To "F", or not to "F"

[derost]

Well I bet THAT got your attention...

So I've got an old computer that I am turning into my stand alone BI comp. It currently has an i7-2600 (yes, I know...) with 16GB RAM, a GeForce GTX950, and two 1TB drives. I've gotten my hands on an MSI Z590 WIFI and am looking into putting in an Intel i5 chip. So the big question (cause I don't know the difference) ... i5-10400 or i5-10400F?

I am on a budget so as to keep it under the radar of "you know who", which is why I was looking at an i5... gotta be better than what's in there now. Thoughts?

No I am not a computer builder, programmer, or gamer... I do construction, so be kind, I'm new and I'm learning.

 

[Zook]

The primary difference is that the 10400F has an integrated GPU. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if that makes a difference as far as BI is concerned.
Others that use BI may be able to enlighten us further.

 

[bp2008]

The "F" means it does not have an integrated GPU (graphics processing unit). Otherwise there is no difference besides pricing, which is usually a very minor difference.

Since you already have a GTX 950, you don't strictly need the integrated GPU. But you WANT the GPU because it gives you the option of using Intel hardware accelerated decoding which is more efficient than CPU decoding, and a lot more efficient than Nvidia's hardware decoding. Intel decoding sometimes doesn't work very well (it may leak memory on certain driver versions, or cause instability). So it is not a major loss if you can get the "F" version a lot cheaper. But if the prices are equal or the same, get the one with the integrated GPU.

 

[bp2008]

You can also pull out the GTX 950 to make the system consume less power and produce less heat. However if you run a 4K monitor I would recommend keeping the GTX 950 in, since it should make Blue Iris's console work with less CPU usage (only if monitor is connected to the GTX 950).

 

[Zook]

The "F" means it does not have an integrated GPU (graphics processing unit). Otherwise there is no difference besides pricing, which is usually a very minor difference.

Since you already have a GTX 950, you don't strictly need the integrated GPU. But you WANT the GPU because it gives you the option of using Intel hardware accelerated decoding which is more efficient than CPU decoding, and a lot more efficient than Nvidia's hardware decoding. Intel decoding sometimes doesn't work very well (it may leak memory on certain driver versions, or cause instability). So it is not a major loss if you can get the "F" version a lot cheaper. But if the prices are equal or the same, get the one with the integrated GPU.

Good catch, sorry for having that backwards!

 

[derost]

Thank you both, that's great info!
I have also done additional digging (was turned on to pcpartpicker) and apparently I actually need to get an 11th Gen chip in order to utilize the M.2 slot and some other thingy on the motherboard. OK, so now that throws on another $50-ish bucks, but now I have the options of i5-11600K for $219 or the i5-11400F for $194. Crazy that the K takes 125W and the F takes 65W , and it also is odd (to noobie me) that the K has a base clock of 3.9GHz and the F is rated at 2.6GHz. Am I wrong in my normal thinking that bigger/ faster is better, or am I missing some subtleties here?

Again, this is only for a BI machine... don't do games, never done games, not my thing.

 

[bp2008]

M.2 slots and NVMe SSDs have been usable since at least the 6th gen Intel. Not sure what you are reading about 11th gen being required.

The TDP numbers are not accurate representations of power consumption, more a guideline on the size of CPU cooler that is required for good performance (many aftermarket CPU coolers specify a recommended max TDP). Anyway higher clock speeds require more power. Every additional MHz costs more than the previous one. The overclockable parts tend to have higher clock speeds from the factory compared to non-K. Also those with a higher model number tend to be clocked higher too.

In this case the difference between i5-11600 and i5-11400 is significant but not huge. Intel Core i5-11400 @ 2.60GHz vs Intel Core i5-11400F @ 2.60GHz vs Intel Core i5-11600K @ 3.90GHz [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software

 

[sebastiantombs]

You will find your NVidia card useful if you decide to use DeepStack Artificial Intelligence which can be easily integrated with Blue Iris. CUDA capable video cards process DeepStack requests far faster than any CPU can. That keep CPU utilization under control.

 

[xplorer]

I'm using a 2600k/16gb ram and a Nvidia 1060 6gb card for BI/DS, idles along at 6-7% CPU 4/5% GPU

I also use the computer to Web browse, email, DVR playback the normal day to day stuff. BI process holds the cpu at 3.5 to 4% and the GPU 2 to 2.5. Jumps for few seconds when DS runs but nothing serious at all. detection times in the 50 to 70msec range.

Refreshing the page here in FF is as big of hit as DS when active, but again only lasting a few odd seconds.

I put together this hardware for win 7 rc and just haven't felt the needed to upgrade. Yea getting old but works fine, was always rock solid with 7 and the same with 10.

I had been recording mainstream 24/7 for all four cameras in Smart PSS, Bi using substream 24/7 equals the same system hit. For my needs the mainstream was preferred, not necessary for all four cams but 24/7 ms has its upside. (I was recording MS, live view was SS)

Was thinking "AMD" this time around but now? aaah can't decide what direction to go

 

[eeeeesh]

I have been using an i5-10400 for about 10 months now and have been very pleased with it's performance. Blue Iris is running 14 cams, with about 6 of them using DeepStack. It also runs my PLEX Server, Home Automation Software (HomeSeer) as well as VMWare workstation which has 3 Win10 vm's running for various things. I don't live on a very busy street but I do get occasionally CPU spikes when there is activity - nothing terrible. I actually built an identical system with an i5-10600 since I was downsizing from my old SuperMicro server, but the 10400 has worked so well, I can't remember the last time I turned the 10600 system on. The 10400 system uses just under 40 watts but most of the storage is in my synology nas

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