Why are prebuilt computers like the Optiplex heavily recommended by some?

[dabomb18359]

As the title states, I'm curious why people highly recommend the prebuild computers when some people ask what type of rig to build capable of handling Blue Iris. Is it just because they're a good value relative to the parts you can buy separately and configure yourself?

Just wondering as someone who's interested in putting a machine together. Thanks

 

[nayr]

you can build your own as long as you get the correct hardware support..

the Optiplex's are popular because the power envelope is known, performance is great, and the small form factor lends its self to being left somewhere discrete vs a generic tower.

you'll be hard pressed to build a smaller, more power efficient, with comparable performance for the same price as a refurb that spent its entire life in a nice clean office somewhere and was only decommissioned because the lease expired.

You shouldn't be doing anything else with the box than BlueIris, so home built machine offers little advantage.. the use is pretty standard across the board, reliable 2.5 ssd for OS and biggest disk you can afford for video storage.. adding a bunch of smaller disks just ruins your power efficiency.

 

[fenderman]

To clarify these machines are not off lease and have not been sitting around in office for years generally they are customer returns for whatever reason they have been in service for several days to a month Max you can verify this because the machines go on sale several months after the processors are released so there's no way it would be least for 3 months you can also take a look at the hard drive manufacture date as well as manufacture date on power supplies and see if these systems are basically new they also come with a full three-year next business day on-site warranty

 

[nayr]

yeah any warranty returns will be refurbished too; kinda hard to tell how old it is based off hdd or psu date as those are the two highest failing parts in general and the most likely to be DOA or have issues pretty much out of the gate.

lease returns often dont come with hdd's as they are required to be destroyed for various compliance and security reasons.. in the end it dont really matter, refurbs get tested more throughly than factory fresh items, still come with a warranty and offer deep discounts.. for residental video surveillance, nothing to dislike really.

Working for a manufacturer, I can say that anything sent back for whatever reason is refurbed and resold as much as possible.. and most corporations just lease em anymore.

 

[fenderman]

Like I said they are sold several months after the processors released there's no way they are leases. The cases are in pristine condition not even a scratch off there was no way they were sitting around in an office anywhere. No one does a 12 month lease so for example systems systems with Skylake processors can not be leases.

 

[dabomb18359]

Okay so it sounds like they're high quality PCs with conveniently small form factor which is useful for NVR type applications. And as I understand it, it's a good deal to get one of those in particular because they're typically refurbs and thus have been taken care of but are cheaper since they're not "new" anymore.

 

[fenderman]

Okay so it sounds like they're high quality PCs with conveniently small form factor which is useful for NVR type applications. And as I understand it, it's a good deal to get one of those in particular because they're typically refurbs and thus have been taken care of but are cheaper since they're not "new" anymore.

Yes. For example, I was able to pickup an i7-6700 skylake hp elitedesk g2 for 400 dollars...(its not usually that cheap but nonetheless I was able to get it)...the manufacture date on the dvd drive was march 2016 to give you an idea...the in service date for warranty purposes was about a month before I got it..

 

[dabomb18359]

I'm assuming you had some way of getting it cheaper than the average Joe, but for the rest of us is eBay the place to go to find them? I recall reading a suggestion on here about eBay but not much else.

 

[fenderman]

I'm assuming you had some way of getting it cheaper than the average Joe, but for the rest of us is eBay the place to go to find them? I recall reading a suggestion on here about eBay but not much else.

ebay...best offer...nothing special - for HP
Dell can be had from the dell outlet (They have a sale twice a month, set an alert...) follow them on twitter or ebay..

 

[bp2008]

Why are prebuilt computers like the Optiplex heavily recommended by some?

The reason is they are a better value than just about any other kind of PC, when you buy them refurbished with a long warranty.

I mean, have a look at this, direct from the dell outlet that I found just now. Alas, I don't need it.



$395.85 (before tax) for an i7-6700, 500 GB HDD, 4 GB RAM, Win 10 Pro. The warranty is "3 Year Hardware Service with Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis"

You can hardly buy the CPU and OS license alone for that, let alone the motherboard, small form factor case, RAM, power supply. They even throw in a keyboard and mouse and a worthless radeon graphics card (that is something that should be pulled from a BI system for the sake of energy efficiency).

 

[dabomb18359]

Wow that does seem like quite the deal when you explain it like that, I haven't shopped for new computer parts in a while. I didn't find the one you posted exactly but was able to find the Optiplex code on their twitter and found something similar on their website. Thanks again for all the useful info!

