Windows PC configuration question

[bigbadw]

I am a long time, residential BlueIris customer.
* Is there a 64bit version of BlueIris? This would help the memory max issue.
* Are there better system configurations for handling the CPU requirements of BlueIris?

As the price of Camera's have been coming down, I have been upgrading them for better MegaPixel versions. Of course I started with the standard 600 x 400 cameras, moved to 1MP then 2MP and recently am upgrading to the 3MP cameras. I mean, why have video/jpeg images if you can't really see the person or automobile license plate? You can get some information, but crisp pictures are what the Police want! I do try to capture the highest quality jpeg's and video that the system will allow.

As I have updated and added cameras, the CPU utilization sky rockets... My last Security PC was an intel chip "I3". It is now pegging out at 100% and crashes. (I'm not providing the history of the PC's I've upgraded through the years).
I am now putting together an I7 CPU Security PC. During my experiments, I am seeing BlueIris utilize between 30% to 60% of an i7 CPU and memory of almost 2Gb. (that is the maximum memory that a 32 bit O/S can map).

Camera system:
* 8 constant cameras (4 - Trendnet 3MP) (1 - Foscam 1MP) (2 - Vivotek 2MP) (1 - Foscam 2MP)
* 3 vacation mode cameras (only used when we go out of town) (3 - Foscam 1MP)

Security PC:
i3 (soon to be i7) CPU
4Gb memory
250Gb disk (for O/S and application only)
- 2TB disk dedicated to image/video capture from BlueIris

 

[fenderman]

A 64bit version is in the works and is rumored to be available by years end. CPU is most important..the are 4 versions if i7 that are very different. You should be using a 3rd or 4th generation i7. To reduce load you can use direct to disk recording...

 

[bigbadw]

Thanks! The i7 chip I am upgrading to is the i7-3770k, so I believe it is a 3rd Generation. This is limitation was due to the current motherboard I have. It requires an LGA 1155 compatible CPU and the highest i7 chip I could find was the i7-3770. (hopefully I am not mistaken).

Thanks for the lead about "direct to disk" writing. I am going to research that now. Also, I look forward to the 64bit application!

Do you know if there is any benefit from running BlueIris as a service, vs. an application once the O/S has booted up?

 

[fenderman]

I dont know if there is a benefit when it comes to cpu use...i double there is much difference (assuming you minimize the application in regular mode so its not displaying cameras)..Another way of minimizing cpu is to limit the live preview rate (does not affect recording)...Your processor will be more than enough for your needs.

 

[bigbadw]

fenderman, greatly appreciate the info.

I believe you are talking about the "Camera Properties", Video tab. Then, on that page, it is "Image format", frame rate.

Is this correct?

operties -
Video

Camera Properties -
Video​

 

[fenderman]

No, that is for the actual recording frame rate. There is another global setting specific to live view only (will not affect recording) So you can record at 30fps but live view at say 10. Blue iris options > cameras> limit live preview rate. Note that direct to disk will have a much greater impact than the this limiting option. If you do use direct to disk make sure you change the iframe interval in your cameras to the lowest possible (usually the lowest possible settings is the same as fps)

 

[bigbadw]

Got it!!! Thanks much!

 

[fenderman]

No problem...Let us know how it turns out...

 

[bigbadw]

No problem...Let us know how it turns out...

Rebuild is complete, cameras upgraded and Blue Iris is running stable. Thanks for all the advice that helped me figure out what I was doing wrong.

 

[fenderman]

Cool, glad to hear.

 

[Overcon]

I have the same issue. I am running a system with a Xeon E5450 3.0GHZ and 8 Megs of RAM and the system is basically pegged at 100% with 6 cameras. I am not sure if it is economical to purchase a new system with a faster CPU and more memory. The system I am using now is a Dell Poweredge T300. I tried running them on a Dell T5400 with a 2.33 Xeon with 4GB of ram and that was a lot slower. I can upgrade the memory on it to 16, but I have read a lot of internet forum posts that the BIOS on those seems to have issues with not recognizing larger amounts of memory. According to Crucial the board will accept 32Gb, but i would need to purchase some memory riser cards and then add the memory and hope the system recognizes the 32GB. Plus I haven't a clue where to find the risers that would work on that system.

