Should a i5-6500 3.2GHz 8GB Still Be Enough?

[SouthernYankee]

On the S drive reduce the amount of allocated space by 100GB. Any RED on the allocation page is very .

Another screen shot of the task manager sorted by CPU, most at top.

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My Standard allocation post.

1) Do not use time (limit clip age)to determine when BI video files are moved or deleted, only use space. Using time wastes disk space.
2) If New and stored are on the same disk drive do not used stored, set the stored size to zero, set the new folder to delete, not move. All it does is waste CPU time and increase the number of disk writes. You can leave the stored folder on the drive just do not use it.
3) Never allocate over 90% of the total disk drive to BI.
4) if using continuous recording on the BI camera settings, record tab, set the combine and cut video to 1 hour or 3 GB. Really big files are difficult to transfer.
5) it is recommend to NOT store video on an SSD (the C: drive).
6) Do not run the disk defragmenter on the video storage disk drives.
7) Do not run virus scanners on BI folders

Advanced storage:
If you are using a complete disk for large video file storage (BVR) continuous recording, I recommend formatting the disk, with a windows cluster size of 1024K (1 Megabyte). This is a increase from the 4K default. This will reduce the physical number of disk write, decrease the disk fragmentation, speed up access.

 

[shalem2014]

I bought a Dell OptiPlex 3040 SFF Intel 6th Gen i5-6500 3.2GHz 8GB about 2.5 years ago to run Blue Iris on. I have 11 cameras (mostly 2 megapixel) and I am constantly hitting 85%+ on the CPU with constant crashes. I have followed the CPU optimization wiki, using direct to disk, etc.. Should that processor be able to handle this setup, is it time to upgrade, or could there be some other issue? Thanks.

It is time to upgrade. You should be using an i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM. I have a system similar to yours (16 full HD cameras instead of 11). It's outfitted with an i7-8700k (3.7-4.7 GHz, 12 thread) CPU and 16 GB of RAM, and it regularly hits 40% CPU and 6-8 GB RAM usage running Blue Iris motion detection on these 2mp cameras. Your CPU is only 3.2-3.6 GHz, 4 threads, with a CPU mark of 5,658 compared to the i7-8700k's CPU mark of 13,831—less than half as powerful. Mine hits 40%, no surprise yours hits 80% and is hitting the page file. Don't use i3 and i5 processors for Blue Iris PCs. The i7's have full hyper-threading (doubling the total processor threads) and more cache, both of which significantly help processing this type work go faster. If you're using 8 or less full HD cameras, you can use an older i7 (like the i7-3770) with 8 GB of RAM. Anything higher and you should use 16 GB of RAM and look for something with a higher clock speed (the K series) and/or more cores. 16 cameras, go for a six core.

Regarding upgrades, the OptiPlex 3040 SFF should be able to take the i7-6700 CPU (3.4-4.0 GHz, 8 threads, 8,053 CPU mark) and 16 GB of RAM. This would bring your CPU usage closer to 50%. If you're willing to shop around/bid on a few, the i7-6700 can be had on eBay for under $200. If you choose to upgrade, make sure your PC is running the latest BIOS version before installing the new CPU. Here's a detailed comparison between the two CPUs. Of particular interest, note the >50% improvement on octa-core performance and multi-floating point calculations (labeled "64-core"). Blue Iris hits these areas hard, which is why you should always use an i7 processor.

---OR--- You can buy more time by looking in to using the new SubStreaming feature on BI. I saw that you had updates disabled. You will need the latest version of Blue Iris to proceed. Using SubStreaming, your CPU will easily handle 11-16 cameras and RAM usage will be greatly reduced—the system I referenced above now runs around 8-16% CPU usage at 2-3 GB RAM. There are still a few bugs to work out, but this new feature is working great for me, and of your options, this would definitely provide the greatest return-on-investment.
I also second what @looney2ns posted, and would take it further: Get rid of your antivirus software altogether. Windows 10 comes with a decent, built-in antivirus and unless you're downloading software from unknown sites and regularly opening email attachments on this machine, it is way more than enough.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Lots of stuff to try. Does anyone know off the top of their head if there are two ram slots?

SouthernYankee, see attachments. For some odd reason the clip storage shot up to over allocated, when it was literally fine for months and at -50gb. I think there is something wrong with my clips as I am constantly having to adjust the settings to keep space free.

I believe so, but you can simply crack the case open (Dells are nice and easy to pop open!) and check for yourself. If it has a single 8gb stick of RAM, upgrading to 16gb will be easy—just add another identical one.

It happens—the database gets corrupted and Blue Iris loses track of older clips, resulting in the purging/rotation not removing these forgotten clips and them taking up increasing amounts of space unaccounted for. Hit the [Repair DB] button and let it regenerate for a few minutes and see what happens. My guess is that it'll find these clips, delete them, and a bunch of free space will show up. If you were using your C: drive, I would've suggested that maybe Windows is growing due to updates, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.