New HP server, need graphics card?

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pfunk

n3wb
Feb 20, 2017
27
1
We just bought a new HP ProLiant server:
  • 2 CPUs (2.2Ghz/10-core)
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 800GB SSD for main drive
  • 1.8TB disk drive for longer term storage
We are going to have 32 Axis IP cameras and I would like to do as high a resolution as possible.
Would adding a dedicated graphics card help on this or at this point is it all on the CPUs?
 
pfunk said:
We just bought a new HP ProLiant server:
  • 2 CPUs (2.2Ghz/10-core)
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 800GB SSD for main drive
  • 1.8TB disk drive for longer term storage
We are going to have 32 Axis IP cameras and I would like to do as high a resolution as possible.
Would adding a dedicated graphics card help on this or at this point is it all on the CPUs?
Click to expand...
NO GPU does not matter,in fact it will do more bad then good !!
 
Using quick sync and hardware decoding will help the CPU not a high end graphics card
 
Ok great, that helps to clarify.

I was also planning on installing Server 2016. Would that be OK or would it be more beneficial to use Windows 10?
 
pfunk said:
Ok great, that helps to clarify.

I was also planning on installing Server 2016. Would that be OK or would it be more beneficial to use Windows 10?
Click to expand...
Window 10 would be great. But getting a intel CPU with quick sync and using hardware decoding will help the best. That's assuming you're using Blue Iris right ?? Also do the normal check list of direct disk ...ect....
 
i dont think xeons have intel gfx and that 5 year old Dual CPU load up a ton of electricity.
 
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I honestly wouldn't use this machine for BI it will suck too much power .. also it's way over the top for a 32 camera setup . You can get a good hp desktop business class computer for 400.00 with a intel 6500k quick sync ect... and runs only around 45 watts . What resolution are you running your cameras at? I'm sure a intel 6500k will plenty CPU with lower power and price... let some other ppl chime in it's just what I would do
 
Camit said:
Window 10 would be great. But getting a intel CPU with quick sync and using hardware decoding will help the best. That's assuming you're using Blue Iris right ?? Also do the normal check list of direct disk ...ect....
Click to expand...
Is there a check list somewhere or a sticky with settings for optimal performance.
 
Camit said:
I honestly wouldn't use this machine for BI it will suck too much power .. also it's way over the top for a 32 camera setup . You can get a good hp desktop business class computer for 400.00 with a intel 6500k quick sync ect... and runs only around 45 watts . What resolution are you running your cameras at? I'm sure a intel 6500k will plenty CPU with lower power and price... let some other ppl chime in it's just what I would do
Click to expand...

What if we've already bought the server for this purpose? :-) It should still be plenty fine, right?
 
pfunk said:
What if we've already bought the server for this purpose? :) It should still be plenty fine, right?
Click to expand...

then you made a mistake and should have done your research ahead of time.. we tell people here at least once a week to put the xeon servers they find back in the trash where they found it.. your gonna consume several hundred dollars a year in electricity for a space heater an underperforming recorder that no battery backup you can afford will keep alive for longer than a couple mins.
 
That cpu is very powerful and you have two of them..it will handle the load, but will consume a crapload of power as noted.
 
As I said above this machine is to much. You spent wwwaaayy to much money on this machine, to run 32 cameras. Also your going to spend wwwwaaayy to much in power to run it. You could of spent 400 to 500 for the server and got lower CPU usage and lower power consumption. Again all at a lower price. Since you already bought the hardware, YES this will work it should be fine, but it's like running around the block twice then you only need to do it once.. hope this works out !! Good luck
 
So.....I'm getting the idea that the server I bought might use too much power? ;-)

I guess I'm just confused as how a desktop PC with one CPU could provide as good performance as the server I purchased with 2 CPUs & 10 cores each.
I completely understand the cost is more than a desktop.
 
Also if I returned this server and went with a desktop workstation, would this be a better computer? I'm most concerned about performance, I realize the server would cost more, but performance is what I'm most concerned about.

  • HP Workstation Z240
  • i7 6700 - 3.4 Ghz
  • 8 MB cache memory
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 256 SSD HD
Thanks.
 
pfunk said:
Also if I returned this server and went with a desktop workstation, would this be a better computer? I'm most concerned about performance, I realize the server would cost more, but performance is what I'm most concerned about.

  • HP Workstation Z240
  • i7 6700 - 3.4 Ghz
  • 8 MB cache memory
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 256 SSD HD
Thanks.
Click to expand...
So you don't care about price??
 
Well I'll say it this way, we've already approved & purchased the Xeon server and have it in our possession.
I want the best computer to be able to handle 38 cameras with as high a resolution (within reason) as possible.
 
pfunk said:
I guess I'm just confused as how a desktop PC with one CPU could provide as good performance as the server I purchased with 2 CPUs & 10 cores each.
I completely understand the cost is more than a desktop.
Click to expand...

Answer: Video Decoders, H264/H265 = Highly Compressed Video, requires heavy processing to decode.. The only reason why your smartPhone or a RaspberyPI or SmartTV's can handle these files is because of hardware decoders, if they had to rely on software decoders the'd drain the battery instantly and choke on there on vomit the moment you gave em a HD video.

With the proper hardware support all that video decoding is offloaded from the CPU.. Turning on HW Decoding in BlueIris can take a machine loaded at 80% CPU load down to 20% CPU load.. Desktops work better because they have appropriate hardware to handle HD VIdeo.. Servers, well they dont.. very few servers ever see a video, let alone 32 HD Video Streams at the same time...

Most servers run idle mostly and handle bursts of load, like everyone signing into email/vpn/whatever at the same time every morning, or something goes viral and web traffic suddenly explodes then goes back to normal.. very few server loads are going to run a high load on the server 24/7/365 like a Video Recorder, and those that are loaded like that are often optimized and ran off the most efficient servers in the datacenter... Either way these are machines that when they go down can result in thousands to millions of dollars lost, so power efficiency is not a big concern in face of that.
 
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So would the desktop computer I spec'd above be better for me than the server we currently have?
 
Also I'm trying to do as high of resolution as possible on some cameras. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.
Thanks.
 
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