Which CPU for Blue Iris?

tsutton · Aug 16, 2017

Due to budget, I am looking to purchase 2nd hand Intel i5 CPU.

And I have the choice of these two kit...

1) i5-3470S (2.90GHz)
2) i5-2500 (3.30Ghz)

In GHz terms, i5-2500 wins.

But, is i5-2500 good enough for Blue Iris? Why should I pick this over 3470S? Or the other way round?

Currently running 3 x Hivision & 1 x Foscam at 24/7 recordings.

Thanks,

Tolting Colt Acres · Aug 16, 2017

Intel Core i5 3470S vs 2500

Intel® Core™ i5-2500 Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.70 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i5-3470S Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz) Product Specifications

DLONG2 · Aug 17, 2017

I had read on another thread that the I5 6th Gen should be the minimum processor for a few cameras. Nayr has said elsewhere: "need to lookup CPU and verify it has Intel HD Gfx (QuickSync)"

fenderman · Aug 17, 2017

DLONG2 said:
I had read on another thread that the I5 6th Gen should be the minimum processor for a few cameras. Nayr has said elsewhere: "need to lookup CPU and verify it has Intel HD Gfx (QuickSync)"

you dont need a 6th gen processor for a couple of cams.

xyvyx · Aug 17, 2017

I just recently read a post from somebody comparing H264 quality compressed with/without Quick Sync... can't find it at the moment, but I think his conclusion was that the CPU-offloaded quicksync video was significantly faster, but the quality & resulting file size wasn't as good.

And there's also this, which shows which processors support which quick sync features/compression codecs:
Intel Quick Sync Video - Wikipedia

The 3470S is Ivy Bridge

My recently-built BI box uses an i7-7700T processor and I've enabled the HW H264 decode + VPP.. definitely helps the overall CPU utilization, but I haven't attempted to compare video quality using it.

Oh, and they're probably scarce on the 2nd-hand market, but I suggest finding a T series processor if you can... IMO, a lower wattage CPU makes the most sense on machines running 24x7 like these.

i5-2500 - 95 watts
i5-3470S - 65 watts
i5-3470T - 35 watts. (only 2 cores + HT vs 4 actual cores)

Granted, this is at night (lower framerate) w/o much of any motion... but this is 5 cameras. 1 Reolink 4MP and 4 1080p cams.
You can see the CPU drop in the graph from when I close the BI admin interface.

tsutton · Aug 17, 2017

Thanks all.

It does look like i5-3470S make sense as it will also save on electricity bill too. I will explore further with this CPU.

Cheers all!

aristobrat · Aug 17, 2017

xyvyx said:
I just recently read a post from somebody comparing H264 quality compressed with/without Quick Sync... can't find it at the moment, but I think his conclusion was that the CPU-offloaded quicksync video was significantly faster, but the quality & resulting file size wasn't as good.

That's interesting. The recommendation for recording is to have the "Direct To Disc" feature enabled, which I thought meant the video doesn't get re-encoded... It gets written to disc exactly in exactly the same format/quality that it's received from the camera. @fenderman, is that correct?

xyvyx · Aug 17, 2017

aristobrat said:
That's interesting. The recommendation for recording is to have the "Direct To Disc" feature enabled, which I thought meant the video doesn't get re-encoded... It gets written to disc exactly in exactly the same format/quality that it's received from the camera. @fenderman, is that correct?

Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that too... but then, since BI does motion-detection, I figure it has to decode the video to do the analysis and whatnot. It might record that stream as-is (if "direct to disk" is chosen), but the content of the video still needs to be decoded. Not sure if the same applies to the admin UI when rendering it on-screen...

fenderman · Aug 17, 2017

xyvyx said:
My recently-built BI box uses an i7-7700T processor and I've enabled the HW H264 decode + VPP.. definitely helps the overall CPU utilization, but I haven't attempted to compare video quality using it.

Oh, and they're probably scarce on the 2nd-hand market, but I suggest finding a T series processor if you can... IMO, a lower wattage CPU makes the most sense on machines running 24x7 like these..

The T processors doesnt give you much low power consumption if any..there is a big difference between TDP and actual power consumption...the T processor needs to use more percentage of the cpu under the same load....It is recommended to use a full power processor...
furthermore quicksync has zero effect on file size...the ONLY parameter that affects file size the the bitrate the camera is sending...

TL1096r · Aug 27, 2017

xyvyx, can you tell me how you are using the reolink with no issues with BI?

xyvyx · Aug 27, 2017

Fenderman is right... at idle, the T (and S series) processors will draw about the same amount of power as regular or K-series chips.
The T models are throttled to limit the maximum heat generated to allow for limited cooling system. In my case, I was originally planning for a tiny, quiet system using a pico-PSU. My plans changed when I found a small Inwin raid-friendly box w/ a 250w SFX (or TFX maybe) power supply.

So for a given workload, they'll run at a lower clock speed than a regular processor and take longer to complete the same task. I've seen the same benchmark of Ivy Bridge chips comparing the different models and how, over time, the S series took more watts to complete the same task. Granted, that was for a benchmark. And for a chip released 5 years ago. Blue Iris doesn't max out the CPU like, say, Handbrake does. So it runs at more moderate, non-turbo levels, similar to how the TDP ratings are defined.
If there's a benchmark showing how the version of the Kaby Lake perform with THIS workload, I haven't found it yet. If you have, I'd love to see it!

@TL1096r

I wouldn't say "no" issues, but my Reolink generally works fine. It's wired and drops connection more than my wireless Amcrest. That said, I think I just used the auto-detected settings. I think at first, maybe I chose a camera type and was unable to control the PTZ features.

Under the PTZ control tab, I just have Network IP selected with ONVIF (OXML).

