Recommended CPU

[kevarti]

I have looked over the hardware wiki for this but i'm still unsure.. I have 3 x 4k cameras and would like to get up to 6-7, with a max of 8 possible. If I have these continuous recording with motion push alerts is a i5-6400/6500 enough cpu power or should I be looking at a i7 minimum to future proof this a bit? I kinda want to go all in here but the budget is tight.

 

[SouthernYankee]

The number cameras is not the question, what is the expected MP/SEC. This has to do with resolution and frames per second.
three 4K at 30 fps cameras worse case

3x3840x2160x30 = 746496000 or 746 MP/SEC.
8 cameras
8x3840x2160x30 = 1990656000 or 1990 MP/SEC.

Reduce the frame rate and the numbers go down. Use a frame rate for 10 to 15.

Look at
Blue Iris Update Helper

4K cameras are not very good at night in low light. Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (https://store.ipcamtalk.com/) if you need good low light cameras.

 

[kevarti]

They're 15fps now so it looks like it can easily handle the 3x, more may or may not be doable if I lower the fps to 10. What happens if the MP/SEC is exceeded?

 

[SouthernYankee]

If you exceed the MP/SEC, things just slow down. You can not process motion detection in BI on all cameras, The CPU and GPU go to 100%.

read:
Optimizing Blue Iris's CPU Usage | IP Cam Talk
Choosing Hardware for Blue Iris | IP Cam Talk