Best configuration for 30 cameras

Wiiiiiill · Aug 15, 2019

Hi all,

I am wondering which computer I can choose for my system, I need to have 30 cameras, 20/25 fps. I was thinking of having 2 powerful computers instead of 1 for more safety.

According to the CPU calculation of ipcamtalk, if I choose only one computer, I need :

30 X 2 x 25 = 1500 = i9, 9900k , not a lot of offers on Ebay so I guess it's not the right configuration I should chose. Let me know if I'm wrong,

If I choose two computers:

15 x 2 x 25fps = 750 = 3rd-7th gen i7 desktop or 8th-9th gen i5 or for more power i7 8700, i7 9700.

I found different computers and I would like to know if there is one that is more recommended, I would like the most powerful, reliable and silent one. Like everyone I guess.

Here is the list. I chose computers with SSD harddrives only:

Lenovo Ideacentre 710 Gaming Desktop Intel i7-6700 256GB SSD 1.5TB HDD GTX 960 190404313735 | eBay

Dell Inspiron 5680 Desktop i7-8700 8GB 128GB SSD + 1TB GTX 1060 WIFI Win10 Pro | eBay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Pavilion-570-p056-Core-i7-7700-12GB-1TB-Desktop-PC-Certified-Refurbished/372234190202?

Alienware Aurora R6 i7-7700 16GB RAM 500GB SSD Samsung Evo GTX 1060 6GB | eBay

Any suggestion? Which one do you think fit the most with my need?

Thank you!

area651 · Aug 15, 2019

wow....going to be a lotta cheddar involved in this one. This is going to be interesting to watch. If your cameras are $135 each (just guessing) and your computers are pushing $1k each then you're up $6k range already. You haven't even mentioned the poe switches you need for this outfit and there's a good chance you'd want some serious storage capability as you're talking a lot of data. Keep in mind how long you want to keep recordings for all these cams. I couldn't imagine this being for a home install with that many cams.

Ideas that come from my amateur mind:

storage amount need? (I'm inclined to think NAS might be considered here)
networking/ camera power need?
ups power backup? (assuming this is for a company so you might want no downtime)
20/25fps seems really fast (to me) for 30 cameras. If you're recording someone doing surgery then maybe but...wow. just seems like a high target.
If all of this is for a business, do you really want to go refurb/used? (just an idea)

Hopefully those with HUGE installs like this will be able to help. Me and my measly 5 cameras are nothing.

Cameraguy · Aug 15, 2019

Wiiiiiill said:
Hi all,

I am wondering which computer I can choose for my system, I need to have 30 cameras, 20/25 fps. I was thinking of having 2 powerful computers instead of 1 for more safety.

According to the CPU calculation of ipcamtalk, if I choose only one computer, I need :

30 X 2 x 25 = 1500 = i9, 9900k , not a lot of offers on Ebay so I guess it's not the right configuration I should chose. Let me know if I'm wrong,

If I choose two computers:

15 x 2 x 25fps = 750 = 3rd-7th gen i7 desktop or 8th-9th gen i5 or for more power i7 8700, i7 9700.

I found different computers and I would like to know if there is one that is more recommended, I would like the most powerful, reliable and silent one. Like everyone I guess.

Here is the list. I chose computers with SSD harddrives only:

Lenovo Ideacentre 710 Gaming Desktop Intel i7-6700 256GB SSD 1.5TB HDD GTX 960 190404313735 | eBay

Dell Inspiron 5680 Desktop i7-8700 8GB 128GB SSD + 1TB GTX 1060 WIFI Win10 Pro | eBay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Pavilion-570-p056-Core-i7-7700-12GB-1TB-Desktop-PC-Certified-Refurbished/372234190202?

Alienware Aurora R6 i7-7700 16GB RAM 500GB SSD Samsung Evo GTX 1060 6GB | eBay

Any suggestion? Which one do you think fit the most with my need?

Thank you!

@bp2008 @fenderman
Might be able to answer this post, they know their stuff. Some other guys do too.. I'm sure people will make some suggestions.. I'm thinking two i7-8700s but I'd wait to see what they are thinking.

biggen · Aug 15, 2019

I’m running about half that (13 Axis cameras) in my business. I’m running BI virtualized and having no issues. I plan on starting another post documenting my build but in a nutshell my host is an i9 9900 CPU but I only have 4 cores allotted to the Blue Iris Win 10 vm and I’m only at 60% load. This is with all camera recording at 30fps and half doing motion and the other half doing continuous.

I think you will be more than fine with a single i9 9900k host especially if you aren’t virtualized. It’s probably overkill to be honest. You will be able to use quick sync non-virtualized which really helps keep cpu usage low. That CPU will easily handle that workload.

