Ryzen 3950x for Blue Iris

IAmATeaf

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Do you see any difference between dual channel 2133 vs 3600 mhz, without changing anything else?
Unless you’re benchmarking I’d be very surprised if you notice or see any real world differences.
 
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Unless you’re benchmarking I’d be very surprised if you notice or see any real world differences.
I actually agree with @IAmATeaf regarding the real world difference being noticeable.

However, since @bp2008 was testing at the edge and had hit a memory limit (we think) then am curious if he pushed fast memory (he did) and XMP timings (unsure), which would indicate he had maxed out that config as far as he could on memory bandwidth. The only reason I brought it up was if, in fact, it was purely a memory bandwidth issue -- then I have seen benchmarking which indicates XMP timings with fast memory could gain 25% to 50% performance boost....which might push the MP/s limit a little higher while also confirming that memory bandwidth was indeed the limit we were hitting. It's a good piece of info, since (as far as I know) he's the only one that even tested Blue Iris on high end Ryzen. If we firmly demonstrate some kind of scaling for MP/s based on memory GB/s bandwidth then it would be easier to know exactly what processor would handle the workload (i.e. do you need a 16-core Extreme Edition processor or XEON to handle 2500 MP/s? Maybe you actually need 8 cores at 4GHz with at least 42GB/s memory bandwidth? It's more just academic, but compiling data about systems that people have, might help interpolate what others need).

Not many examples of people building Blue Iris computers (it's actually discouraged due to cost/benefit), and when they do, not many using $800 CPU in it. There are a few examples in the database where people are using the high end Intel chips in custom built computers.
 

mlapaglia

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I'm considering upgrading from my i7-7700 to the 3950x because i moved blue iris over to an docker container on unraid, that also hosts a plex server, and is in need of more cores. I currently have 32gb of ddr4-2400 and have read everywhere that ryzen loves faster memory. If such a drastic performance increase came from adding dual-channel memory, I'm wondering if blue iris is also dependent on memory speed, to keep the cpu usage as low as possible once i lose quicksync moving over to amd.
 

Jamestysecurity

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Great experiment!
I got one project this year to build a workstation to run Dahua DSS Express (VMS) software which load around 2500MP/s (total 250 camera, all substream live view). So according to your result, the best solution will be 10980XE or 3960x plus quad channel memory ? and No need to spend money on GPU if the motherboard has enough video output port for multiple monitor , right?
 
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Pretty sure you would have to add some basic graphics card for that Threadripper option, and do some more research about the hardware requirements of Dahua DSS Express as they may be different than Blue Iris which is I believe how this testing was done. At least in Blue Iris, there are some options to significantly reduce CPU demand with high MP/s streams if you don't need all the motion detection bells and whistles. There may be options in the Dahua DSS Express software that significantly change the CPU demand as well.
 
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FYI, I wanted to come back and link something that I see as a correction of my early assumptions about EPYC. Per the very well explained ServeTheHome video linked below some EPYC SKU's (7232P, 7252, 7272, 7282, basically anything 16 cores or less) will all be limited to QUAD-CHANNEL memory bandwidth, even with 8 memory channels populated, due to the way the chiplets are laid out on the server IO die to reduce total cost for the low end server market.
 
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I'm considering upgrading from my i7-7700 to the 3950x because i moved blue iris over to an docker container on unraid, that also hosts a plex server, and is in need of more cores. I currently have 32gb of ddr4-2400 and have read everywhere that ryzen loves faster memory. If such a drastic performance increase came from adding dual-channel memory, I'm wondering if blue iris is also dependent on memory speed, to keep the cpu usage as low as possible once i lose quicksync moving over to amd.
Hi,

by chance did you do that upgrade? I'm installing a new server in my house with a Ryzen 3950x but I'd like to not use my 2080ti for decoding. I only have 5 cameras (only one 4k and 4x 1080p all @25fps) and I'd like to understand how many cores will I need to dedicate to the VM that will host BI5

Thanks
Marco
 

bp2008

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@principino1984 The only way to know for sure is to try it. There are a LOT of ways BI can be configured and used that require more or less CPU time. And you've also got other Windows processes to worry about. The number of times I've seen built-in processes slurp up a whole cores for no reason ...

