Dell Refurbished for Blue Iris

DeanD

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Good Evening All,

I've been browsing the cliff notes here as well as various used PC's for my future cam setup. I intend to have blue iris running with 8-12 2-4 MP cams running for my home and property.

I see the minimum requirements but I am hesitant to click the buy button on a few of these. One of the threads recommended Dell's business line of desktops but I want to make sure I am getting the right one. From my understanding I will need to add a second network card as none really come with the option of 2, or even adding a second one on the dell build specs.

This is the site I am looking at, buying in Canada so the dell site layout is a bit different.

Dell Refurbished Desktop Computers, shop daily deals from Dell Refurbished Store

Any advice would be appreciated!

Dean
 

area651

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Good Evening All,

I've been browsing the cliff notes here as well as various used PC's for my future cam setup. I intend to have blue iris running with 8-12 2-4 MP cams running for my home and property.

I see the minimum requirements but I am hesitant to click the buy button on a few of these. One of the threads recommended Dell's business line of desktops but I want to make sure I am getting the right one. From my understanding I will need to add a second network card as none really come with the option of 2, or even adding a second one on the dell build specs.

This is the site I am looking at, buying in Canada so the dell site layout is a bit different.

Dell Refurbished Desktop Computers, shop daily deals from Dell Refurbished Store

Any advice would be appreciated!

Dean
Well, the first thing I'm always tempted to do is to find a company that specializes in off-lease computers. They're on ebay but there's also likely at least one there in Alberta I'd expect. I've found that I can get a pretty new generation i7 with 8gb of ram desktop (dell, HP, even lenovos) for about $150 shipped. Most of those will only come with a 500gb hard drive but then upgrading those isn't that expensive either. Patience is often the key. A deal will come up eventually. To add another nic to any computer isn't that hard and I have yet to run into an instance where it must be an oem branded nic. (Just my experience anyway.)

You are talking about quite a bit of framerate there. I'll defer all of that to the experts.
 

DeanD

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Thanks for the reply. I will start to look around both ebay and local as well. I am not in a huge rush, but I definitely want to get it close to right as possible the first time.

I have heard the 2MP cams run better at night vs the 4k cams.
 

area651

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Thanks for the reply. I will start to look around both ebay and local as well. I am not in a huge rush, but I definitely want to get it close to right as possible the first time.

I have heard the 2MP cams run better at night vs the 4k cams.
I don't have one (yet) myself but from what I've seen, this forum really talks highly about the dahua starlight series 2MP.
 

DeanD

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You got me in the right direction with the off lease and ebay. Here is what I found. Will likely upgrade the HDD to a larger one as well as add a network card.

Specifications:
Intel Core i5-7500 3.4Ghz(up to 3.8Ghz TurboBoost) Quad-Core Processor
8GB DDR4 RAM(1x8GB PC4-2400T, 1 slot free)
1TB 3.5" 7200RPM S-ATA Hard Drive
DVD-RW DRIVE(DVD/CD burner)
1Gbps Ethernet
Sound Card
Intel HD Graphics 630 up to 4GB Integrated Video Card
1 HDMI Video Out
1 DisplayPort(DP) Video Out
1 PCI-E Slot(full height)
8 USB Ports(4 of them USB 3.0)

Windows 10 Professional 64bit freshly installed with all drivers and OpenOffice Suite.
Comes with power cable.
 
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DeanD

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Apparently there are 2 slots for the HDD. He has offered to swap the 1TB drive to a SSD for the OS and then I can purchase my own WD 6TB drive for the video writing.

Any thoughts on this or would I be better off having both slots with high capacity HDD?

Extra network card is cheap and they will do it before its sent.
 

SouthernYankee

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Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (https://store.ipcamtalk.com/) if you need good low light cameras.

Cameras to look at
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW5231-ZE Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPC-T5442TM-AS Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
 

area651

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Apparently there are 2 slots for the HDD. He has offered to swap the 1TB drive to a SSD for the OS and then I can purchase my own WD 6TB drive for the video writing.

Any thoughts on this or would I be better off having both slots with high capacity HDD?

Extra network card is cheap and they will do it before its sent.
Personally, I believe a 7200rpm drive would be plenty fast enough. An SSD isn't needed imho but then I've never ran THAT many cameras at once. I guess it might hinge on how much money you want to spend & it depends on how much space you need. I think there's a space needed calculator somewhere around here if I recall correctly.
 

area651

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Personally, I believe a 7200rpm drive would be plenty fast enough. An SSD isn't needed imho but then I've never ran THAT many cameras at once. I guess it might hinge on how much money you want to spend & it depends on how much space you need. I think there's a space needed calculator somewhere around here if I recall correctly.
Hard Drive Space Calculator!!! - Calculating Required Hard Drive Size | IP Cam Talk
 

DeanD

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Thanks for the reply. I read the wiki on the storage and calculator and figured I could go with a 4-6 TB drive for recording. I’m only going to be using up to 12 - 2 MP Dahua starlight cams. Ideally I would motion record in a few of them and a few will be continuous due to distance.

The guy I’m looking at buying from offered the SSD for the OS to load on and then it leaves me a slot free for a larger WD surveillance drive as recommended on the wiki ‍♂
 

DeanD

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Where did you find info that indicates you need a second network card? I read the wiki and followed links to the ebay purchase suggestions which are devices not having a second NIC nor have I seen any messaging thus far indicating as such. Matter of fact I haven't even seen a callout that gigabit is needed. Asking because I am looking to buy/build and need to know these things. TY
IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes | IP Cam Talk
 

DeanD

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No problem. Makes sense to me to keep the cams secure and on LAN and to not hog the internet line.
 
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