PC Recommendations for BI Build

Jose R.

Jose R.

Getting the hang of it
Mar 14, 2019
111
83
Miami, FL
Fellas! I'm new here, so be easy, but not that easy.

I'm looking to build a BI setup for residential. About 12-14 cams max. I've been scouring ebay for i7-4770 and i7-4790 HP Elitedesks or Dell Optiplexes with 16gb memory.

Am I on the right track here, and is there a huge difference between those two processors?

Trying to buy before the 8% ebay bucks expires tomorrow.

Some considerations:

HP EliteDesk 800 G1 i7-4770 3.40GHz 1TB HDD 16GB Windows 10 Pro NB263 | eBay

And

Dell OptiPlex 9020 DESKTOP i7-4790 3.6GHz 16GB DDR3 750GB HDD Win10 PRO 1g60c62 | eBay

I like the bigger cases. More room to work, for airflow, and to fill with purple.

Thoughts, suggestions, or ideas?

While I'm here I'll need a POE switch as well if anyone has a line on any good used ones with 16 ports. Also looking at the ASUS routers (AC1900?) but that one will likely be new so no rush there.

Thanks!
 
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Oh, and I already have a Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD from another project to use in it.

If one were to buy a system with no HDD (and hence no OS), how are members here getting Windows on it? What kind of costs are we looking at, or is it just better to get one with a clean install on it already? Only asking because I don't need the HDD from the system, so no sense in buying one with one but then you're out the OS, too.
 
Welcome to the forum

Please read the cliff notes and other items in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Study, read, plan before spending money, plan plan plan.

The number of cameras has very little to do with system size, it is megapixels per minute.

Start read, also use search, your question has been asked a 1000 times before.
 
Thanks for the reply. I have already read all 51 pages of the notes and the hardware section of the wiki. The question was more along the lines of if I had used that information correctly, and stop me if I hadn't.

For example, is the 6th gen the least you'd go for the H.265 or don't worry, a 4th gen is fine a good while. Things like that.

I'll get back to back-reading the forums. Thanks!
 
Ok fellas I think I'm going to go for the HP Elitedesk i7-4770 16GB WIN10 1TB for $209 posted above. It's $193 after eBay Bucks. From what I've read and compared on the BI Helper, this should work just fine for what I'm planning for a few years at least.

Open to any alternatives if you have any on hand.

The low buy-in would make any future upgrades nice and easy. I'll get my SSD in there and clean install of Win10 and BI up and running and then we'll go onto the next steps.

Thanks, all!
 
I think that is a reasonable choice.
It is recommended that you use h.264 and use the correct Intel driver and use bi hardware acceleration. H.265 does not currently work with hardware acceleration.
 
Ok fellas a quick update and some questions as we move along the build.

I got the PC mentioned above, and it's working great. Installed the SSD, installed Win10, installed Blue Iris. So far so good.

I also picked up some cheap Q-See (Dahua) cams on special to get started for now and then use in non-critical areas later.

The switch I bought came DOA (BVTech) so it's going back. I'm looking to pick up an HP Procurve instead for something more robust. I found a 12POE/24 2610 on eBay for $40 I might pull the trigger on. If that's a bad idea, let me know.

My PC came with a 1TB hard drive. What do I do with it, is it of any use? Leave it in there for archiving stills/LPR shots or just remove it? The SSD is 250gb. I presume it's best to not put anything on the SSD other than the OS. I have yet to get the purple drive.

I also picked up a Tmobile AC1900 ($40) which is now an RT-AC68U. TMo sent me three so 2 are going back unless they can be used for something else in the house. I'll use that for the VPN and also as a Wi-Fi AP for the house. I currently have an AT&T U-verse combo router running everything I was planning to shut the radio off on to use the AC68U in a better location.

I think that's it. Once this is all sorted I'll start a new thread for camera locations and such for the front door area.

Thanks, all!
 
One more thought... What is a better idea:

1 HP Procurve POE switch with enough ports, or 2 identical Procurve switches with half the ports (plus uplink) each? The cost is almost the same. Does this increase reliability, troubleshooting or have any other advantages? They would be co-located with the BI machine.

Thanks!
 
I like using multiple switches, just my personal preference, It allows me to spread the wiring out. I have the switches in closets on different sides of the house.
 
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SouthernYankee said:
I like using multiple switches, just my personal preference, It allows me to spread the wiring out. I have the switches in closets on different sides of the house.
Click to expand...
Good suggestion. It will also spread the risk on switch failure. Did you need to do anything different in BI for that setup or was it all straight forward on connection?
 
Yep, I've decided to get the 8-port switch and add on others as/if needed. I like the Procurve 2520-8 for the smaller form factor (and fanless?) and 2-uplinks. Perfect for daisy chaining while keeping things separate with a dual NIC setup.

As for the hard drive, are you guys using a third regular (blue) HDD for long term alert screenshot storage? Or just the SSD and the purple? Does the blue serve any purpose?

Thanks!
 
CV350

Nothing special, to BI an IP address is an IP address, it does not matter how it is connected.

For my setup i have an NON-POE switch next to the BI PC, all the POE switches connect to that switch.
 
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