Is this PC a good one for seven 4MB cameras and Blue Iris?

[H. Swanson]

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I want to future proof myself in case I upgrade to newer, higher resolution cameras, and I want to use any cool AI tech like Deepstack and not have processing power be an issue.

Many of these PCs have a 2TB limit on HDD, but can support multiple HDDs. Can I just buy a few 2TB HDDs and can BI be configured to use all three seamlessly?

It also has expansion ports so I should be able to add a second NIC.

 

[wittaj]

That is way too much, in computer, and in price.

An i5-8500 is more than enough and future proofs you to the point you would simply upgrade at that point.

With substreams, you don't need a screamer machine.

BI can handle sending cameras to several drives.

I have a 4th gen running over 30 cameras, 5 of which are 8MP, along with OpenALPR and Deepstack on a few of the cameras and it is under 20% and will sip along around 3% in the middle of the night. I let the camera AI be used for most of my motion triggers, but do use Deepstack for a few of them.

My humble i5-4590 still humming along with 30+ cams:

I see people posting about their i7-xxxx system bogging down with less than 10 cameras so I wanted to update my setup. I have ~33 cams running on my BI system: HP Elitedesk 800 G1 tower i5-4590 @ 3.3GHz 16GB ram 12TB total purple drives for storage 30+ total cams currently - 22 cams visible in...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[H. Swanson]

Thanks. eBay has a deal for 15% extra on refurbished PCs, so it would be just about $550 out the door. I'm looking at cheaper options but I'd honestly be saving only like $100-$150 for something decent. This one just seems to be a great value for the money

Do nice graphics cards help with BI at all?

 

[looney2ns]

elitedesk i5-8500 sff in PC Desktops & All-In-Ones for sale | eBay

www.ebay.com

 

[H. Swanson]

Thanks for telling me about the Wiki...I hadn't seen it before. I was rummaging through posts which is what I typically do first before creating a post.

 

[wittaj]

You only need a graphics card if you will be using CodeProject for lots of cameras.

But if your cameras have AI built in, then that might be sufficient for your needs and then a graphics card isn't needed.

 

[The Automation Guy]

I realize it is natural to want to supercharge your computer. However as everyone has suggested, there is no need to over build/purchase a BI machine. An i5 from 8th gen or newer is more than enough to run lots of cameras. If this computer is only going to be used for BI, then you don't need to get something supercharged. If this computer is going to be used for something other than BI, you need to stop and purchase a computer that will be dedicated for just BI use.

As noted, a graphics card is not needed for BI use unless you are going to use a lot of self-hosted AI (ie AI that is installed and run on a computer). Even then a lot of of the newer options are really just marginally better running on GPU vs CPU power. I certainly would not start out with a graphics card and only purchase one if my AI usage was so high that I felt like I needed it. If you decide to get a graphics card, you really need to do your homework to ensure it will work with whatever AI solution you are going to use. Not all cards work with all AI systems.

Basically I agree with wittaj - spend less than $200 (shipped) on a 8th or 9th gen i5 and spend the difference on cameras (or just save it).

Edit - I mean how can you beat something like this $121 (shipped) 8th gen i5 that came up in looney's search link? HP 800 EliteDesk SFF G4 (Intel Core i5-8500 @3.0GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB HDD, WIN10) | eBay