Considering Intel NUC 5 i7 (RYH) for BI Server - feedback?
- Thread starter jbeletti
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LOL you guys and your rotten apples.
I don't have personal experience with the faster NUC machines, but I would question the wisdom of using one under continuous heavy load. They are just so small I have to imagine the cooling system was not designed for this.
The closest thing I have is a Gigabyte Brix Pro 4770r which is of similar physical size but it has a 65 watt i7-4770r CPU in it as opposed to the 28 watt CPU found in a NUC. Let me tell you, this machine's cooling system is utterly inadequate. I foolishly bought this Brix about a year ago thinking it would make a nice backup Blue Iris server that I could run concurrently with my main server while not taking up a lot of space. However it turned out that once I put any significant load on it, the one and only fan in the system (the CPU fan) would speed up and become louder than any desktop machine I have ever built in the past 15 years. So instead I settled with just doing constant recording of 4 low bit rate sub streams on this machine, for a CPU usage around 5 percent.
In no way was this worth the $1000 I paid for the entire system. The machine crashed all the time (Blue Screen of Death every month or so) until eventually one of the two sticks of memory failed and it began crashing daily until I found and removed the faulty RAM. Later I lost the 1 TB WD Red drive I had inside. My non-contact thermometer said the 500GB mSATA SSD was running at about 90C and S.M.A.R.T. data showed about the same temperature. So, fearing the SSD would fail too, I got a set of small adhesive copper heatsinks and put them on the SSD. I also decided to run the machine with the bottom of the case removed and I now have it sitting on a 140mm cooling fan which blows a strong stream of air up into the bottom of the case. The final step was to limit CPU speed by disabling turbo boost in the bios and by going into Windows' power settings and limiting the CPU to 80% of its maximum speed. This machine now handles its small load quietly and reliably, but it is basically hooked up to life support now after having half its organs removed.
I'm not saying anyone trying to run Blue Iris on an Intel NUC is going to experience the same problems. Likely it will be fine because the system creates so much less heat. But it is good to know, anyway, that 65 watt CPUs are too much for this form factor.
I don't have personal experience with the faster NUC machines, but I would question the wisdom of using one under continuous heavy load. They are just so small I have to imagine the cooling system was not designed for this.
The closest thing I have is a Gigabyte Brix Pro 4770r which is of similar physical size but it has a 65 watt i7-4770r CPU in it as opposed to the 28 watt CPU found in a NUC. Let me tell you, this machine's cooling system is utterly inadequate. I foolishly bought this Brix about a year ago thinking it would make a nice backup Blue Iris server that I could run concurrently with my main server while not taking up a lot of space. However it turned out that once I put any significant load on it, the one and only fan in the system (the CPU fan) would speed up and become louder than any desktop machine I have ever built in the past 15 years. So instead I settled with just doing constant recording of 4 low bit rate sub streams on this machine, for a CPU usage around 5 percent.
In no way was this worth the $1000 I paid for the entire system. The machine crashed all the time (Blue Screen of Death every month or so) until eventually one of the two sticks of memory failed and it began crashing daily until I found and removed the faulty RAM. Later I lost the 1 TB WD Red drive I had inside. My non-contact thermometer said the 500GB mSATA SSD was running at about 90C and S.M.A.R.T. data showed about the same temperature. So, fearing the SSD would fail too, I got a set of small adhesive copper heatsinks and put them on the SSD. I also decided to run the machine with the bottom of the case removed and I now have it sitting on a 140mm cooling fan which blows a strong stream of air up into the bottom of the case. The final step was to limit CPU speed by disabling turbo boost in the bios and by going into Windows' power settings and limiting the CPU to 80% of its maximum speed. This machine now handles its small load quietly and reliably, but it is basically hooked up to life support now after having half its organs removed.
I'm not saying anyone trying to run Blue Iris on an Intel NUC is going to experience the same problems. Likely it will be fine because the system creates so much less heat. But it is good to know, anyway, that 65 watt CPUs are too much for this form factor.
