Need to upgrade computer and graphics

[valleyforge]

Hi All,
Looking to update my BI computer and graphics adapter and display.


I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination anymore, but have had some sw and hw background from
my dinosaur era.


I have been a BI user for a few years and am now running the 64 bit version. My Intel 2020M 2.4GHz with 4GB
and Win8.1 is just not able to perform with the load of cameras and supporting equipment I have had to
put on it and it looks like I will have to add more in the near future.


I have a mix of several cameras, some better than others, but am currently just getting Hikvision. They
seem to be the best buy for the buck at the moment. I also have Ubiquiti Nanostation 5 and Nanostation M5
links to cameras as well as a number of switches as my cameras are spread over a considerable distance to
locations where power is available and line of sight is an option. I also have some Netgear devices for areas
line of sight is unavailable.


Most of my cameras are outdoors, much in low light conditions.


My switches are a mix of T100 and T1000's. I am trying to replace the 100's with quality 1000's as I am
able, but they seem to do the job well enough.


VisionNet DSL M505N Modem/Router, Netgear N150 Router(2), NetgearWiFi Extender(2), Digital Loggers Power Switchbox


Cameras - Loftek BNexus/Sntnl MJPEG (3), Logitech 700E Camera (5), FOSCAM F1890, Loftek Nexus 543,
ESC CMS HiRez Camera, Hikvision PX-IPIR203 with several lens sizes (6).


I think my camera count is around 17 and I expect I will add another dozen or so with supporting equipment
as time and money allows.


fendermen recommended a dell 7020/9020 i7 haswell optiplex to sahted with the caveat that 8GB would be
enough. Would you recommend the same for my situation?


Suggestions and/or comments would be most welcome.


Thanks!


valleyforge (I don't live there, but somewhere very much like it).
__________________________________________________________________
17NOV2015

I want to thank everyone for the responses below. I was able to get a Dell The i7-4790/16gb Ram/1 TB-HD Haswell using the links provided by fenderman. All for $558!! I get it in about a week. I hope it does the job, and looks like it will.
I hope to catch the SOB's that dumped a deer carcass in my driveway with my updated security system.
Thanks again!

 

[acvb]

i7-4790/8gb Ram/1 TB-HD.. problem solved.

 

[valleyforge]

The i7-4790/8gb Ram/1 TB-HD seems like what I should get. Thanks acvb!

Now, anyone out there know any links to good deals on a system?

Thanks!

 

[Q™]

The i7-4790/8gb Ram/1 TB-HD seems like what I should get. Thanks acvb!

Now, anyone out there know any links to good deals on a system?

Thanks!

Many here recommend refurbished lease return Dell i7 units when they go on sale. Someone will pop up with a url any minute brother.

 

[fenderman]

Many here recommend refurbished lease return Dell i7 units when they go on sale. Someone will pop up with a url any minute brother.

To clarify, they are not lease returns....they are practically new, with maybe a week to one months use tops...
An i7 haswell is about 500 from the dell outlet when on sale. Check the dell OUTLET twitter page. Look for an optiplex 7020/9020..these come with full 3 year next business day warranties. If you are in a rush and can find a deal, then ebay has them as well for 500-600 depending on form factor.
Note dell has released new models with skylake, 5040 and 7040, however those units are about 1000 dollars at the moment.
There is a sale now on optiplex 7020 machines, priced 785 or higher. 305 off...there are some machines left selling for 830 making the final price 525 after coupon....

 

[Q™]

URL Fenderman?

 

[fenderman]

URL Fenderman?

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/28/campaigns/dell-coupons-codes-us-outlet-new?dgc=SM&cid=287151&lid=5637432
https://twitter.com/DellOutlet?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

 

[Q™]

Fenderman, if these aren't lease returns then where do they originate? Are they brand new?

 

[fenderman]

Fenderman, if these aren't lease returns then where do they originate? Are they brand new?

