Was looking into mini computer for a new Blue iris build. Thoughts on this

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sotorious

Getting the hang of it
Jan 20, 2017
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Hello, i have an old computer that im expecting to give any day. Either way i am trying to go for a smaller form factor. I am thinking about this pc, i wanted yalls thoughts on it. Also dont mind if i change out the ssd every couple of years. Also might even put an external on it.


wondering if anyone has a mini pc for their blue iris rig and could share some insight, tired of the big ol hunk i got and its over 8 years old. So th is pc would be 45x faster than my current one.
 
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Most here wouldn't recommend it as those are not designed for 24/7 operations. The processor is designed to favor lower temps over performance. USB drives will not keep up despite their speed ratings.
 
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wittaj said:
Most here wouldn't recommend it as those are not designed for 24/7 operations. The processor is designed to favor lower temps over performance. USB drives will not keep up despite their speed ratings.
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yea but it has to be far better than my current pc, i just want a smaller for factor ready to go, i hear you on it running 24/7 and it may be having thermal issues. But i am pretty sure if you could keep it cool, it should have no problem running 24/7

Also if the usbs are not a good option im willing to give SSD a shot as surveillance it also at least allows you to check the health and you can replace them as it degrades.
 
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sotorious said:
Hello, i have an old computer that im expecting to give any day. Either way i am trying to go for a smaller form factor. I am thinking about this pc, i wanted yalls thoughts on it. Also dont mind if i change out the ssd every couple of years. Also might even put an external on it.


wondering if anyone has a mini pc for their blue iris rig and could share some insight, tired of the big ol hunk i got and its over 8 years old. So th is pc would be 45x faster than my current one.
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FYI when I looked at pc options .. the mini pc cost more than a used business class dell or hp in a sff small form factor.

That and the limited space for at least one 3.5" hdd made it clear that the mini pc form is not a good option even if you get a full cpu in it.
 
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I'm running Blue Iris on a Lenovo M70q Gen 2 mini PC with a 2TB Seagate XF1230 Enterprise SSD. It is built with high writes in mind (3PBW) so it will last a long time for me. I currently have three 2MP and two 5MP cameras recording on motion to it.

EDIT: Also I am using a Coral TPU in the M.2 slot for Code Project AI.
 
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That one you linked is overkill for Blue Iris. Try something with ryzen 5560u, 5600u, 5700u, something in that performance ballpark should be fine and cost half or less. Maybe go for 7735hs if you want to use it for more than Blue Iris. That bumps the price up some but it still should come out cheaper.

You should plan on running it with a very efficient Blue Iris config at a low CPU% most of the time so the fans aren't going bonkers all the time. That is the main issue with a mini PC. They may have fairly powerful CPUs but the cooling is vastly inferior to a typical desktop so they will get loud a lot quicker.

Some have a 2.5" SATA SSD slot but beware some 2.5" SATA hard drives are too thick to fit in some mini PCs.

External drives can work but in my experience they are not quite as reliable as internal.
 
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I put one of these NUCs in my fathers house a couple years ago for his BI installation. I put a 4TB NVME SSD inside it. The thing is wonderful. It's small and quiet and perfect for his 4 camera setup around his home.
 
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biggen said:
I put one of these NUCs in my fathers house a couple years ago for his BI installation. I put a 4TB NVME SSD inside it. The thing is wonderful. It's small and quiet and perfect for his 4 camera setup around his home.
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Is it still working? Did it encounter any heat problems?
 
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Yeah, I won't go as far as saying NUCs can't work for BI use, but I don't think it is a stretch to say they are almost always the wrong tool for the job.

NUCs biggest (dare I say only) advantage is it's small form factor. But 99% of us are putting our BI computers somewhere where size is of no real concern. This makes the biggest advantage of the NUC is nearly always a moot point for a typical BI use case.

While there is really only one benefit to the NUCs, there are several inherent downsides to the small form factor. These downsides are definitely in conflict with a typical BI setup. First, you generally pay a premium for the small NUC form factor vs a larger form factor (all things being equal). Given that space is generally of little concern for a BI computer, it seems silly to pay a premium for a small form factor when space isn't a concern in the first place. Furthermore, this small form factor leads to other downsides which include poor ventilation which can lead to potential overheating/CPU downrating as well as shortened life expectancies of the internal hardware in general because heat kills in these situations. What ventilation that does exist may be potentially louder than alternatives due to the small fan size being used in these NUCs. Larger fans spin slower and are generally quieter than smaller fans. If a NUC is really quiet, it's likely because it doesn't have ANY fans in it and relies on passive cooling alone. Finally and potentially most importantly, there is little to no potential to add more internal storage in a NUC. Even if you can add storage, it is certainly going to be more expensive traditional hard drives and have storage size limitations that traditional HDs don't have. Not only that, but filling up an already cramped case will make cooling everything adequately that much harder which leads us back to the cooling issues many of these devices have.

Long story short, using small form factor devices like NUCs is usually a more expensive option and comes with additional downsides that simply don't match up well for the normal BI use case. I have a NUC that is used 24/7 (powering a home automation display), but I would never consider using a NUC (or other micro form factor) for my BI system. It's the wrong tool for the job IMHO.
 
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Small form factor, quiet, easy to work on, runs cool, etc.. They are great little devices. Perfect for my father who keeps it tucked away in his home theater console. He only has 4 cams around the house so a 2TB or 4TB SSD will get weeks/months of recordings. Heat isn't a factor for this setup. CPU averages 5% load.

They aren't the tool for everyone but are great for certain situations.
 
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I run BI on a proxmox VM, one on a amd 3400g and another on an intel i5 3470T lenovo. As a proxmox VM really easy to back up and move to other pc's if required
All substreams 12 cams.
CPAI on my unraid with a gpu for AI only.

Idles at 9%.
 
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