Which Dell Optiplex to get.

[10bad10]

So I finally pulled the trigger on my cameras and bought 6 Hikvision DS-2CD2342WD-I. The max cameras I will ever run in BI would be around 10. At this point I am looking to get a computer to run BI and think that a Dell Optiplex with an i7 is a good solution. What is the lowest generation I could use? I see a lot of different ones on eBay such as the 9010, 7010, 9020, 9040. I guess a better question might be the minimum specs my PC could have (i7, RAM).

My other question is about storage. I have a QNAP server with 12TB of WD Red space. Can I have the BI machine store to there or will I have to stick a WD purple drive in the BI machine?

Thanks for the help and sorry for the lack of knowledge!

-Dave

 

[fenderman]

If you intend to run 10 4mp cameras, get the latest generation skylake i7-6700....or at least haswell, but they are priced close...
You can write to the nas, but I would recommend writing to a local drive then having BI move older files to the nas when the drive is full...

 

[10bad10]

Thanks for the answer fenderman. I've been looking at this on eBay. Does it seem like a good deal. Is there any problem with it being the i7-6700T?

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for the answer fenderman. I've been looking at this on eBay. Does it seem like a good deal. Is there any problem with it being the i7-6700T?

I would not get the T processor, that said, there is something wrong with that auction, I dont believe dell sells the T in the tower form factor, its only on the micro pcs (no room for 3.5 drive)....the picture is of a mini tower..its listed as a "micro tower" which doesnt exist....i believe the auction is for a micro form factor which I would not use...

 

[10bad10]

Thanks you solidified my concerns about that auction and I'll avoid the T processors.

 

[shepscrook]

Or get a Xeon E5-2670 which are dirt cheap, the boards are a little pricier, but you're looking at around the same price if not cheaper for more horsepower.

You could be looking at an 8 core with HT, and a motherboard for $260-300 range which does 12,000+ on passmark

The Intel i7-6700 while being a beast, would be a 4 core with HT + a motherboard for around $380-460 and gets you around 9,000+ on passmark.

 

[fenderman]

Or get a Xeon E5-2670 which are dirt cheap, the boards are a little pricier, but you're looking at around the same price if not cheaper for more horsepower.

You could be looking at an 8 core with HT, and a motherboard for $260-300 range which does 12,000+ on passmark

The Intel i7-6700 while being a beast, would be a 4 core with HT + a motherboard for around $380-460 and gets you around 9,000+ on passmark.

poor choice...the Xeon E5-2670 does not support hardware acceleration so the i7-6700 will outperform it. The Xeon is also more power hungry (and you will need to add video consuming more power) than the skylake and and old 2012 processor. A complete system with full warranty with the i7-6700 can be had for 400-500 dollars.

 

[shepscrook]

poor choice...the Xeon E5-2670 does not support hardware acceleration so the i7-6700 will outperform it. The Xeon is also more power hungry (and you will need to add video consuming more power) than the skylake and and old 2012 processor. A complete system with full warranty with the i7-6700 can be had for 400-500 dollars.

Well, it's not entirely a poor choice, you could run a VM and add a video card and it would still be a good setup. It would use very slightly more power though. The hardware acceleration did skip my mind though.

But you really wouldn't have to. If it was dedicated to a couple of tasks NAS/VM/BlueIris and some other things, there's still more than enough power for quite a while.

Right now, with my server (NASBOX) running OpenMediaVault. I've got downloads, shares, a couple VMs, currently 2 cameras running and my overall CPU utilization is around 6-8% with an average at around 1.91%. I'm running an E5-2680v1. I'm planning on adding another maybe 4 cameras eventually. Still working out locations.

 

[fenderman]

Well, it's not entirely a poor choice, you could run a VM and add a video card and it would still be a good setup. It would use very slightly more power though. The hardware acceleration did skip my mind though.

But you really wouldn't have to. If it was dedicated to a couple of tasks NAS/VM/BlueIris and some other things, there's still more than enough power for quite a while.

Right now, with my server (NASBOX) running OpenMediaVault. I've got downloads, shares, a couple VMs, currently 2 cameras running and my overall CPU utilization is around 6-8% with an average at around 1.91%. I'm running an E5-2680v1. I'm planning on adding another maybe 4 cameras eventually. Still working out locations.

vm is a bad idea for blue iris or any vms...regardless, you cannot use hardware acceleration in BI when running a vm OR when using discrete graphics, you NEED intel hd with quicksync. Video cards are power hogs. Two cameras is a meaningless term, what resolution? what frame rate? have you actually measured your power consumption? You will likely find that it will be cheaper to buy a modern efficient system.

 

[shepscrook]

vm is a bad idea for blue iris or any vms...regardless, you cannot use hardware acceleration in BI when running a vm OR when using discrete graphics, you NEED intel hd with quicksync. Video cards are power hogs. Two cameras is a meaningless term, what resolution? what frame rate? have you actually measured your power consumption? You will likely find that it will be cheaper to buy a modern efficient system.

Why is a VM a bad idea for Blue Iris?

2 cameras, 1080p, 30fps.

I haven't measured my actual power draw (Meter arrives on Sunday). Sure, the VM cannot use the graphics, but at this time, my system is not struggling at all with the load.

 

[fenderman]

Why is a VM a bad idea for Blue Iris?

2 cameras, 1080p, 30fps.

I haven't measured my actual power draw (Meter arrives on Sunday). Sure, the VM cannot use the graphics, but at this time, my system is not struggling at all with the load.

A vms should be run on a standalone clean machine for 100 percent stability.