Dell Optiplex 9010 desktop as BI server

[venture996]

I can buy a used 9010 desktop with 16gb of memory for $100 (no hard drive or OK) from my employer. It has an i7-3770 processor. Intel site says it supports Quick Sync video. Does anyone know if this would be a power efficient platform?

I've been using a Dell studio desktop which is an older i7-960 based motherboard, but it is an energy hog.

 

[bp2008]

It isn't a bad deal if the machine is reliable. Even better if you already have a windows 8 or 10 license you can use without spending more money. I use an i7-3770k for Blue Iris ... just a tiny tiny bit faster than i7-3770, and it is great. Newer CPUs are more energy-efficient, but not like a staggering amount more efficient.

 

[venture996]

I have Windows 10 on an unused hard disk in my current desktop (my active drive in that desktop is an SSD). So could I move that hard drive into the Optiplex, boot it up and reconcile hardware differences, then move the Win 10 OS over to a new SSD in the Optiplex?

 

[bp2008]

Maybe...

If that machine had installed the free Windows 10 upgrade, then the hardware itself is still licensed for Windows 10 and you should be able to simply install windows 10 on it, or maybe clone an existing disk with Windows 10.

Otherwise I imagine you would have activation issues and they'd want you to pay full retail price for a license... which is stupidly expensive.

 

[Masejoer]

The computer will be fine. Most desktop computers aren't any more or less stable than others.

Good price - that PC would normally sell for twice that mount.

 

[Q™]

I've got 20 3MP, 4MP and 5MP cameras hanging of an i7-3370 running the latest Blue Iris 4.x build and I'm completely satisfied with it.

 

[bp2008]

Most desktop computers aren't any more or less stable than others.

You haven't had my luck I think

 

[Masejoer]

You haven't had my luck I think

If you aren't scraping the bottom of the barrel with falsely-spec'd parts, they should be similar. Hard drives will fail. Power supplies can be of questionable quality. Everything else - there isn't much variation. Most peoples' issues with computers are software related, not hardware, and being software that is directly controlled by the user, it's most often user-caused

Laptops are a different matter altogether. A $200 laptop will rarely be as reliable as a $1000 laptop.

 

[venture996]

Thanks guys, I wound up passing. The cost of adding in a hard drive plus Windows 10 Pro made it a questionable deal for me.

 

[PSPCommOp]

Thanks guys, I wound up passing. The cost of adding in a hard drive plus Windows 10 Pro made it a questionable deal for me.

Find one with Windows 10 already on and buy a Pro license on eBay for $20. Easy-peasy.

 

[Iama]

wow.. $100 for a Core-i7 3770, Mobo, 16 GB RAM, PSU, and a case? Dude, totally worth it IMO. Even if you put Ubuntu on it.
However... I ran into problems when trying to simply switch my BI hard drive (running Windows Server 2008) from an old Core2 duo to a Dell 3010. Same thing with an SSD from another Core-i7. As soon as I hit the OS, it rebooted.
Ended up just installing BI to the new machine with the Dell OS (Windows7) that it was running.

 

[bp2008]

However... I ran into problems when trying to simply switch my BI hard drive (running Windows Server 2008) from an old Core2 duo to a Dell 3010. Same thing with an SSD from another Core-i7. As soon as I hit the OS, it rebooted.

I think this can happen if the SATA mode was changed to or from "AHCI" when changing systems. Of course that is only one of many possible causes for boot failure

 

[Masejoer]

I think this can happen if the SATA mode was changed to or from "AHCI" when changing systems. Of course that is only one of many possible causes for boot failure

Quite likely, yes. The Core2 system more than likely didn't support the AHCI,or defaulted to IDE mode.

Intel to Intel likely works fine. You can also switch AMD to Intel, but that takes a bit more work. I've had to migrate many OS images to different environments, from workstations to servers. After Windows XP, it has been easy. Things are easier today than ever. Either way, what's done is done.