I'm evaluating BI, so I'm running on my 15 month old I5-NUC (haswell), to evaluate. I have no crashes after 8 days of continuous recording of 8 cameras ( network speed of cameras are : 5,3,3,2,2,2,2,2 Mbits/sec). Its MJPEG recording so these data rates stay close to rates I listed. Right now NEW,Alerts and storage is written to USB3 drive. BI is run as service using SSD drive, OS also on same, CPU utilization is 25% via 71 threads, TEMP is 48C, NUC Power is 5W, Freq is 1.3 GHz. NUC is quiet, USB drive not, but I'm evaluating. Goal is to add few more cameras and display on UHD TV infrequently when I get it. Its for home or someone elses. Big and ugly not considered.
NUC is very nice, I remember paying 3k for PC long ago, couple hundred bucks more for what I want isn't a big deal. Waiting for Skylake, then pull trigger.
Shower got rid of my rotten egg smell, regards, MartyO
NUC is very nice, I remember paying 3k for PC long ago, couple hundred bucks more for what I want isn't a big deal. Waiting for Skylake, then pull trigger.
Shower got rid of my rotten egg smell, regards, MartyO
fenderman
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CPU consumption on blue iris is dependent on many factors...mostly on the total megapixels of the camera...What is the resolution of the 8 cameras you are using? NVR's should be placed in an unexposed location..the dell micro or hp elite desks are pretty small...that are not big and ugly.
Considering they are mjpeg I bet it is 640x480. Not a lot of cameras go higher than that without h264 compression.
You came in low because you went 'cheap' on the ram and storage. I just ordered parts for one (not for Blue Iris) and the ssd was $226SubTotal: $739.95
Item Qty Price 1129118
REG
Seagate STEB5000100 5TB Expansion Desktop Drive 1 $129.99 REG 
Crucial 4GB 204-Pin SO-DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800 Memory for Notebooks 1 $29.99 1141547
REG
Transcend 128GB 2.5" SATA III SSD370S Internal SSD 1 $57.99 1083305
REG
Transcend 64GB MTS800 SATA III M.2 Internal SSD 1 $44.99 1150182
REG
Intel NUC5I7RYH Mini PC NUC Kit 1 $476.99
Federman, why did you say this costs $900. again rotten apples
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SM951-256GB-AHCI-MZHPV256HDGL-00000/dp/B00VELD92U.
Why buy the fastest NUC and not use the best components? My total (without a desktop drive) was $766 with any tax/shipping (1866 ram was highly recommended)
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Nice SSD!
I once bought faster-than-normal RAM and tried it at various speeds and had no perceptible difference. Probably because I was only benchmarking games.
I once bought faster-than-normal RAM and tried it at various speeds and had no perceptible difference. Probably because I was only benchmarking games.
I didn't go cheep, this PC is purely for surveillance, nothing else, 4 gig Ram is plenty plenty C: 64gig plenty For OS and BI , D: 128gig For one day of recordings , E: 5TB for over a month of stored recording.
Please explain what is wrong with each choice
Please explain what is wrong with each choice
fenderman
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I think he means using Transcend ...
for ssd, the most reliable options are intel, crucial and samsung..there is no point in placing one days recording on an sdd - that adds zero value.
Benchmarks are like looking at RPM, and forgetting to consider MPH is more important.
over a month of surveillance data is available with the setup, live recording is done on 128gig SSD then automatically sent to USB drive.
fenderman
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right, my point is that there is no reason to send the data to the ssd then to the usb drive...simply record direct to the usb...
But its better for performance and when playing back older video, its better to have current video recording on a different drive while view simultaneously. Hey have a good weekend.
fenderman
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There is nothing 'wrong' with your choices. It seemed to me that you were calling Fenderman out since he apparently indicated that these were in the $900 range
Here is a quote from an article reviewing the NUC i7
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/mini-review-intels-powered-up-core-i7-broadwell-mini-pc/
When I build a system - I try to make sure it is what I called 'balanced' If I am paying extra for the fastest cpu - then I feel I should also get comparable components (memory and storage). I also try to purchase from the 'approved' list whenever possible.
I was fortunate enough to snag 8 gb of gskill 1866 ram (approved list) for $60 from NewEgg Business - they were sold out of it within a couple of hours
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231706
I agree with Fenderman - this is not the most cost effective way to go for a Blue Iris system
fenderman
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If cost is not an issue then you can use Avigilon vms with analytics on a much less powerful NUC...Blue iris is awesome and I use it exclusivly, however there are better options if cost is a non issue.
You are talking about 900 for the nuc vs 300 (400 with ssd) for a more powerful dell or hp...they are super small Another alternative is the lenovo m93 tiny pc.
fenderman
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