Laptop or Desktop Pc ? to run Blue Iris?

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Yes, will let him know...
Is it the video on-board better than the that added one?

Soon , will buy one of the i7 for me also for my main one...now got the i5-4590 just to run blue iris.

Over at Google play store they have the tinycam pro for $2 for other people if want to try it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexvas.dvr.pro&hl=en

Thank you.
The added card will be more powerful, but likely to no improve blue iris any...it will draw an extra 20-50 watts depending on load which can cost 20-100 dollars a year to run depending on your costs...it also adds heat and a point of failure.
If you are using Blue iris, get the blue iris mobile app...its 10 dollars but well worth it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blueirissoftware.blueiris&hl=en
 

patrocle

Pulling my weight
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
512
Reaction score
114
Location
Roseville, California.
The added card will be more powerful, but likely to no improve blue iris any...it will draw an extra 20-50 watts depending on load which can cost 20-100 dollars a year to run depending on your costs...it also adds heat and a point of failure.
If you are using Blue iris, get the blue iris mobile app...its 10 dollars but well worth it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blueirissoftware.blueiris&hl=en
O okay , yes will take that video card out on my i5 unit ordered from dell.
I got the mobile app already purchased way back and had a trial of the desktop software to see how the blue iris works, so that's when
i come to the decision that i need a separate desktop just for my cam's...

Will see when that arrives , next week hope fully.

Appreciate your advice friend! and the quick reply! You are a lot on this forum (staying...) ! Also getting passionate about ip cams and how they work.



Anyway,
Regards.
 

patrocle

Pulling my weight
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
512
Reaction score
114
Location
Roseville, California.
Okay, i got my dell today, from post #35.
Have not open the box yet, but i guess will do it in the morning.

I was thinking to or maybe add few extras,like:
Upgrade:
Win7>win10
4 gb ddr3 > 8 gb ddr3
500gb> 128ssd hard drive

Or maybe i don't need too,is good okay for the purpose of running for blue iris?

Thanks,
 

badmop

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
475
Reaction score
28
Any idea on cost versus on a standard spec desktop computer for BI versus a standard spec NVR?
I know specs can wildly range, just curious what others may have to say.
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Any idea on cost versus on a standard spec desktop computer for BI versus a standard spec NVR?
I know specs can wildly range, just curious what others may have to say.
A 300-500 dollar haswell i5/i7 system will cover 99 percent of setups. Folks using pc nvr do it because of the added flexibility not for cost savings.
 

Gaggi

n3wb
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Looks like I read this topic a bit late. Did my research and realised my existing Core2Duo thinkpad will not be enough to power up 6 Hikvision cameras. So bought another used 3rd gen i5 thinkpad ( 2.6 Ghz processor and it is dual core). But taken Blue Iris minimum specs is a dual core 2.0 Pentium, I thought it will work fine. Reason was Laptop has battery backup and after you put POE over UPS, you have additional battery backup for 30 minutes at least.

Now, when I am testing, laptop is always on 80-90% CPU with continuous recording with trigger. motion detection takes a lot of CPU. Disabling motion detection, the CPU sits at 50-60 %.
5 Cameras I am using are: DS-2CD2342WD-I . One more which I have not connected atm is 2CD3325. I changed the settings on camera:
1. Resolution down to 1920* 1080 p
2. FPS down to 12
Rest all standard.
On Blue IRIS:
1. continuous recording direct to disk.
2. hardware decoding to default
3. no date time stamp to reduce encoding by blue iris.

I wonder how come the Hikvision NVR with less processor power can support 8 or even 16 cameras where as a 3rd gen i5 laptop cant.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.
 
Last edited:

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Looks like I read this topic a bit late. Did my research and realised my existing Core2Duo thinkpad will not be enough to power up 6 Hikvision cameras. So bought another used 3rd gen i5 thinkpad ( 2.6 Ghz processor and it is dual core). But taken Blue Iris minimum specs is a dual core 2.0 Pentium, I thought it will work fine. Reason was Laptop has battery backup and after you put POE over UPS, you have additional battery backup for 30 minutes at least.