 

[Timch]

I'm new to this forum. I have 2 Hikvision DS-2CD2042WD-I 4MP cameras running at 20fps that I started playing with in BI software on my i7 desktop. Planning to add 1-2 cameras and moving BI to a dedicated host, but don't expect the system to ever exceed 6 cams. From the forum posts I figured Intel Core i5 with 8Gb should be sufficient for my setup. I'd like to have something nearly silent and a low power requirement. Less moving parts (fans) - less noise and parts to fail. For power I hoped to use Core i5 6th gen T or U processors, but noticed Fenderman recommending to avoid Intel T-processors?

What are the reasons I shouldn't use T-processors? I understand small loss in the speed, but gain much more (50%) in power saving. Core i5 Skylake U-processors would allow reduce power even lower to 15W and can run completely fan-less, but these are 2-core versions. Would 2-core be sufficient for my setup?

 

[fenderman]

I'm new to this forum. I have 2 Hikvision DS-2CD2042WD-I 4MP cameras running at 20fps that I started playing with in BI software on my i7 desktop. Planning to add 1-2 cameras and moving BI to a dedicated host, but don't expect the system to ever exceed 6 cams. From the forum posts I figured Intel Core i5 with 8Gb should be sufficient for my setup. I'd like to have something nearly silent and a low power requirement. Less moving parts (fans) - less noise and parts to fail. For power I hoped to use Core i5 6th gen T or U processors, but noticed Fenderman recommending to avoid Intel T-processors?

What are the reasons I shouldn't use T-processors? I understand small loss in the speed, but gain much more (50%) in power saving. Core i5 Skylake U-processors would allow reduce power even lower to 15W and can run completely fan-less, but these are 2-core versions. Would 2-core be sufficient for my setup?

Welcome to the forum..the T processors are significantly slower than the standard processors. You are not going to see significant power savings using t processors. U processors are much worse since they are weaker to begin with and will likely throttle down.. You are confusing max tdp with actual power consumption. You can easily run 6 4mp cams on an i5-6500 skylake.
Here is an example for power consumption with a haswell processor...skylake will be a bit more efficient. T processors are generally found in mini systems that have no room for full 3.5 drives.
As far as noise, there is none. I am typing this from a elitedesk tower i7-6700 sitting adjacent to my leg. I cannot hear it.

 

[Timch]

Great. Thanks for input.
For the Elitedesk do you have the 800 G2 mini version? I really like its small size, but was wandering to get some feedback on few things:
Fan: Is it proprietary hard to find fan? Do you know the fan size?
Expendability: With moving surveillance to a separate subnet, I suppose I'll need 2nd Ethernet card in there to keep server connected to my NAS and Internet.
Extra hard drive bay: plan to use smal SSD for OS/BI and separate large HDD for video storage. Is there space for 2nd 2.5" drive and/or 2nd Sara port?

If not Elitedesk mini, my 2nd choice would be Optiplex, which from what I've seen should address my concerns.

 

[fenderman]

Great. Thanks for input.
For the Elitedesk do you have the 800 G2 mini version? I really like its small size, but was wandering to get some feedback on few things:
Fan: Is it proprietary hard to find fan? Do you know the fan size?
Expendability: With moving surveillance to a separate subnet, I suppose I'll need 2nd Ethernet card in there to keep server connected to my NAS and Internet.
Extra hard drive bay: plan to use smal SSD for OS/BI and separate large HDD for video storage. Is there space for 2nd 2.5" drive and/or 2nd Sara port?

If not Elitedesk mini, my 2nd choice would be Optiplex, which from what I've seen should address my concerns.

The mini uses a T processor and also has no room for a 3.5 storage drive. I would get a SFF (not the USDT which also on has room for one 2.5)
There are plenty of hp parts available from hp or ebay....The elitedesk will have the remainder of the 3 year next business day warranty.

 

[bp2008]

You don't need a second network interface to use two subnets from the same PC unless you wanted the camera network to be completely isolated from the rest of the network. I mean, you can assign multiple static IP addresses (in different subnets) to the same network interface in Windows.

 

[jasauders]

Pre-built systems being spoken about on these forums have given me a lot to think about when it comes time for future installs. To date, I've always done self-builds and specifically chosen hardware that's low end enough most people would think I'm nuts (though six 3MP cameras with a processor load of less than 1% at the moment suggests it's not all that crazy). In the context of servers for family/friends thus far, I often have some degree of parts already on the shelf just from my own tinkering on personal time, allowing me to skate off with a self-built rig for them for mega cheap. It keeps me from hoarding gear on the shelf I'll likely never use, so there's one benefit.

If I ever get into this on a broader scale or get soaked up with too many projects/not enough time (a growing concern these days), a pre-built refurb system may be the go-to for sake of keeping things simpler. While I like building systems, it's something I've done so dang much that I can take it or leave it (extra emphasis on leaving it).