVD Drive, HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT, i5-8500, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 11 Pro | eBay

HP ProDesk 600 G4 Tower i5-8th gen-16 GB-256 GB SSD wifi Windows 11 Pro | eBay

I am looking for something with 2 3.5” drives also, and I’m currently thinking an elitedesk 800 G5 sff might be a good option. Something like this maybe?

Well, thats frustrating. Whatever I read last night led me to believe the SFF machines didn't have the space for 2 3.5" drives, so I've basically ignored them. Thanks for the info!

I have three 3.5" drive in my SFF by unhooking the optical drive that is never used. You want the EliteDesk not ProDesk SFF.

Optiplex SFF's only have room "officially" for one 3.5" drive.
Elitedesk SFF models have room for two 3.5" drives.
Either will have room for a 2nd NIC.

What made you determine you need two 4TB drives?

I run 6 Dahua cams, 4 record 24/7/365, 2 on motion. I get 3 - 4 weeks out of one WD Purple 4TB drive.

A midtower should have an expansion slot for the dual NIC. The NIC card requires an open PCIe slot which should be listed in the mfg's specs.

Rob2020 said:

What made you determine you need two 4TB drives?

I run 6 Dahua cams, 4 record 24/7/365, 2 on motion. I get 3 - 4 weeks out of one WD Purple 4TB drive.

A midtower should have an expansion slot for the dual NIC. The NIC card requires an open PCIe slot which should be listed in the mfg's specs.

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Reading through the posts here, I know it will be overkill, especially initially, but I do want the redundancy. Thanks for the info.

KnowledgeSeeker said:

Reading through the posts here, I know it will be overkill, especially initially, but I do want the redundancy. Thanks for the info.

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I use two 14TB drives, and I have no urge to downgrade.

RUMBLESTRIP said:

I use two 14TB drives, and I have no urge to downgrade.

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Wow!

since Dell has 50% off Dell OptiPlex 3080 SFF, and free shipping I went and bought an i5-10500 system today. Hopefully it wasn't too much of a mistake. 8GB RAM and 512G SSD. $274.50 shipped. I have an extra 8 GB DIMM that will go into it, and a large WD red is in it's future. Win 10 Pro, but it's in the list of Dells that can be officially updated to Win 11 Pro.

replacing a 10 YO i7-2600, so it was time.

LBJ said:

since Dell has 50% off Dell OptiPlex 3080 SFF, and free shipping I went and bought an i5-10500 system today. Hopefully it wasn't too much of a mistake. 8GB RAM and 512G SSD. $274.50 shipped. I have an extra 8 GB DIMM that will go into it, and a large WD red is in it's future. Win 10 Pro, but it's in the list of Dells that can be officially updated to Win 11 Pro.

replacing a 10 YO i7-2600, so it was time.

Click to expand...

I'm definetly not one to advise, as this is like learning a second language for me! I picked up one of the elitedesk 800 sff i5-9500 w/16GB Ram & 512 SSD W/Win 11 pro off Ebay($150.00+ship). So your deal doesn't sound bad (to me) especially as its coming from Dell. But I'm as green as they come! Thanks for the info, I may well have considered that, had I known about it.