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

[sotorious]

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.

Amazon.com

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.

 

[wittaj]

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.

 

[sotorious]

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.

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.

 

[looney2ns]

A Dell Optiplex SFF fits the bill nicely, fairly small, nearly silent, good on energy use.
Get one with at least a i5-8500 or higher CPU.

 

[mat200]

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.

Amazon.com

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.

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.

 

[rekd0514]

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.

 

[bp2008]

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.

 

[biggen]

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.

 

[joms]

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.

Is it still working? Did it encounter any heat problems?

 

[biggen]

Is it still working? Did it encounter any heat problems?

Still works great. I log in every few months to update BI. No problems.

 

[The Automation Guy]

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.

 

[biggen]

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.

 

[Pentagano]

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%.

 

[Cameraguy]

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.

Can you provide a link? Or the exact specs so i can search ebay? Thanks

 

[TonyR]

Can you provide a link? Or the exact specs so i can search ebay? Thanks

FWIW, just bought this 2 weeks ago for a client. It runs great, cames with Win 11 Pro, he surfs and does email. Should run BI with several cams with no issues, has room for an additional SSD (m.2/2280):

GMKtec Mini PC, Intel Twin Lake N150 (Upgraded N100), 16GB DDR4 RAM 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD, Desktop Computer 4K Dual HDMI/USB3.2/WiFi 6/BT5.2/2.5GbE RJ45 for Office, Business​

 

[Cameraguy]

FWIW, just bought this 2 weeks ago for a client. It runs great, cames with Win 11 Pro, he surfs and does email. Should run BI with several cams with no issues, has room for an additional SSD (m.2/2280):

GMKtec Mini PC, Intel Twin Lake N150 (Upgraded N100), 16GB DDR4 RAM 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD, Desktop Computer 4K Dual HDMI/USB3.2/WiFi 6/BT5.2/2.5GbE RJ45 for Office, Business​

Awesome thanks

 

[bp2008]

$168 is a steep price for N150. They can be had closer to $125 most days though it may mean making it an N100 (basically the same CPU just a little older) or having 1 Gbps LAN instead of 2.5 Gbps. Just have to be careful with the specs. Some have more M.2 SSD slots than others, some have a SATA port for a 2.5" drive, some have only 8 or 12 GB of ram VS 16 GB, etc. Some have two network ports which is nice if you want to have an isolated network for cameras.

 

[TonyR]

$168 is a steep price for N150. They can be had closer to $125 most days though it may mean making it an N100 (basically the same CPU just a little older) or having 1 Gbps LAN instead of 2.5 Gbps. Just have to be careful with the specs. Some have more M.2 SSD slots than others, some have a SATA port for a 2.5" drive, some have only 8 or 12 GB of ram VS 16 GB, etc. Some have two network ports which is nice if you want to have an isolated network for cameras.

Got links?
Particularly to one that YOU have personally tested?

 

[bp2008]

These mini PCs mostly seem to be produced in small batches so they pop up and go out of stock all the time. Here's the only one from my order history that is still in stock and it was fine for me, running as a little proxmox server for virtual machines. If I was going to run Blue Iris I'd probably go for one with a SATA 2.5" slot or at least a second M.2 slot. This one seems okay with N100 CPU, two network adapters, two M.2 slots, 16 GB RAM and 500 GB SSD preinstalled, for $132.

The thing to keep in mind is these are almost ALL from little Chinese companies and it is a roll of the dice whether it will have issues or if they will honor any sort of warranty. In fact some of them are certainly doing product review manipulation (more on that below). I've bought around 8 cheap mini PCs over the last few years from random amazon and aliexpress sellers and they mostly work just fine. Only two had issues:

1. The most expensive one I got happened to be from one of the better known brands "Minisforum", and it freezes or otherwise goes unresponsive sometimes (which sucks because it is running at a remote location) until power cycled.
2. This I paid $100 for late last year before tariffs, its heatsink did not make physical contact with the CPU at all so it would overheat and thermal throttle and just run like crap. I was able to fix this by installing a thick thermal pad and then later fix it better by putting a small copper shim in there with extra thermal paste. I left a bad review and the seller immediately found my order and sent me a message through Amazon offering a full refund but then gave me the runaround via email for about a week asking me to change my review to 5 stars or delete my review. I wasn't going to do that, and I pressed them on it, asking if the refund was conditional upon me changing the review, and they wouldn't admit to that (because it is against Amazon's terms of service). Ultimately they backed down and gave me the refund. They absolutely were seeing some success from this review-change-bribing tactic, as I noted several other bad reviews disappeared or changed around that time, and I have no doubt that a lot of other mini PC sellers are doing the same thing.

 

[TonyR]

These mini PCs mostly seem to be produced in small batches so they pop up and go out of stock all the time. Here's the only one from my order history that is still in stock and it was fine for me, running as a little proxmox server for virtual machines. If I was going to run Blue Iris I'd probably go for one with a SATA 2.5" slot or at least a second M.2 slot. This one seems okay with N100 CPU, two network adapters, two M.2 slots, 16 GB RAM and 500 GB SSD preinstalled, for $132.

The thing to keep in mind is these are almost ALL from little Chinese companies and it is a roll of the dice whether it will have issues or if they will honor any sort of warranty. In fact some of them are certainly doing product review manipulation (more on that below). I've bought around 8 cheap mini PCs over the last few years from random amazon and aliexpress sellers and they mostly work just fine. Only two had issues:

1. The most expensive one I got happened to be from one of the better known brands "Minisforum", and it freezes or otherwise goes unresponsive sometimes (which sucks because it is running at a remote location) until power cycled.
2. This I paid $100 for late last year before tariffs, its heatsink did not make physical contact with the CPU at all so it would overheat and thermal throttle and just run like crap. I was able to fix this by installing a thick thermal pad and then later fix it better by putting a small copper shim in there with extra thermal paste. I left a bad review and the seller immediately found my order and sent me a message through Amazon offering a full refund but then gave me the runaround via email for about a week asking me to change my review to 5 stars or delete my review. I wasn't going to do that, and I pressed them on it, asking if the refund was conditional upon me changing the review, and they wouldn't admit to that (because it is against Amazon's terms of service). Ultimately they backed down and gave me the refund. They absolutely were seeing some success from this review-change-bribing tactic, as I noted several other bad reviews disappeared or changed around that time, and I have no doubt that a lot of other mini PC sellers are doing the same thing.

Sounds nice...not many reviews (and I don't place too much weight in them any way) but a couple state it runs VERY hot, possibly due to the power supply being built-in and not using an external 12VDC wall wart like most.

It's also said not to provide a built-in VESA mount like many mini-PC's do so that may be a factor to consider....maybe not.

Like most tech items, for every 3 or 4 desirable features there seems to be 1 or more we're not so crazy about. It's very true that you have to read, compare and "do your homework." IMO, since it's not a H-U-G-E investment don't overthink it to the point you never do anything. I had a co-worker at a county many years ago that would hold out for the latest tech and research to the point he'd wind up never buying anything...he was scared to death, literally, that his purchase would be rendered "obsolete' or "out dated" the day after he bought it. In 1980 when my daughter was born he was looking a video cameras to tape in infant son, as I had just bought a Sony HandiCam so I could tape her childhood. When I left the county in '92 twelve years later he had no videos of his 12 year old son....a sad but true story.