High CPU after hardware change

[DurandClan]

When I first started using BI, I was running on a virtual machine with 3 vCPU and 6GB of RAM, CPU was constantly pegged and everything was sluggish. I then built a system on a physical desktop PC, older hardware with AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, 8GB RAM, and restored my exported BI configuration...CPU went down to running between 40-55% CPU average with an occasional spike but much better. I currently have 8 cameras and plan on adding 4-5 more so I pulled the drive out and moved it over to a machine with a quad-core Xeon processor that is a bit older but has 16GB and essentially a server with a higher-end board, etc. I would have thought this would have been an upgrade but since starting it on this system CPU is pegged 100%. All cameras are set to record direct to disk and I've tried bumping the framerate down to 15fps on every camera to no avail. I really like BI and hate to have to buy more hardware when I have a bunch of it laying around.

Any additional advice to resolve the issue?

DD

 

[bp2008]

What is the model number of the Xeon CPU? Some quad core xeons are twice as fast as your AMD 6 core, and some are half as fast. Some even support hardware acceleration, while some do not.

 

[fenderman]

Are you running the demo? direct to disk does not work in the demo.
Also that old hardware will cost you more to run than to replace with an efficient machine.

 

[DurandClan]

Are you running the demo? direct to disk does not work in the demo.
Also that old hardware will cost you more to run than to replace with an efficient machine.

Nope...I've been licensed since August so direct to disk is enabled and set on all cameras. Xeon old? Might be Hartsfield family, I'd have to check.

 

[DurandClan]

Yep...old as dirt, time to retire that system it appears. I'll bump up the hardware the best I can for now but I have a couple of questions.

1. Any other tweaks you can recommend to help with performance? Right now I have a mix of Foscam, Swann, Amcrest and one lone DBPower camera that sucks.
2. Any recommendation for a budget setup that performs well for this purpose? Intel? AMD? Graphics acceleration? Ideal RAM?

Thanks,

DD

 

[looney2ns]

Read this thread, especially the 3rd page.
It will soon pay for itself in electric usage.
where are you guys finding i7-6700 Dells under 500?

 

[bp2008]

Yep...old as dirt, time to retire that system it appears. I'll bump up the hardware the best I can for now but I have a couple of questions.

1. Any other tweaks you can recommend to help with performance? Right now I have a mix of Foscam, Swann, Amcrest and one lone DBPower camera that sucks.
2. Any recommendation for a budget setup that performs well for this purpose? Intel? AMD? Graphics acceleration? Ideal RAM?

Thanks,

DD

1) FPS 15 or lower, H.264 instead of H.265, Direct to Disk, and limit the live preview frame rate (Blue Iris Options > Cameras tab). If your CPU is Intel and supports Quick Sync Video, then enable H.264 hardware accelerated decoding, but not the VPP option.

2) All modern i3, i5, i7 chips support Quick Sync, and so do some of the Xeon E3 CPUs. No AMD CPUs support Quick Sync as it is an Intel technology, so AMD is not a good choice for Blue Iris. For your camera load, I suggest an i7-4790 or i7-6700 or i7-7700, though you could probably get away with an i5 of the same generations if you need to save a little money. Ebay is a good place to find used or refurbished machines at huge discounts versus buying or building new. The older the system is, generally the cheaper you can get it used, but absolutely don't go older than 2nd generation (i7-2xxx) because that is the first version to support H.264 decoding with Quick Sync.

 

[DurandClan]

Thanks for the heads up about QuickSync...pretty easy to get into an i5 Sandy Bridge and that will be a nice improvement for me...I'll chime back in with results. I completely forgot about that tech breakthrough and the benefit it can offer here.

 

[bp2008]

You should be aware that sandy bridge won't support H.265 acceleration when Blue Iris eventually implements it. I believe Skylake will be the minimum for that.

 

[DurandClan]

Completely understood but it will be a huge improvement before I can secure a beefy 6th gen i7 or higher.

 

[bp2008]

Yeah, my dad recently paid about $850 for a pallet of 20 old Xeon E3-1225 small form factor workstations (4 GB ram, 500Gb HDD) that are basically equivalent to a Sandy Bridge i5 -- including Quick Sync Video support. For $42.50 each. He managed to use, sell, or give away all of them within days. Upgraded them all to Windows 10 by installing and configuring one, then cloning the disk to all the others. Activated using the Win7 COA sticker on each machine (yes, Microsoft knows people won't update to 10 if they have to pay for it).

 

[DurandClan]

Sweet...yes, the free upgrade should continue to be intact if they want everyone to eventually get on the bandwagon.