Now, when I am testing, laptop is always on 80-90% CPU with continuous recording with trigger. motion detection takes a lot of CPU. Disabling motion detection, the CPU sits at 50-60 %.
Cameras are: DS-2CD2342WD-I . I changed the settings on camera:
1. Resolution down to 1920* 1080 p
2. FPS down to 12
Rest all standard.
On Blue IRIS:
1. continuous recording direct to disk.
2. hardware decoding to default
3. no date time stamp to reduce encoding by blue iris.

I wonder how come the Hikvision NVR with less processor power can support 8 or even 16 cameras where as a 3rd gen i5 laptop cant.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.
see your other post...
 

patrocle

Pulling my weight
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
512
Reaction score
114
Location
Roseville, California.
2 Years and 9 months later , finally my Dell Optiplex 9020 , 1 x 4gb memory stick went out/bad!
Had 2 sticks of 4gb each, so i upgraded with 3 x 4gb , and now have 16gb of ram.

Computer started shutting down and re-start it self. Now, all good. $115 later, well worth it. :);)

I only run the Blue iris Security system on this desktop and ip camera software related.
 

LeeZ

n3wb
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Location
California
Hi ipcamtalk community,

Thank you for your information about assets and liabilities of different processors for laptops and desktops to use for camera surveillance on this thread:

Laptop or Desktop Pc ? to run Blue Iris?

I ordered 2 Dahua IPC-HFW8232E-Z 2MP Starlight IR Bullet Network Camera IPC-HFW8232E-Z cameras, and I have a standard power laptop with an i7-2630QM (Sandy Bridge quadcore, 2nd generation). I'd like to be able to run Blue Iris on Windows 7 on it for surveillance of the two cameras.

I tried to check on the above processor in the following link you provided but couldn't locate it there:

PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Low End CPUs

I did find the specs about it here:

Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 2.90 GHz) Product Specifications

But it's unclear if the specs will be adequate to accommodate recording and monitoring of the above two cameras.

I already have an Asus laptop with the i7-2630QM processor in it, so it saves me money to use it. It has 16 Gigs of RAM. It also has graphics with quicksync that is desirable. However, I know you mentioned that most laptops have low power processors and are therefore undesirable, but is the above laptop adequate
to be able to record onto a 2TB WD purple HD drive installed in the machine that will always be on?

Thank you in advance.
Lee
 

SkyLake

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 30, 2016
Messages
358
Reaction score
301
DON'T use laptops for 24/7 applications...

1. Laptops are made for portability, not for acting as a server.
2. The battery is not made for continuous power (ok, you could take the battery out) but still.
3. They run quite hot when running 24/7, and will not serve you long. They suck in dust much more than a normal PC. Overheating, display failing etc etc.

What if the system overheats due to dust? Opening a running PC is no problem. Opening a running Laptop is.. Try to dust out a running laptop vs a running PC ;)

There are many more reasons why, but i recommend to just buy a refurbished or second hand SFF (Small Form Factor) system from Dell or HP ProDesk / EliteDesk with a i7 or i5 CPU in it.
 
Last edited:

LeeZ

n3wb
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Location
California
Skylake,
Thank you for your thoughts! It seems most see laptops as a liability in many ways.

What do you think of these?

Refurbished: DELL Desktop Computer OptiPlex 7020 Small Form Factor Intel Core i7 4th Gen 4790 (3.6 GHz) 8GB Memory 500 GB Hard Drive Windows 7 Professional 64bit

(1)
$388.00
$44.76 Shipping


Refurbished: Refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7020 Small Form Factor Intel Core i5 4570 3.20 GHz / 8 GB DDR3 / 500GB HDD / DVD / WIFI / HDMI Cable / Bluetooth 4.0 / Windows 10 Professional 64 Bits / 1 Year Warranty

$281.99
$1.99 Shipping


Refurbished: Refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7020 Small Form Factor Intel Core i5 4570 3.20 GHz / 16 GB DDR3 / 2TB HDD / DVD / WIFI / HDMI Cable / Bluetooth 4.0 / Windows 10 Professional 64 Bits / 1 Year Warranty

$356.71
$1.99 Shipping


Thank you,
Lee
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Skylake,
Thank you for your thoughts! It seems most see laptops as a liability in many ways.