So I'm guessing about 4 cores (2 physical) would be sufficient. If you're using ESXi, just set it to 4 cores, 1 socket. If you're using unRAID or similar where you need to pin specific cores, make sure you pin the pairs appropriately.

Example: unRAID config with 5 of 8 physical cores pinned (10 / 16 virtual)

1588175698314.png
 
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Thanks, I'm just preclearing all my HDD. Tomorrow I will get my 3950x and I will try. BI5 will have it's own windows installation the lighest possible just because I want it to be on a separate network with all it's cameras.
 

mlapaglia

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Hi,

by chance did you do that upgrade? I'm installing a new server in my house with a Ryzen 3950x but I'd like to not use my 2080ti for decoding. I only have 5 cameras (only one 4k and 4x 1080p all @25fps) and I'd like to understand how many cores will I need to dedicate to the VM that will host BI5

Thanks
Marco
Yes I did the upgrade, blue iris gets 4 cores and sits around 90% usage with 16 2/4mp cameras (about 100mbit/s incoming video).
 

CaseyJones

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Next, I re-inserted the two RAM sticks I had removed, and turned off the XMP Profile. In effect, this reduces the memory speed from 3600 MHz to 2133 MHz, and slightly improves memory latency.

I re-ran the performance measurements.

Megapixels Per SecondNotesPower Consumption (Watts)Blue Iris CPU Usage %Overall CPU Usage %Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti Video Decode Usage %
1189Software Decode, NO GUINot Measured1718disabled
1189Software Decode, NO GUINot Measured1718disabled
1187Software Decode, NO GUINot Measured1717disabled
1086Software Decode, NO GUINot Measured2122disabled
1189Software Decode, GUI @ 4KNot Measured3334disabled
Based on this, I think it is fair to say that Blue Iris is highly dependent on memory speed. Faster memory is better, and it is simply foolish to not run as many memory channels as your platform supports.


(edit 2020-04-09: Fixed incorrect Megapixels Per Second column values in last table to match originally recorded data -- one of the readings actually was 100 MP/s lower than the others, with higher CPU usage)

@bp2008 the last table above was all run with the XMP turned off and memory running at 2133 Mhz? No issues at 2133 Mhz compared to 3600 Mhz? My chipset (Intel H170) is rated for 2133 Mhz but have seen post with 2400 Mhz with XMP on.
 

kolbasz

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I'm considering upgrading from my i7-7700 to the 3950x because i moved blue iris over to an docker container on unraid, that also hosts a plex server, and is in need of more cores. I currently have 32gb of ddr4-2400 and have read everywhere that ryzen loves faster memory. If such a drastic performance increase came from adding dual-channel memory, I'm wondering if blue iris is also dependent on memory speed, to keep the cpu usage as low as possible once i lose quicksync moving over to amd.
How are you running blue iris in docker if blue iris runs on windows?
 

bp2008

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@bp2008 the last table above was all run with the XMP turned off and memory running at 2133 Mhz?
Correct.

No issues at 2133 Mhz compared to 3600 Mhz?
CPU usage was substantially higher with the slower memory speed. Additionally one of my measurements showed elevated CPU usage and a reduced number of MP/s being processed at the same time, indicating Blue Iris was experiencing some kind of temporary problem.

My chipset (Intel H170) is rated for 2133 Mhz but have seen post with 2400 Mhz with XMP on.
Although that is a small difference in speed, I'd definitely run memory with XMP on as long as the system is stable that way.
 

mlapaglia

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How are you running blue iris in docker if blue iris runs on windows?
 

Virga

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Found my way to this thread by way of an extraordinarily well written section of the Wiki, "But what CPU do I actually buy?", under "Choosing Hardware for Blue Iris."
It helped me get a meaningful grasp of CPU utilization, which I appreciate in particular because my CPU selection for several PC builds over the last 15 years was a leap of blind faith.
Overall the Wiki is very helpful.
 
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