BI recommendsHD Graphics, i7-6700, QuickSync , Hardware Accelleration, huh?

[nbstl68]

I've read here and on the BI site itself they recommend \ (require maybe?) your setup have "Intel HD Graphics" and hardware acceleration and QuickSync .
Google searching a bit about that left me a little confused.
It appears there are many variations of "HD Grahpics" like 450, P4000, 4400,etc etc.
So which is required for BI and is this something that can be updated?

Is QuickSync separate or part of the chipset? How would I know is a build has it?

Also not all of them appear to have hardware acceleration?

People recommend the "i7" chipset with various models...like the "i7-6700"...but even that seems to have various versions like the i7-6700HQ or i7-6700T or TE or K.
When looking at computer specs I usually only see "i7-6700", so how do I know which version it has?

In searching for information about "HD Graphics", I've run across the newest thing..."Iris Graphics"...
I've read, "The company claims its new Intel "Iris" Graphics, embedded in upcoming Haswell CPUs, can offer double or triple the performance of the Intel HD Graphics 4000 "

Do I wait I hold out for a chipset or whatever that will include "IRIS" if it will be so much better...can BI even use it?

BI site also recommends having "nVIDIA graphics adaptor for efficient screen display"...not sure what that is.

...Does any of this even matter? If I get any computer with an i7-6700 something will it have all the video requirements needed for BI to run as best possible?

Am I way over-thinking this?

 

[bp2008]

None of the Intel graphics are "required" for BI. It is not something that can be updated or upgraded without buying at least a new CPU.

Quick Sync is part of the CPU (Intel CPUs only). It lets you enable hardware accelerated h264 decoding in Blue Iris Options > Cameras tab, resulting in a pretty significant drop in CPU usage at the cost of slightly higher video delay. You find out if a certain CPU model has it by looking at Intel's website. Not all do. Intel's site is usually the first hit if you google search for a CPU model like "i7-6700". Example: http://ark.intel.com/products/88196/Intel-Core-i7-6700-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_00-GHz you can see here that Quick Sync Video is listed as a feature of the i7-6700.

People recommend i7 quad cores (not all i7 are quad core!) because these are the most powerful CPUs for Blue Iris within reasonable cost. Not everyone needs this much. You can look here for a simple chart showing relative performance of all applicable CPUs. http://cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html Just keep in mind many of them do not have Quick Sync which gives them a significant disadvantage in Blue Iris. Most i3/i5/i7 models DO have quick sync. If you only see "i7-6700" then it is the i7-6700 without any other letters. That is a distinct model, too.

What matters about the graphics is that it has Quick Sync Video support, which you can find out on Intel's website. "Iris" is just another name they give their fastest integrated graphics chips, and it means little to Blue Iris as far as I can tell. The two things that matter most for performance are the general CPU speed (see the cpubenchmark.net site) and quick sync video support. The specific integrated graphics model is of little concern as long as it is newer than about 2012. Even an old i3-2100 has Quick Sync video that works with Blue Iris.

I don't know the technical reason why Blue Iris recommends Nvidia graphics for efficient screen display, but I have personally seen CPU usage drop after adding an Nvidia GTX 950 to an existing BI system. The CPU usage drop only applies when the Blue Iris user interface is open so it would have no meaning on a system that runs as a background service only. It is only worthwhile on a heavily loaded system that needs to cut back on CPU usage, because graphics cards take quite a bit of power. Probably more than the CPU would take to do the same job in Blue Iris to be honest.

An i7-6700 is one of the fastest and most efficient CPUs you could buy for Blue Iris, and you'd easily be able to run 20+ HD cameras with it. If you don't need that many cameras, you can save a little money by going with an i5. I wouldn't really recommend an i3 though because by that point the cost difference is not very big and the i3 chips are usually only dual core instead of quad core. i5 and i7 should remain useful longer.

 

[nbstl68]

Great information thanks!


Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

 

[yobigd20]

This intel hardware acceleration for blue iris - is that only for when the app is open and rendering on screen or if recording to disk requires transcoding right? If I have a dedicated server that is running headless and doing direct to disk (no transcoding) then having a CPU with intel HD graphics is pointless, right?

I'm trying to figure out what hardware to put together for a new dedicated rack server system and thought I should try to take advantage of that acceleration but it really narrows CPU choices. Then I realized I probably don't need it at all if I'm only doing direct to disk recording I don't really see why I should limit my choices to CPUs with those embedded CPU chips.

 

[yobigd20]

Actually I guess if I'm going to do motion detection I guess I need it.

 

[bp2008]

Blue Iris always decodes all incoming video streams whether they are being used or not, actually. So Intel graphics with Quick Sync Video is always a good idea.

 

[PSPCommOp]

Just found this. Hope it helps...

http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced?QuickSyncVideo=true&MarketSegment=DT