But I wouldn’t use SSDs. You want lots of storage ideally so you want mechanical drives. I’m recording to a single 12TB Exos X and then another older 6TB WD Red. 18TB total storage. You will kill consumer level SSDs by writing to them continuously.

SouthernYankee · Aug 15, 2019

I would go with two systems. Do not have all eggs in one basket. The disadvantage of two systems to monitor two systems. I would go for an SSD for the OS and BI. I would use multiple drives and have 4 to 6 cameras writing "NEW" to each drive. Do not move new to stored. I world have a camera only network with Two NICs in each computer

On a big system that is critical to the business, please use A double conversion sine Wave UPS. They are expensive but well worth it.

Calculate your MP/SEC and go here to see what other systems do.
Blue Iris Update Helper

bp2008 · Aug 15, 2019

If you're willing to run two systems, I would suggest two with i7-4770 / i7-4790, and run the cams at 15 or 20 FPS. There's a pretty good deal on two of them here:

i7-4770 | eBay

Now, each of those will only hold ONE 3.5 inch HDD so you'll want to make them big. You can use a $20-30 SSD in each for the OS drive and clip storage. See this thread for some links to videos on HDD + SSD installation: Dell Optiplex 9020 SFF: number of drive bays & size of drives

To run all 30 cams on one system at 25 FPS I would recommend nothing less than an i9-9900K build, which you will be lucky to do for less than $1000, not including large HDD(s). I wouldn't bother buying 8th gen at all, because the price is nearly as high as 9th gen, but 9th gen has more cores.

Cameraguy · Aug 15, 2019

bp2008 said:
If you're willing to run two systems, I would suggest two with i7-4770 / i7-4790, and run the cams at 15 or 20 FPS. There's a pretty good deal on two of them here:

i7-4770 | eBay
View attachment 46009

Now, each of those will only hold ONE 3.5 inch HDD so you'll want to make them big. You can use a $20-30 SSD in each for the OS drive and clip storage. See this thread for some links to videos on HDD + SSD installation: Dell Optiplex 9020 SFF: number of drive bays & size of drives

To run all 30 cams on one system at 25 FPS I would recommend nothing less than an i9-9900K build, which you will be lucky to do for less than $1000, not including large HDD(s). I wouldn't bother buying 8th gen at all, because the price is nearly as high as 9th gen, but 9th gen has more cores.

So each of these will do 15 cameras each at 20fps easy?

Cameraguy · Aug 15, 2019

bp2008 said:
If you're willing to run two systems, I would suggest two with i7-4770 / i7-4790, and run the cams at 15 or 20 FPS. There's a pretty good deal on two of them here:

i7-4770 | eBay
View attachment 46009

Now, each of those will only hold ONE 3.5 inch HDD so you'll want to make them big. You can use a $20-30 SSD in each for the OS drive and clip storage. See this thread for some links to videos on HDD + SSD installation: Dell Optiplex 9020 SFF: number of drive bays & size of drives

To run all 30 cams on one system at 25 FPS I would recommend nothing less than an i9-9900K build, which you will be lucky to do for less than $1000, not including large HDD(s). I wouldn't bother buying 8th gen at all, because the price is nearly as high as 9th gen, but 9th gen has more cores.

Some reason cant see those. This has a ton of ram
HP PRODESK 600 G1 SFF -i7-4770 32GB RAM 750GB HDD DVD RW WINDOWS 10 | eBay

bp2008 · Aug 15, 2019

15 (cameras) * 1920 * 1080 * 20 (FPS) = 622,080,000

622 megapixels per second is well-within the capabilities of i7-4770 / i7-4790.

If I was going to spend > $200 on a used PC I would at least make it an i7-4790. They are a year newer and a couple hundred MHz faster.

Wiiiiiill · Aug 15, 2019

Thank you all for your answers, very helpful and thank you for looking for nice deals for me Concerning the links I sent is there one better than the others or are they all the same approximately? They seem to be more expensive than the ones you found, is there a specific reason? Esthetic? I'd like someone nice looking if possible, not "office like" as I cannot really hide them

bp2008 · Aug 15, 2019

i7-8700 is considerably better than the others you linked, but I would not suggest buying that particular listing. It is simply too expensive for what you get, and has a graphics card you don't need.

If you like the look of different models, then by all means get what you like. I just tend to find Optiplex and similar business systems are the best deal because they are cheap and plentiful.

Wiiiiiill · Aug 15, 2019

I see what you mean, this makes total sense, I'll try to find a mix if I can. Thank you so much!

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Best configuration for 30 cameras

Wiiiiiill

Young grasshopper

area651

Getting comfortable

Cameraguy

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biggen

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SouthernYankee

bp2008

Cameraguy

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Cameraguy

Known around here

bp2008

Wiiiiiill

Young grasshopper

bp2008

Wiiiiiill

Young grasshopper