What do you think of these?

Refurbished: DELL Desktop Computer OptiPlex 7020 Small Form Factor Intel Core i7 4th Gen 4790 (3.6 GHz) 8GB Memory 500 GB Hard Drive Windows 7 Professional 64bit

(1)
$388.00
$44.76 Shipping


Refurbished: Refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7020 Small Form Factor Intel Core i5 4570 3.20 GHz / 8 GB DDR3 / 500GB HDD / DVD / WIFI / HDMI Cable / Bluetooth 4.0 / Windows 10 Professional 64 Bits / 1 Year Warranty

$281.99
$1.99 Shipping


Refurbished: Refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7020 Small Form Factor Intel Core i5 4570 3.20 GHz / 16 GB DDR3 / 2TB HDD / DVD / WIFI / HDMI Cable / Bluetooth 4.0 / Windows 10 Professional 64 Bits / 1 Year Warranty

$356.71
$1.99 Shipping


Thank you,
Lee
all those systems are REALLY overpriced....an i5-forth gen should be 150-175 and I have picked up i5-6500 systems for under 200...
 

LeeZ

n3wb
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Location
California
Wow, thanks for the heads up. I looked at Dell outlet, Newegg and tigerdirect and found those that I listed.

I also want to be sure it has a 4th generation I5 or i7 and an HD graphics card that will be good as has been mentioned. Other than that, what else should I make sure is included in addition to a three year warranty?

Given that my goal is to install Blue Iris running 24/7 to monitor and record two Dahua IPC-HFW8232E-Z 2MPStarlight IR Bullet NetworkCamera IPC-HFW8232E-Z cameras.

Should I not only look at refurbished computers? Where else might I find a good i5 4th gen optiplex 7020 or other desktop for this at $150-$175?

Thanks,
Lee
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Wow, thanks for the heads up. I looked at Dell outlet, Newegg and tigerdirect and found those that I listed.

I also want to be sure it has a 4th generation I5 or i7 and an HD graphics card that will be good as has been mentioned. Other than that, what else should I make sure is included in addition to a three year warranty?

Given that my goal is to install Blue Iris running 24/7 to monitor and record two Dahua IPC-HFW8232E-Z 2MPStarlight IR Bullet NetworkCamera IPC-HFW8232E-Z cameras.

Should I not only look at refurbished computers? Where else might I find a good i5 4th gen optiplex 7020 or other desktop for this at $150-$175?

Thanks,
Lee
ebay...see hp prodesk and elitedesk
 

LeeZ

n3wb
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Location
California
What do you think of these?

1. HP ProDesk 600 SFF G1 Intel Quad Core I5-4570 3.2ghz 8gb RAM 500gb HDD Win 7 (refurbished)

$167
$20 shipping

HP ProDesk 600 SFF G1 Intel Quad Core I5-4570 3.2ghz 8gb RAM 500gb HDD Win 7 | eBay

2.
Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p MT i5-4570 3.4GHz 4GB 250GB HDD NO OS W062502
$149.99
Free Shipping


Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p MT i5-4570 3.4GHz 4GB 250GB HDD NO OS W062502 | eBay

3.
HP ProDesk 400 G1 SFF Intel Core i5 3.30GHz 8GB RAM 500GB HD Windows 10 Pro$

174.98

However for graphics card it says "Integrated/On-Board Graphics". Is this adequate?

HP ProDesk 400 G1 SFF Intel Core i5 3.30GHz 8GB RAM 500GB HD Windows 10 Pro | eBay

 
As an eBay Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.
Top