BI i7 on Intel 4790 3.6 GHz

terry274

n3wb
Jun 22, 2024
5
1
Tennessee
I have a Dell XPS 8700 computer with 24 GB of ram and an Intell i7 4790 CPU. I am considering Blue Iris with 4 or 5 cameras. I see on the BI website they recommend i7 with quicksync. This computer is about 11 years old and I doubt it has QuickSync. Will that be a problem?
I may need to upgrade the hard drive. I currently have one Mushkin 1 TB drive and one Samsung 500 GB installed.
I assume the cameras would connect to a network switch that supplys POE and then the switch would connect to the computer. Is that correct?
I have been looking at cameras and have not yet settled on what to buy.
What else do I need to consider?
 
If I were you I would try it with a few cameras and see how it works, you have nothing to lose, if it can not handle it then go and build up a new system. I don't think that quicksync is of much use anymore with direct to disk enabled on the cameras. I have a system with 18 cameras running on an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G @ 3.8 GHz, the CPU usage is 1% - 3% with no activity on the cameras
 
That will be just fine.

Quicksync isn't needed now with substrates.

Folks run 30+ cameras on a 4th generation just fine.


If possible it is better to buy a $20ish NIC card and have internet on one port and the cameras on another port.

See this thread for the commonly recommended cameras (along with Amazon links) based on distance to IDENTIFY that represent the overall best value in terms of price and performance day and night.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection
 
If possible it is better to buy a $20ish NIC card and have internet on one port and the cameras on another port.

Do you mean, rather than the cameras going into a POE switch have the going to the network card and use a power injector? So I would need 5 ethernet ports for 5 cameras? Or, a computer with 2 ports, one for internet and the other for the switch the from the switch to the cameras?

I currently run a Dell Optiplex with OPNsense firewall. This firewall has an OpenVPN server running as well as VLANs for IOT and cameras.
 
If you have VLANs then all is good.

Many here dual NIC the computer and have the cameras go to one NIC and internet on the other to isolate the cameras from the rest of the network, but tour VLAN does that as well.
 
I have the same CPU with 16gb ram. I run 24 cameras recording continuously 24/7/365. I use a 128mb Samsung SSD for bi and widows 10. A wd purple 8tb internal disk for new video storage. A external 4tb USB drive for save storage. I do not use any advanced detection processing. I have two network cards. All cameras are hardwired and on a separate network.
 
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Or, a computer with 2 ports, one for internet and the other for the switch the from the switch to the cameras?
Yes.
The cameras would be powered by a POE switch and that switch connected to NIC #2 in the BI server PC and have its own subnet (like 192.168.2.XXX) and be isolated from the Internet; NIC #1 would also be in the BI server but be on a different subnet (like 192.168.1.XXX) and that CAN reach the Internet.

Network Topology 2NICs.JPG
 
The 4th gen can do Quicksync for H264 codec, but not H265.

I used it until substreams became a thing in BI.