No, they are usually orders returned immediately after purchase. Basically new. They cannot be lease returns as most leases are 3 years. The i7-4790 was only released q2 2014. So at most we are talking about a year. These 4790 machines were available in 2014 when they could not have been more than a few months from original purchase. Figure it takes a month or so from return to an outlet sale and these things are a month old or so. You can sometimes get an idea by looking at the hard drive manufacture date as well. The machines arrive mint, without any signs of use.

 

[acvb]

I bought some parts from newegg and some from amazon... tried to find sales to make my Intel computer. Cost was $650. After I was done, I saw fenderman's links... I could have saved even more. It has been a pleasurable experience moving from AMD to Intel. 4790 is cool and fast.

 

[TheTobic]

Agreed - the Dell refurb is the best deal going for raw horse power per dollar. I looked into building my own - same experience as acvb - end up costing a bit more.

I thought, what about these new fanless PCs (al-la Mac Mini). A refurb Mac Mini is around $500 (http://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_mini). Tempting. Fanless Windows / linux i7? Stand back - you will be pushing $1k or more easy (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-silent-fanless-mini-pcs-that-will-save-you-money/)

Have you considered going with a dedicated DVR/NVR? I ended up going with an NVR - dedicated appliance. Why? For me, less things to go wrong. Only one fan on the power supply, if (when) the HDD fails, nothing to restore - just slap in a new drive. No Operating System maintenance to deal with. I can plug it in and forget about it until it blows up. Its all or nothing. With a PC, the video card can fail, the power supply that is pumping out 600 watts of power will fail, the fan on the CPU, the power supply fan, the vid card fan if not integrated) will start to rattle after a few years.

I think a PC is a great option if you have one ready to go. But purchase new? Dell Refurb is the second best. Other than that - dedicated appliance.

 

[fenderman]

Agreed - the Dell refurb is the best deal going for raw horse power per dollar. I looked into building my own - same experience as acvb - end up costing a bit more.

I thought, what about these new fanless PCs (al-la Mac Mini). A refurb Mac Mini is around $500 (http://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_mini). Tempting. Fanless Windows / linux i7? Stand back - you will be pushing $1k or more easy (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-silent-fanless-mini-pcs-that-will-save-you-money/)

Have you considered going with a dedicated DVR/NVR? I ended up going with an NVR - dedicated appliance. Why? For me, less things to go wrong. Only one fan on the power supply, if (when) the HDD fails, nothing to restore - just slap in a new drive. No Operating System maintenance to deal with. I can plug it in and forget about it until it blows up. Its all or nothing. With a PC, the video card can fail, the power supply that is pumping out 600 watts of power will fail, the fan on the CPU, the power supply fan, the vid card fan if not integrated) will start to rattle after a few years.

I think a PC is a great option if you have one ready to go. But purchase new? Dell Refurb is the second best. Other than that - dedicated appliance.

While there is more demand for standalone NVR's because of their simplicity (though some might argue that is not the case) and a they are cheaper, most of the folks who go the pc route like the OP do it because VMS software like blue iris offers way more flexibility than a standalone NVR. The difference is night and day. PC's are very reliable. I have yet to have a blue iris machine fail, other than a drive (and that was after moving the machine). A dedicated video card is generally not recommended anyway and the power supplies never reach 600w...generally 30-80w, depending on specs and load. You can easily keep a cloned back up of the drive or use an ssd for the OS, to prevent having to reinstall the OS in the event of failure. Having an always on pc also allows for easy remote access to the cameras without exposing them via port forwarding or having to setup a vpn.
Also, in the event of a NVR failure, you have no recording device until you are able to buy a replacement NVR or get a swap which can take a couple of days (at least if you want it cheap). You can slap the NVR software on a space pc, PC parts are readily available and these dells have three year next business day warranties.
I would never go back to standalone devices. I find them more cumbersome to use and setup.

 

[TheTobic]

@fenderman : All great and valid points! I love seeing solid experience and advice from members on this board!

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman : All great and valid points! I love seeing solid experience and advice from members on this board!

Thats what its all about. Another thing to point out is that some users do both. They have a pc based NVR then have a standalone nvr tucked away somewhere simply recording 24/7 as a backup. I'm not that paranoid, yet.

