NVR vs Blue Iris

[Flintstone61]

you can install 2 x 3.5 and two nvme. + a 2.5.
They go for 300 or so on ebay if you wait.

What are your thoughts on the HP ProDesk 400 G5 SFF? It appears to have less of everything, but the minimum to run a camera system....at a leaner price point. Would you typically utilize the 2nd 3.5 hdd bay on the Elite desk 800 g4 sff?

 

[fenderman]

What are your thoughts on the HP ProDesk 400 G5 SFF? It appears to have less of everything, but the minimum to run a camera system....at a leaner price point. Would you typically utilize the 2nd 3.5 hdd bay on the Elite desk 800 g4 sff?

You are generally not saving much with the prodesk when buying used.

 

[cousinjoe]

Just saw a couple ProDesk's on eBay for even sub $300. So the difference between the EliteDesk and ProDesk is the ProDesk has less slots for hard drives?
(**EDIT: answered my own question. Saw a reply on a thread from an HP rep: "EliteDesk has one 2.5" HDD and two 3.5" HDDs, while the ProDesk has one 3.5" HDD and two 2.5" HDDs")

HP ProDesk 400 G5 SFF i5-8500 3.0GHz 8GB RAM 256GB SSD Windows 10 Pro | eBay

Windows 10 pro 64 bit 2004.

www.ebay.com

This one already has an NVME SSD which I was going to install if it didn't have one already for the OS, then swap out the HDD for a WD purple for video storage:

HP ProDesk 400 G5 SFF i5-8500 @ 3.00GHz 256GB M.2 NVME 500GB HDD Win 10 (AVA) | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HP ProDesk 400 G5 SFF i5-8500 @ 3.00GHz 256GB M.2 NVME 500GB HDD Win 10 (AVA) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[cousinjoe]

So this seems to be a good breakdown for my use:

~$300 or so shipped EliteDesk 800 G4 or ProDesk 600 G4, i5-8500, 16GB RAM, Windows 10 Pro - eBay
~$50 256GB NVME SSD - Ideally included from computer above. If not, not a dealbreaker to purchase and install to run OS and any other miscellaneous non video storage.
~$260 12TB WD Purple - Might as well go big up front. Other option is for the EliteDesk, purchase a 6TB now and add another 6TB(+) in the future.

If I need to upgrade SSD and RAM, I've had good luck with Crucial products in the past. Not sure if anyone has a preference on brands for these builds.

 

[Shockwave199]

Drives can and do fail sometimes. I'd sooner do 6/6tb than a single 120. That's a big expensive door stopper if the 120 fails at some point.

I'm sure BI is superior to an nvr and it seems like there's integration with your smart home stuff which is what you wanted. But your initial post mentioned quickly, lol. This can be the rabbit hole you go down when choosing a computer. I had my nvr and cameras from Andy installed and running in six days, including from ordering to killing myself installing the cameras. It doesn't integrate with Alexa. I have some ring stuff for that. But a quick setup of the nvr and there you go, off to the races doing what it's meant to do. I know me and if I either bought or assembled a computer with good specs I'd be selfish and want it for more than just going numb for security cameras, lol. If I'm gonna spec out a pc, it's gonna be mine, not the cameras. But I get it for sure. It's absolutely the way to go in a lot of cases. But, so can be an nvr.

Good luck with your setup. May you be bored as hell with what you record. The serious stuff can be bad, very bad.

 

[cousinjoe]

I know, at first it always starts as "up and running quickly" which for myself, almost always evolves into "well, might as well do it right the first time, you pay for what you get, etc.". So here we are haha.

Solid point about the drives. Makes me lean towards an EliteDesk so I can have the two 3.5" slots necessary for dual purple drives. Redundancy is always key. I'd rather stay running with 1/2 of my total storage and still be able to record for a week rather than two while a new drive gets ordered, than shut down completely while I scramble.

Thanks!

 

[CCTVCam]

Yeah it looks like Hp has the better system for BI in this arena. Everything is shrinking. What they call a MT or Mini-Tower form factor in optiplex's in the last 3-4 years has only 1 3.5 bay and 2 2.5 bays...
The one i bought in August for my Buddy was a Dell Optiplex 3050 MT Desktop i5 6500 3.2GHz 1TB HDD 8GB DDR4 Win 10 Pro @ $267.00, but he's not running a BI system on it....(yet).

CD / DVD / BR RW Disc drives are on their way out which is probably why bays are declining on business models. Most gaming cases no longer features front slots. I guess it's the rise of the memory stick that's responsible. Future options are either going to be external RW drives or USB stick. Given the lack of drives which affects playback as well as writing, I'd bet on buying usb sticks. They're cheap enough at the right places to amke one giveaway if you have footage you need to share.

 

[looney2ns]

I know, at first it always starts as "up and running quickly" which for myself, almost always evolves into "well, might as well do it right the first time, you pay for what you get, etc.". So here we are haha.