So, I am back to square one and trying to figure out a way to using what I got to get smooth recordings using this otherwise great software for the cameras. I plan on adding at least two more Dahua IPC-HFW4300S 3MP Eco-Savvy Weatherproof Hi Def IP Security Camera 3.6mm which is only going to exacerbate the problem and I am not really sure how much of an improvement adding more memory to the system will actually help with.

 

[fenderman]

More memory will not help as blue iris is 32bit....even when its 64, it wont help because its your processor that is underpowered. You will need to spend 300-500 on a core i5-i7 haswell. Go with the i7 if you want lots of future expansion.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ThinkCentre-M93p-MT-Core-i7-4770-Quad-3-40GHz-8GB-1TB-Win-8-Pro-64-Bit-eSATA-/121516061120?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item1c4aebf1c0
Also put a power meter on that thing and see home much its consuming...
Here is an article i dug up...http://www.pcworld.com/article/147817/sas_server.html
At idle it was pulling 130w (although it doesnt state how it is configured)..
By comparison a moder i7-4770 will pull 30w at idle...less if you get the S version with low power consumption...
That difference alone would cost me 175 a year if i left it on 24/7.... (i pay about 20 cents a kwh)...I would venture that the difference is more dramatic under load...

 

[Zxel]

During my experiments, I am seeing BlueIris utilize between 30% to 60% of an i7 CPU and memory of almost 2Gb. (that is the maximum memory that a 32 bit O/S can map).

Not true, 32bit applications can access 4GB if the application is large address space aware (linked with /LARGEADDRESSAWARE).

Now to be fair I do not know if BI is large address aware, however, I'm more concerned about the general statment on 32bit applications.

 

[Tek420]

Hey Everybody,

I desperately need to upgrade my PC as it has issues and can't really run Blue Iris and do anything else at the same time. My initial thought was a regular PC and a PC just for Blue Iris and the cams.

So the Blue Iris guys suggested specs are an i7 CPU (4th generation preferred) running at 3ghz+ quad core (6-8 core would be much better they said but WAY out of my price range) and ATI/Nvidia cards using PCI express 2/3 w/ 2 gb memory for all my cams which are (3) Foscam FI-9805-W, (1) Foscam FI-9828-W, (1) Hikvision DS-2CD2132-I, and (2) Foscam FI-9821-W V2 cameras running at 720P connected via CAT5 except for the 9821s on WiFi plus maybe one or two more future 9805s at most. Those specs though for what I'm doing are pretty hard core and not cheap!

My question is do most of you have a separate PC for the cams and another PC for regular use? If you run them on the same PC what specs do you have to do that without any issues with the processor maxing out? What minimum (or inexpensive) specs would you suggest for a standalone cams PC that would run pretty smothly?

I know that the one PC solution is a somewhat loaded question but I don't do a whole lot on my regular PC other than surf the web, email, a little coding, listen to music, and some videos like YouTube. My current PC it is old and is running Windows 7 (32bit), AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 940 3GHz quad core, 4GB RAM, and a ATI Radeon HD4800 video card and is actually fine for my regular PC needs now, other than it is starting to have some weird issues and breakdown hence the reason I am going to upgrade it. Believe it or not Blue Iris actually runs OK on this PC, a little sluggish but passable, but I can't do anything else when it is running.

Yes I have searched all over the forums but there is a lot of information out there and a good portion of it is somewhat conflicting and not being a huge hardware guy it's starting to confuse and frustrate me. I saw this (Intel® Core™ i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core CPU/MSI B85-G41 PC MATE ATX MB/8GB DDR3 1600 PNY XLR8 Memory/120GB OCZ Arc 100 SSD/1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm SATA HDD/Cougar Solution Case w/TT TR2 600W PSU at TigerDirect.com) or this (Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core CPU/Asus Z97-AR ATX MB/8GB DDR3 1600 PNY XLR8 Memory/1TB WD Blue 7200rpm SATA HDD/Cougar Solution Case w/650W PSU Barebones at TigerDirect.com) bare bones PC and think that this might suffice for a Blue Iris only PC but not sure if this would be enough for Blue Iris and a regular PC all in one or if I should even try to go that route. I did see the Levino that was pointed out but I'm not a fan of refurbs and I think the Tiger Direct ones seem a bit more powerful. Plus I have an unused license for Win7 Ultimate and don't need to pay for an OS.

