Sorry, a real NOOB question! Video Hardware Question

[DaveK]

I'm beginning to set up a video surveillance system, and am realizing that I'll probably need to build a dedicated computer for that. The system I'm considering should be powerful enough, I think (i7 4790, 8gb, and TB hard drives). The question I have is whether I would see a great benefit from installing a dedicated graphics card, or just using the graphics capability that is built-in to many motherboards.

I'm looking for rock-solid performance and won't be using this computer for anything like online gaming.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[fenderman]

Welcome to the forum...a dedicated graphics card will not help improve blue iris performance...it will only add heat, significant power consumption (this can add 20-60 or more dollars a year to the cost of running the machine) and another point of failure...
I would advise against building your own...find a dell optiplex 9020/7020 refurbished haswell..they are fantastic and built extremely well...with a 3 year next business day on site warranty...when they are on sale the i7 haswell can be had for about 600 or so..you cannot build it for that cheap of you pay for the OS...
How many cameras do you intend to run? What brand/model?

 

[RobertH]

Welcome to the forum...a dedicated graphics card will not help improve blue iris performance...it will only add heat, significant power consumption (this can add 20-60 or more dollars a year to the cost of running the machine) and another point of failure...
I would advise against building your own...find a dell optiplex 9020/7020 refurbished haswell..they are fantastic and built extremely well...with a 3 year next business day on site warranty...when they are on sale the i7 haswell can be had for about 600 or so..you cannot build it for that cheap of you pay for the OS...
How many cameras do you intend to run? What brand/model?

Fenderman, any links to such refurbs like you mention? Every time I look, I don't see them - I must be looking in the wrong place!

HELP! I need an I7... cheap!

 

[DaveK]

At present, I'm using Dahua cameras, the 3MP IPC-HFW4300S, and once past the typically lousy documentation, I find they work acceptably well (especially for the price). If I build my own computer, I'm looking at around $600 with a Haswell and 8gb of RAM, and an upgrade OS to Windows 8.1 (one that I can transfer to another computer if necessary). It might get to be a little more than that, but not much. I know there's no warranty, but such is life! Of course, if I could find that Dell System at such a terrific sale price, I'd probably bite!

I will probably end up with 6 to 8 cameras, and need to integrate the system with my alarm panel... probably an ethernet i/o card that will allow and alarm output contact to trigger BI. The BI documentation isn't clear how to do that, but it definitely appears doable. For alarm events, I'm trying to figure out how to manage the data flow, since it could be huge. My initial approach would be to drop to something like 5fps, and get the highest quality still images for each frame. But that's for the future.

Anyway, it's good to know that the video card won't improve things. That saves a bunch on the cost.

Thanks!

 

[fenderman]

@RobertH, they are not always on sale...the last sale was about two weeks ago and ran 3 days...you can follow the dell outlet on twitter https://twitter.com/delloutlet
there is a coupon code specific to certain models...i prefer the optiplex 7020 or 9020 because they have dual digital out (display port) vs the 3020 that only has a single DP and vga...they also have more raid options i think...
I dont follow the dell outlet but rather set an alert on slickdeals.com so i get a push notification when they have a sale. For example this was on sale earlier today (since expired) http://slickdeals.net/f/7600966-dell-inspiron-3000-desktop-i5-4460-quad-core-4gb-ddr3-500gb-hdd-win-7-pro-267-free-shipping
Yes its an i5 and an inspiron not optiplex, but at 267 its a steal for someone who needs an upgrade and is running an old machine and needs to stick to a budget...they post these type of deals all the time...
The lenovo outlet is another great place, though they dont have many i7's...but sometimes have great deals on i5's
Ebay is also a nice place to look..if you search just right you can find great deals...look for the optiplex's mentioned above and hp elitedesk
Here is an example, i7-4770 for 550
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-9020-Intel-i7-4770-3-9GHz-4GB-RAM-500GB-Win-7-PRO-DVD-USF-/221664134070?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339c3643b6
Note that seller most likely bought it at the last sale for under 500...also note that the slim form factors may not have room for hard drive expansion, and some of the ultra slims only hold 2.5 inch drives.
If you want to add a hard drive or two I would wait until there is a deal on a mini tower...I have in the past squeezed an ssd and one 3.5 drive in a standard small form factor but not in an ultra small... there is no room...

 

[RobertH]

@fenderman - Thank you, just signed up for Slickdeals.

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman - Thank you, just signed up for Slickdeals.

You will need to play with the notifications...like what keywords you want to use...you can also limit the notification to when the deal hits a certain approval rating...if you use something like desktop but set it to only notify you of the front page deals you will get all the great desktop deals..but lots of i3 or i5...so you may want to enter specific i7 processor models or just something like optiplex then check the deals when you are notified...

 

[DaveK]

Thanks for the info!

I'll be checking Slickdeals for the system I want, but at this point I can put one together (i7 4790, 8gB, Win8.1, 1TB drive, and DVD drive) for about $620. And the OS can be transferred to a new computer when I upgrade. I just wish I'd known all this when I built the current computer I'm using.

I have some additional questions about BI, but will post them as individual topics.

 

[RobertH]

Thanks for the info!

I'll be checking Slickdeals for the system I want, but at this point I can put one together (i7 4790, 8gB, Win8.1, 1TB drive, and DVD drive) for about $620. And the OS can be transferred to a new computer when I upgrade. I just wish I'd known all this when I built the current computer I'm using.

I have some additional questions about BI, but will post them as individual topics.

I awoke at 1:30am, with visions of an I7-4790 in my head - so I went online to Dell's refurb New Year's special that was extended until tonight and bought a I7-4790, 8GB Ram, Win8.1Pro, 1TB Mini-tower XPS 8700 with other goodies for $530 plus tax. 35% off, and it ends in hours.

I couldn't help myself - but after close to a year of regret, it's over. I'll buy a better one next year, but this should see me through.

 

[DaveK]

Yeah, I'm looking there, too, and right now they've got nearly what I want at $546 (an extra 8gb of --for me-- useless RAM). I'll keep watching for a while.

 

[GaretJax]

Hey guys - you may want to check this one out. It is from ebay and the warranty is only 1 year from the seller, but it is an i7 4th generation for < $440 shipped.