Solid point about the drives. Makes me lean towards an EliteDesk so I can have the two 3.5" slots necessary for dual purple drives. Redundancy is always key. I'd rather stay running with 1/2 of my total storage and still be able to record for a week rather than two while a new drive gets ordered, than shut down completely while I scramble.

Thanks!

Stick with the Elite.
Buy once, cry once.

 

[cousinjoe]

Stick with the Elite.
Buy once, cry once.

I just pulled the trigger on eBay. Got it for $400 with a best offer. I think they were asking $430 or $450 so that was cool. EliteDesk 800 G5 i5, 16GB memory and 256 SSD. I’m sure it’s a regular SSD so I’ll have to remove it to get two purple drives in there, but it already came with 16GB memory so no need to upgrade that. I’m happy. Could I have waited to save $50 or so? Probably. But I want to start running blue iris so I didn’t want to wait around anymore haha. Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[Flintstone61]

I’d be happy with that setup.

 

[fenderman]

I just pulled the trigger on eBay. Got it for $400 with a best offer. I think they were asking $430 or $450 so that was cool. EliteDesk 800 G5 i5, 16GB memory and 256 SSD. I’m sure it’s a regular SSD so I’ll have to remove it to get two purple drives in there, but it already came with 16GB memory so no need to upgrade that. I’m happy. Could I have waited to save $50 or so? Probably. But I want to start running blue iris so I didn’t want to wait around anymore haha. Thanks for all the help everyone!

You won’t have to remove the 2.5 ssd.

 

[cousinjoe]

You won’t have to remove the 2.5 ssd.

That’s even better! Saves me from having to swap in an NVMe SSD and about $60. Covers the cost of blue iris

 

[rmalbers]

Around here that is a goodwill computer specialty store, companies donate PC's, are those stores not in other areas of the country? No need for me to use EBAY. They print out a spec sheet for each PC and tape it to the case so you know what you are getting.

 

[cousinjoe]

Around here that is a goodwill computer specialty store, companies donate PC's, are those stores not in other areas of the country? No need for me to use EBAY. They print out a spec sheet for each PC and tape it to the case so you know what you are getting.

That’s pretty cool. I don’t believe there is one around me in CT. Although to be honest I never knew they existed before.

 

[Flintstone61]

Around here that is a goodwill computer specialty store, companies donate PC's, are those stores not in other areas of the country? No need for me to use EBAY. They print out a spec sheet for each PC and tape it to the case so you know what you are getting.

There is a “ Pc’s for People” low income source for 4gLTE internet and a used Hp Lenovo or Dell pc or laptop. but i see a lot of 3rd & 4th gen i-3 and i-5 Pc’s that have win 10 pro , but you’d have to be underemployed or fresh off the boat to qualify. My GF is a “fresh off the boat” person and qualifies... but for B Iris, I’d be trying to beef up a system that might struggle to run more than 4-5 cameras.

 

[Flintstone61]

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[Flintstone61]

Around here that is a goodwill computer specialty store, companies donate PC's, are those stores not in other areas of the country? No need for me to use EBAY. They print out a spec sheet for each PC and tape it to the case so you know what you are getting.

do they ship to other states?

 

[rmalbers]

I've never really checked. It looks like they do sell on ebay. GoodBytes Computer Recycling Store — Goodwill Omaha
They're on ebay under goodbytes but it looks like there's not much there compared to their store.

 

[CCTVCam]

That’s even better! Saves me from having to swap in an NVMe SSD and about $60. Covers the cost of blue iris

There's little if nothing to be gained from NVME 4.0. Look at the tests by Linus Tech Tips and others. Speed increase over an SSD is fractional, in tests in game loading often the advantage was around 1-2 second, and for something with short loading times like an App, on that basis, it will be unoticeable. Plus tests appear to show if the drive gets hot, which they can do during sustained activity of even quite short duration, then a lot of them slow to a fraction of the speed an SSD. Some even stop writing altogether. The tech isn't there yet and the price sky high.

Also, as Fender says, the SSD can stay. Use it for your OS and BI. Write your data to a surveillance drive. Best combo of speed and endurance. Memory requirement I can't comment on - read the wiki and cpu checker (it contains memory data as well from memory). I'd be surprised if 16gb wasn't sufficient with 4 or 5 cams. Just make sure XMP is enabled in the BIOS for max speed if it's supported.

 

[cousinjoe]

That’s great info, thanks!

With the ssd my only real concern was the amount of slots available to fit two purple HD’s in there. I thought the ssd was taking up one of the slots and I’d have to remove it and be forced to install an NVMe. But good news for me that wasn’t the case and even better is there’s no loss in performance.

I’ll read up more on memory. Super easy and cheap to double if necessary with two 16GB sticks (32GB total) down the line of the current 16GB doesn’t cut it. Actually if it has two 8GB sticks and has 4 memory slots available I could just pick up two more 8GB sticks too. Plenty of options. Not sure if there’s a benefit with memory having fewer sticks or not. I know you typically want to keep them in pairs from what I’ve read.