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]I only really want to use Blue Iris to run in the background for the most part so I can access the cams via the Android app on occasion and record short bits of video when motion detection has been tripped on a few cams. If it's just a Blue Iris only PC I'm thinking that I don't need it to be a super speed demon that plays videos instantaneous and with all the horsepower they recommend but I still would like it to not be a total dog in case I need to do anything else on the PC and Blue Iris is running.

Ideally one PC to do it all with no dogging the processor having a bunch of Chrome window open and watching a YouTube video would be great and I am sure could save some money on electricity. I'm thinking though that PC would be out of my price range but two low cost PCs might work out better with my total budget of about $800-$1000 and if I REALLY have to $1200ish max.

If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations to get me straight and unconfuse me after all the stuff I've read on Blue Iris PC specs I really, REALLY would appreciate it. Oh and I have a FreeNAS box that I can try to use to store the recording to (short term stuff is all I plan on keeping) if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance everyone!!

Dave[/FONT]

 

[bp2008]

Hi Dave. You probably should have started a new thread for this but whatever.

You do not need a dedicated graphics card for Blue Iris. Onboard video in recent intel CPUs is more than sufficient.

I have to recommend using a separate system for Blue Iris, and refurbished systems are almost always the most cost-effective way to do this. This one for example: Dell Inspiron Desktop PC Intel Quad Core i5 4460 8GB 1TB Win 8 1 3847 Wty 3000 794504051827 | eBay

You can find a better price and likely a longer warranty with some dedicated searching, but a system like that will be able to handle your camera load with room for future expansion.


Alternatively if you want to build a faster system to use for both Blue Iris and normal use, you can't go wrong with an i7-4790 @ 4 ghz CPU. It is nearly twice as fast as the i5 in the one I linked above, due to its much higher clock speed and hyperthreading. And again you don't need a dedicated graphics chip unless you want to do serious 3d gaming. You can easily build a sweet non-gaming PC for $800 or less, based on that CPU. But again, I do not recommend running Blue Iris on the PC you spend a lot of time on. It is a constant drain on CPU time!


You don't really need the FreeNAS box for recordings. I have many months of motion recordings in under 150 GB. You really only need tons of storage if you are doing continuous recording or have hours of motion recordings per day.

 

[fenderman]

BP2008s recommendation is spot on...buy a preconfigured dell, i5 is way more than you need for your cams...check the dell outlet (and their twitter page for coupons)..you can pic up a haswell i5 for 300 when on sale with 3 years of next business day warranty...
HP elite desks are another great option....New HP Elitedesk 800 G1 i5 4570 3 2GHz 4GB RAM 500GB DVD SFF Desktop PC Win 7 8 | eBay
HP Elitedesk 800 G1 Core i5 4570 3 2 GHz 8 GB 500 GB | eBay
HP Elitedesk 800 G1 Small Form Factor PC i5 4570 3 2GHz 8GB 500GB HDD Desktop | eBay
note the the small form factor will only have room for one 3.5 drive...the ultra slim desktop only has room for a single 2.5 drive...
email the seller for the serial number and check warranty status...hp has an online tool -google it.
As bp says dont get a dedicated card, the intel integrated graphics are way more than needed...its only listed there for older machines or amd processors...

 

[Tek420]

Hey bp2009 and fenderman,

I REALLY appreciate the time to give me some input! That is really what I was looking for which is a 'realistic' machine to do what I wanted. Again not being a big hardware guy, what the Blue Iris guys sent me just seemed way, WAY more than I really needed. I'm going to end up getting one of those three you recommended in the links if something at the Dell Outlet does not stand out and see what budget I have left to replace this PC.

Sorry for being a bit of a n00b and posting in the wrong thread but again super huge thanks for the info!

Dave