Switching to SSD and reducing heat throw

[kwtrading]

I have a 5 year old Dell XPS 8100 (I think) tower with an i7 I'm converting over to an SSD hard drive.
I love the machine but it does throw some serious heat in the summer when it gets really working. Can cook you out of the room.

I don't currently run my Blue Iris on it but was thinking of using it for BI after the upgrade. Will be monitoring about 5-6 cameras.

Will switching to an SSD allow it to run a little more efficient and throw a little less heat or is most of the heat coming from the processor?

Thanks

 

[fenderman]

I have a 5 year old Dell XPS 8100 (I think) tower with an i7 I'm converting over to an SSD hard drive.
I love the machine but it does throw some serious heat in the summer when it gets really working. Can cook you out of the room.

I don't currently run my Blue Iris on it but was thinking of using it for BI after the upgrade. Will be monitoring about 5-6 cameras.

Will switching to an SSD allow it to run a little more efficient and throw a little less heat or is most of the heat coming from the processor?

Thanks

no the ssd will not help. That unit is hot because it uses a first generation intel processor and likely has a graphics card. It is also not an efficient choice for a 24/7 machine...a modern I5 that can be purchased system for 300 dollars will blow that system away and save you money on your electric bill, paying for itself...

 

[bp2008]

It sounds like it is probably an i7-860, though dell is/was really bad about specifying exactly which models were available. They might as well say it contains a CPU for all the good their website did in figuring out which one was included in that model.

I have one of those CPUs, but it has been retired for 3 years. It would handle a fair number of cameras in Blue Iris particularly if they are direct to disk and limited frame rate. But it would continue to generate all that heat you dislike and in the long run it may cost quite a bit to run due to being 4 (or is it 5?) generations older than an i5-4xxx series CPU.

 

[kwtrading]

Thanks for the feedback fenderman. Good advice. I was thinking about the electricity too.
Any suggestions on a mini-pc platform? Intel Nuc? Others?

 

[kwtrading]

Also thanks bp2008. So your reply after posting.

 

[Del Boy]

You can turn an i7-860 into a beast if you want a quick gaming PC, I've got one with a water-cooler and it's never missed a beat. For a HTPC or PCNVR it uses too much power though.

 

[bp2008]

Definitely not a NUC. Look for refurbished HP, Dell, or Lenovo business systems with desktop i5-4xxx chips. The NUCs use ultra low power chips that may be called i5 but they run about like an i1 if there was such a thing.

 

[ruppmeister]

Definitely not a NUC. Look for refurbished HP, Dell, or Lenovo business systems with desktop i5-4xxx chips. The NUCs use ultra low power chips that may be called i5 but they run about like an i1 if there was such a thing.

And the NUC is WAAAAY more $$ than a referb HP or Dell like bp2008 and fenderman talk about

 

[kwtrading]

You guys got me curious about what this thing is really running so I powered it up just now when I got home.
It's got an i7-920 which specs out pretty close to the 860.
The Dell model is an XPS 9100. See photos attached.

I just want something streamlined that I can tuck away somewhere, and run 24/7 without using a lot of power and throwing a lot of heat. Anything more specific for refurb models to consider? Who makes the bp2008?

Thanks!

 

[bp2008]

The Dell business outlet has monthly sales where you can get a good price on i5 business systems. It can be hard to catch those though, so check ebay for hp elitedesk 800 g1 i5 and be sure whatever you choose is of the 4xxx series (which is Haswell). You should be able to find a good one for $300 to $350 depending on the day and the seller, with a warranty good until some time in 2017 or 2018. There are also other manufacturers systems you can find on ebay but the HP ones are the ones I find most easily. For Blue Iris, 4 GB of RAM is plenty.

 

[kwtrading]

Lol. Somehow I was in a hurry and read the previous post to be someone mentioned the "bp2008" as a computer model. Sorry about that.
I will look around. Thanks.

 

[SyconsciousAu]

I have a 5 year old Dell XPS 8100 (I think) tower with an i7 I'm converting over to an SSD hard drive.
I love the machine but it does throw some serious heat in the summer when it gets really working. Can cook you out of the room.

I don't currently run my Blue Iris on it but was thinking of using it for BI after the upgrade. Will be monitoring about 5-6 cameras.

Will switching to an SSD allow it to run a little more efficient and throw a little less heat or is most of the heat coming from the processor?

Thanks

Make sure you have a high quality standard hard drive to act as your video storage. I have used WD reds successfully for many years now, avoid WD greens for an NVR, that experiment ended badly for me. The WD purple which is specifically designed for CCTV is available too but I have no experience with them as yet.

The SSD should be used for your OS/program files only. Constant writing and deletion, as happens in an NVR, is not good for an SSD and will kill it far quicker than a standard drive.

If you want to reduce the heat output of your processor consider an under clock and under volt. Small reductions in clock speed can pay big dividends in terms of heat output and energy usage, without any real penalty in performance as an NVR.

 

[ruppmeister]

Not sure that I would agree about the SSDs not being able to handle the writes of a NVR/DVR. They have proven to handle quite the writes load without complete failure, some even as much as 2PB worth.

I will say that an SSD is not cost prohibitive per GB when compared to spinning drives though. So getting the red or purple drives is the best option.

http://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead