Lenovo m58p

[Kebova1]

I am looking for a new pc to run blue iris v4. I currently have a atom D525 1.8 dual core and 4gb ddr3. I have 4 cameras 2 foscam 8904w @ 640x480 limited to 5fps and 2 foscam 9821 v2.1 @ 1024x720 also limited to 5fps. As you can imagine the CPU runs at 80% while recording all 4 streams using h.264 in a xvid container. If I open the main window or any motion alerts go off it goes straight to 100%, time to upgrade! I don't see myself going beyond a 4 camera setup although I may upgrade my 2 8904 cameras to 720p foscam and would like to up my fps to 10 or 15. Keeping this in mind do you think a Lenovo m58p would do the job? Here is the specs: Intel core 2 duo E8400 3.0ghz, 4gb ddr3 (could upgrade to 8gb) and Win 7 pro. I am contemplating this because I can purchase them used for $80, but I don't want to spend the money if people don't think it's powerful enough to do 4 1024x720 streams @ 10 or 15fps. Ok talk me into/out of this setup.

 

[fenderman]

@Kebova1 Welcome to the forum...it may be powerful enough..but consider that the system itself is 7 years old, and newer systems not only have more power but are much more power efficient which saves considerable amounts of money on a system running 24/7..for about 100 more you can find decent spec computers that are very efficient with full warranty. I would wait for a dell/lenovo outlet sale and get a modern intel haswell system with a manufacturer warranty..

If you dont want to wait here are some options all of these are significantly more powerful and newer than the lenovo...
This acer is new and more powerful than the e8400 http://www.ebay.com/itm/251627523244?rmvSB=true
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-OptiPlex-790-250-GB-i3-2nd-Gen-3-3-GHz-2-G-/201272078967?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2edcc03277
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkCentre-E73-Desktop-10AU-002PUS-INTEL-i3-3-4-Ghz-i3-4130-500-GB-HDD-/201257609099?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2edbe3678b
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Vostro-260-Mini-Tower-Desktop-PC-Computer-Intel-Core-i3-2120-3-30GHz-3GB-/171653543878?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27f75937c6

 

[Kebova1]

Ok your comment on power consumption has made me change gears, didnt really think about that. Now I am looking at gutting my current mini-itx, this will allow me to keep the form factor small which I would prefer. I have my current hdd/optical/ps which should work fine with a haswell processor. Here's what I'm looking at now, keep in mind this is going to need to run 4 1024x720 10-15 fps, continuous recording on all 4 cameras and motion detection on 2.

Mobo :ASRock H81M-ITX LGA 1150 Intel H81 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard $65

Ram: G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT $65

CPU: Intel Pentium G3420 Haswell Dual-Core 3.2GHz LGA 1150 54W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics $70

So I would be out the door for $200. If I spend $50 more I could get a

Core i3-4150 Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 54W Intel HD Graphics 4400

Or for $110 more I could get a

Core i5-4440 Haswell 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) 84W Intel HD Graphics 4600

I would love to keep the price as low as possible but also feel like with the money I have invested in cameras and wiring I shouldn't skimp on the computer, but I don't want to go overkill either. Opinions?

 

[bp2008]

I bet the Pentium G3420 would handle it. Whether or not you should buy a better CPU than this depends on your future plans. If you really will be happy with four 1MP foscams for the next few years, then G3420 would not be a bad choice. But what if you watch a few sample videos of 3MP Hikvision or Dahua cameras and decide that for the same price as a Foscam you would rather trade the pan and tilt for higher resolution? Well to be honest the G3420 would probably still handle four 3MP cameras but perhaps not at 15 FPS in Blue Iris. Hard to say, since benchmark scores are not perfect and I've never used a CPU similar to that.

I encourage you to look at used systems with warranties like fenderman suggested. They are almost always a complete system, even including a Windows license, and they are often small in size. Maybe not as small as you would build yourself, but smaller than a typical desktop PC. Chances are you can find an equivalent system for the same price or less than it would cost you to rebuild your mini-ITX.