where are you guys finding i7-6700 Dells under 500?

[fenderman]

not that i am in favor of the optiplex, but the ssd can be in an m.2 form factor with sata interface, if the MB supports it vs a 2.5" form factor.

I beleive the 5040 sff does have an m2 slot but not the 3040...so its important to check spec sheets...

 

[Stay Puft Marshmallow Man]

Thanks for all the input and help. Last question. I can't find any difference between the Optiplex 5040 and the 7040. They appear to run the same MB. I found a 5040 mini tower with 8gb Ram DDR3L 1600MHz, i7-6700, for 509+tax. All the elitedesks seem to be 600 or more. Any reason to hold out for a 7040 or more ram? From what I've read on here Blue Iris doesn't appear to be a RAM hog.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for all the input and help. Last question. I can't find any difference between the Optiplex 5040 and the 7040. They appear to run the same MB. I found a 5040 mini tower with 8gb Ram DDR3L 1600MHz, i7-6700, for 509+tax. All the elitedesks seem to be 600 or more. Any reason to hold out for a 7040 or more ram? From what I've read on here Blue Iris doesn't appear to be a RAM hog.

Thats a good price..no reason to go with the 7040...

 

[Kwulabear]

You can also try the Dell auction site. Although mid towers are hard to find, they do pop up from time to time. I won a laptop one time that had 3 year warranty.

Dell Financial Services

 

[LonnieU]

If your needing extra drive space... For several of the tower models mentioned here (like the Optiplex's) and some older desktop units that have two 5 1/4" bays stacked together, I have used these units to mount three 3.5" drives or four 2.5" drives.

EverCool Dual 5.25 in. Drive Bay to Triple 3.5 in. HDD Cooling Box

Have them running in two Blue Iris workstations. Fans are quiet and WD Purple drives never run over 42C.
If your interested, be aware that the price is for one unit, not a "2 pack".

 

[fenderman]

If your needing extra drive space... For several of the tower models mentioned here (like the Optiplex's) and some older desktop units that have two 5 1/4" bays stacked together, I have used these units to mount three 3.5" drives or four 2.5" drives.

EverCool Dual 5.25 in. Drive Bay to Triple 3.5 in. HDD Cooling Box

Have them running in two Blue Iris workstations. Fans are quiet and WD Purple drives never run over 42C.
If your interested, be aware that the price is for one unit, not a "2 pack".

I dont think these will fit in modern optiplex machines...

 

[LonnieU]

I dont think these will fit in modern optiplex machines...

You may be correct. The last one I installed was in a Optiplex 9020 Mini Tower unit. The two 5.25" drive spaces must be together with no separation barrier of the computer chassis. The front of the unit fits like a CD drive with a full bezel.

But as you know, YMMV...

 

[ldasilva]

i tryed something like that in a optiplex 7010 tower and it wouldnt fit ;/

 

[nogi]

How did you guys get onto Dell/HP for a suitable build? Is there a subsection in the BI forums with build logs? If there is, I don't seem to see it.

 

[code2]

Not sure why there is a issue on the case just buy the whole machine spend another 40 to 50 bucks on a cheap and bigger case, move the internals to new case and done

 

[fenderman]

Not sure why there is a issue on the case just buy the whole machine spend another 40 to 50 bucks on a cheap and bigger case, move the internals to new case and done

because dell motherboards are proprietary and will not fit into any case..it would also void the warranty..

 

[iced98lx]

This seems to be a sub $500 with the right pieces, yes? HP Pavilion 550-177c Desktop Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz 12GB DDR3 1TB HDD Win 10 | eBay

 

[fenderman]

This seems to be a sub $500 with the right pieces, yes? HP Pavilion 550-177c Desktop Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz 12GB DDR3 1TB HDD Win 10 | eBay

That is not a business machine

 

[tigerwillow1]

That is not a business machine

Serious, not smartass question: What does it matter if it's a business machine or not? Isn't it things like performance, reliability, and power consumption that matter.

 

[fenderman]

Serious, not smartass question: What does it matter if it's a business machine or not? Isn't it things like performance, reliability, and power consumption that matter.

3 year next business day warranty (though Ive only used it on a laptop but its reassuring that if you do have an issue on receipt you can have dell fix it at your home rather then send it back to the seller or dell which can waste time and a hassle), Windows PRO - allowing remote desktop..Much better support in general (with hp, US based with native English speakers)..With dell and hp, business systems have higher efficiency power supplies available...often the systems I get have them..you can check with the sellers..

 

[tigerwillow1]

OK, issues I never thought of. On the Dell warranty, do you know if it applies to refurbished systems, and does the warranty transfer with a used but not refurbished system?

 

[fenderman]

OK, issues I never thought of. On the Dell warranty, do you know if it applies to refurbished systems, and does the warranty transfer with a used but not refurbished system?

If its "refurbished by dell" you get the full 3 year warranty...as long as it has a service tag on it and a website check confirms the warranty, you are good.

 

[hostileharry]

I too am on the lookout for a new Blue Iris machine and I'm following the advice of these boards. I am looking at the HP Elitedesk i5-6500's but I see a lot of the mini desktops. My concern is that they don't have single (or dual) HDMI outputs, which I really need for my setup.

I do see the larger HP Elite boxes, but they are a bit more expensive. I assume it's the larger boxes that folks are using and not the mini?

 

[fenderman]

I too am on the lookout for a new Blue Iris machine and I'm following the advice of these boards. I am looking at the HP Elitedesk i5-6500's but I see a lot of the mini desktops. My concern is that they don't have single (or dual) HDMI outputs, which I really need for my setup.

I do see the larger HP Elite boxes, but they are a bit more expensive. I assume it's the larger boxes that folks are using and not the mini?

The minis and ultra slim desktops are no good because there is no 3.5 local storage...they also have much weaker processors...you want a sff or tower.
They all have displayport out...all you need is a dp to hdmi cable or adapter.

 

[hostileharry]

fenderman: thank you very much for the feedback. That is what I assumed... I'm just trying to bargain hunt one of these as I'm looking at rolling out a complete 8x camera, POE switch, firewall (pfsense to a lower power machine), and BI server project. It's been a while since I dropped serious coin on all of these and I know the wife is going to freak on me. Hence why I would love to find one of these HP's under $400

I'm new the forum, but I really appreciate your participation as I've been lurking for about a week to educate myself on all the changes that have occurred since I setup my last system. It's folks like you who are constantly active and providing feedback and time that make these kinds of forums so incredible. So... Thank you from a lurker who is able to digest all this information like a sponge.