TL1096r · Aug 28, 2017

Yes good ol' video drops with reolink, very annoying

I am using the reolink NVR so it is going through that so our setups would be different, it lags no matter what setting I have but you cannot really do anything through the reolink NVR to change what the camera will send to BI from what I am seeing.

What is PullPointSubscription?

I will send Receive Buffer (MB) to 6 but that is sent from the camera from my understanding.

I had this camera for close to 2 years now, I hear they don't last that long from feedback so I will have to look into a new camera setup probably. Reolink is really popular in the market, their reviews and amazon rating etc all makes it very appealing, when you see that 4MP without knowing better it also is misleading.

xyvyx · Aug 28, 2017

Drekko said:
Right now with motion detection profile running and no gui just the blue iris service running it stays around 50 to 60% CPU load

Also is Direct to Disc the right choice for this CPU and motion detection profile for all cameras?

If you haven't done so yet, try selecting direct-to-disc recording for all 5 cameras and compare the CPU utilization.

One of the main drawbacks to this setting means that BI can't overlay text/data to the recorded video stream. So if you want the timestamp visible in your recordings, you'd have to have the camera itself overlay that info. I haven't played enough w/ motion detection settings myself...

looney2ns · Aug 28, 2017

Optimizing Blue Iris's CPU Usage | IP Cam Talk

Drekko said:
hi guys

Just reading this thread also

I have an i5-3570k good processor for its time. Hows it now for 5 cameras? ( has QuickSync)

1 is 8mp (4k) and the rest are 4mp

Right now with motion detection profile running and no gui just the blue iris service running it stays around 50 to 60% CPU load

Also is Direct to Disc the right choice for this CPU and motion detection profile for all cameras?

Also have no dedicated GPU ( not sure if I should get one yet)

TL1096r · Aug 28, 2017

xyvyx said:
If you haven't done so yet, try selecting direct-to-disc recording for all 5 cameras and compare the CPU utilization.

One of the main drawbacks to this setting means that BI can't overlay text/data to the recorded video stream. So if you want the timestamp visible in your recordings, you'd have to have the camera itself overlay that info. I haven't played enough w/ motion detection settings myself...

Has anyone have a good off the shelf computer that can run BI without issue that is under $500, the other thread I saw on this subject was a bit older and wanted to know if anyone had good luck finding something now. I want to set up a dedicated computer with just BI as when I switch from reolink to dahua I won't have a NVR.

aristobrat · Aug 29, 2017

TL1096r said:
What is PullPointSubscription?

Some cameras support a more advanced version of Motion Detection. Dahua calls theirs IVS, and I think Hikvision calls theirs Smart Events. Anyhow, PullPointSubscription (on supported cameras -- I think BI currently supports Hikivsion but not Dahua) lets BI record when the camera has one of these events. Seems like most folks use Blue Iris itself to do motion detection, but this is an option available for those that want their cameras to do it.

Drekko said:
Also have no dedicated GPU ( not sure if I should get one yet)

That's usually not recommended. It may help on BI setups that have a 4K TV always hooked up to them, etc, but you have to be careful that your system doesn't disable the on-board graphics when a dedicated GPU is used (because that can disable Intel QuickSync too).

TL1096r said:
Has anyone have a good off the shelf computer that can run BI without issue that is under $500,

Good deals come and go quickly, and may not reappear for a few more days (or sometimes weeks).... so it's hard to recommend an exact model for a specific price point.

TL1096r · Aug 29, 2017

aristobrat said:
Some cameras support a more advanced version of Motion Detection. Dahua calls theirs IVS, and I think Hikvision calls theirs Smart Events. Anyhow, PullPointSubscription (on supported cameras -- I think BI currently supports Hikivsion but not Dahua) lets BI record when the camera has one of these events. Seems like most folks use Blue Iris itself to do motion detection, but this is an option available for those that want their cameras to do it.

That's usually not recommended. It may help on BI setups that have a 4K TV always hooked up to them, etc, but you have to be careful that your system doesn't disable the on-board graphics when a dedicated GPU is used (because that can disable Intel QuickSync too).

Good deals come and go quickly, and may not reappear for a few more days (or sometimes weeks).... so it's hard to recommend an exact model for a specific price point.

Thanks for the info! For the price it is not a big deal if it is a variation of a few hundred $ if it gets the job done. I am looking for a computer that can handle BI 24/7 and record 24/7 and can accommodate a purple HD

bp2008 · Aug 29, 2017

xyvyx said:
I just recently read a post from somebody comparing H264 quality compressed with/without Quick Sync... can't find it at the moment, but I think his conclusion was that the CPU-offloaded quicksync video was significantly faster, but the quality & resulting file size wasn't as good.

For what its worth, decoding H.264 with hardware acceleration has no quality loss. Encoding H.264 with hardware acceleration (which I don't think Blue Iris can do yet) does result in lower quality for a given bit rate compared to a well-tuned CPU-only x264 encode.

HDC · Sep 2, 2017

Any hw recommendation for running at least 6 4k cameras with BI?

aristobrat · Sep 3, 2017

HDC said:
Any hw recommendation for running at least 6 4k cameras with BI?

Pretty much all recommendations are wrapped up in the Wiki here:
IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk

Looks like an i7 processor would be recommended for that many MP.

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Which CPU for Blue Iris?

tsutton

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Tolting Colt Acres

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DLONG2

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fenderman

xyvyx

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tsutton

Young grasshopper

aristobrat

xyvyx

Getting the hang of it

fenderman

TL1096r

xyvyx

Getting the hang of it

TL1096r

xyvyx

Getting the hang of it

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TL1096r

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TL1096r

bp2008

HDC

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