Computer specs

[STGMavrick]

Hey folks,

I've got 5, 4mp dahua system I ordered through Andy last week that I'm going BI on.

Current network setup.

6U central mounted rack.
8 port PoE 1gb switch
24 unmanaged switch
Nighthawk R7000 wifi router.
UPS backup

In progress setup
12U lockable rack
8 port PoE 1gb switch
24 unmanaged switch
Ubiquiti Edge Lite 3 port gb router
Nighthawk R7000 - AP Mode
Rack mount UPS backup
5 - 8 IP cams

So with the network already in place, it makes sense to go with a rack mount computer. Found a couple 2U/4U ATX/mATX cases that I'm still deciding on. But they're what I'm using to base my hardware specs on.

That said, I'm having a hard time A) finding these $2-300 used/refurb machines that aren't SFF with proprietary shaped boards. So I've abandoned that route and decided to go ahead and build but that's where I'm stuck. I'm sitting with an amazon cart of $1000 and I haven't even added the Win 10 Pro license yet. I'll spend the money if I have to, but I'd rather not waste it on a rack machine that will only store video. (no RDP clients except for maintenace, etc., no other system roles.)

I'll just list the price factor equipment

i7-7700k
4x4gb DDR4
2x WD 4Tb Purple drives - RAID 1 (Ideally RAID 10 but that's another $250)

So, am I overkill? (Excluding the drives. I'm in an IT-ish field, Automation, and there's no price for data protection.) The reason I ask is because the many threads I've read say 10-20% utilization on older gen i5's with a comparable amount of cams. However, I'm on an i7-7600m machine (laptop) and just one camera puts it 90-100% utilization on BI eval. I'd understand maybe 50% 1 camera on a mobile processor...but 100% doesn't make sense. The last thing I want to do is build a machine that's going to already be sitting at mid-high resource utilization.

Thank you for reading,

 

[pondo]

From what I've read, BI doesn't support direct to disk recording as a trial. That'll be the cause of your CPU usage. Why not pick up a 6th gen i5 or i7 optiplex on ebay? 6th gen intel CPU gives you H265 support for the future too.

 

[STGMavrick]

Yeah I figured that d2d was part of it, just didn't expect a 7th gen i7 to max out with just one cam.

I did look at several optiplex and HP g series. The problem is the SFF machines are all proprietary boards so they won't fit a mATX case.

I also looked at keeping the same config I've priced but with a 6th gen i5. I was worried that it wouldn't be enough considering what my i7 laptop is seeing.

 

[pondo]

Check the forums for optimal configuration settings. Maybe there's a setting which is maxing out your processor. I've seen posts with people running 15 2mp cameras at 15 fps on an i7-7700 or less hardware!

 

[STGMavrick]

Well...I figure if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it good. Will call parts tomorrow.

I went with
Core i5-8600k (to OC to 5Ghz)
Gigabyte z370 HD3
8g ram (I'll expand if it's needed)
kingston m.2 128gb OS drive
2 4T WD Purple drives (RAID 1 - to expand to RAID 10 later)
500w PS.
4U NORCO rackmount case.

After looking at new 6th and 7th gen i5s and i7s I noticed the microcenter near me running a i5-8600k mobo bundled special I couldn't pass up. and the 8600k is beating out or breaking even with the 7th gen i7 in benchmarks so it was a no brainer. 5 camera system right now, but I do plan on expanding it in the upcoming months to include a couple in home cameras and maybe two more external. This system should be good for a while. Though, i'll admin at least 50% of this project is myself nerding out. I haven't built a computer since college.

 

[pondo]

Let us know how it performs!

 

[STGMavrick]

Performing great!

23-29% CPU load while connected as RDP and BI console window open while continuously recording.

20-25% with everything closed through the UI3 web beta.