 

[valleyforge]

I am that paranoid, any recommendations for a dependable NVR that is reasonably priced?

BTW, back when I was a sw developer, we always used full tilt Intel processors as they contained debugging registers that cheaper Intel ie Celeron and others like AMD did not. The result was consumers with the higher end Intels had less trouble than other users. I do not know if that is the case anymore, but I think it is.

I followed the links that were provided as a result of my original inquiry, looking for i7 haswell refurbished at Dell. I found some, but they were in the $900 range, their chat directed me to business sales who will not be available until Monday. If someone has a coupon suggestion, etc to get the price down, that would be better.

Thanks for the great responses! It is really appreciated!

 

[fenderman]

I am that paranoid, any recommendations for a dependable NVR that is reasonably priced?

BTW, back when I was a sw developer, we always used full tilt Intel processors as they contained debugging registers that cheaper Intel ie Celeron and others like AMD did not. The result was consumers with the higher end Intels had less trouble than other users. I do not know if that is the case anymore, but I think it is.

I followed the links that were provided as a result of my original inquiry, looking for i7 haswell refurbished at Dell. I found some, but they were in the $900 range, their chat directed me to business sales who will not be available until Monday. If someone has a coupon suggestion, etc to get the price down, that would be better.

Thanks for the great responses! It is really appreciated!

You need to wait for a sale follow the outlet so you get an alert or set an alert on a website like slickdeals.Otherwise its a terrible deal. If you are willing to pay 900 you can buy the new optiplex with skylake, 5040 and 7040 lines, dont pay that kind of money unless you are getting the new systems.
If you cant wait and only want to spend 500-600 check ebay...You can get a 7020/9020 i7 haswell for 500-600 regularly.

 

[alphawave7]

i7-4790/8gb Ram/1 TB-HD.. problem solved.

THIS just popped up for $480 at Bestbuy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-desktop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-black/4606900.p?id=1219776510110&skuId=4606900

 

[TonyB]

THIS just popped up for $480 at Bestbuy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-desktop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-black/4606900.p?id=1219776510110&skuId=4606900

First post was to say "thank you", but this box at 17+ inches is a bit too big for the space I have available (about 16.5" max). Drat. Either way, thanks much for posting this deal.

I originally was drawn to the NUC, but after a fair amount of reading here, it seems that a bigger box with more HP might be the way to go with BI, 12-16 cameras 2-3 MP cameras.

fenderman - Any PC recommendations for this application that are 16.5" or smaller? Dimension specs make the searching a bit more challenging... Thanks much.

 

[fenderman]

First post was to say "thank you", but this box at 17+ inches is a bit too big for the space I have available (about 16.5" max). Drat. Either way, thanks much for posting this deal.

I originally was drawn to the NUC, but after a fair amount of reading here, it seems that a bigger box with more HP might be the way to go with BI, 12-16 cameras 2-3 MP cameras.

fenderman - Any PC recommendations for this application that are 16.5" or smaller? Dimension specs make the searching a bit more challenging... Thanks much.

You certainly need an i7 haswell or skylake of 12+ cameras...follow the dell outlet twitter and look for a small form factor optiplex 7020 or 9020. What is your budget?

 

[TonyB]

You certainly need an i7 haswell or skylake of 12+ cameras...follow the dell outlet twitter and look for a small form factor optiplex 7020 or 9020. What is your budget?

Actually, I just read another thread where you recommended the "small form factor" HP EliteDesk 800 G1. That would fit alright. They seem a bit pricey, or pricier... A nice segue into your question re budget... For the PC itself, about $600. Honestly, the total budget is something I'm still ramping-up on - all that is needed, like a POE or POE+ switch, Cat5 cabling, software (BI seems quite popular here), and of course cameras...

I don't want to take this discussion off course, but if there is a thread here about BI alternatives, maybe ones that are lighter or less CPU-intensive? If there is something desirable like that, then maybe I wouldn't need such a workhorse of a PC. I'll keep searching, but if you know of such a thread, kindly share. Thanks again.