Running Blue Iris 24/7 on old hardware? You might be paying more than you think…

[CrazyAsYou]

I would like to start by calling out that although I wrote most of this post manually it was a little messy and all over the place, so I use ChatGPT to tidy it up and make it a little more professional.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately where people are running or asking about Blue Iris + AI on older PCs and GPUs — and I get it, we all like to reuse hardware and for many years I did the same with a GTX 970 and Intel i7 Gen6.

But if your system runs 24/7 (which most of ours do), it’s worth stepping back and looking at the total cost, not just the upfront cost.

Old hardware = hidden running cost​

Older CPUs and GPUs tend to be significantly less power efficient than newer ones. That matters a lot when your machine never turns off.

• Blue Iris is already CPU-heavy by design, especially with multiple cameras and AI processing
• Power consumption directly impacts cost because these systems run continuously
• Some GPU options (especially older GTX 970/980/1080 NVIDIA cards) can actually increase long-term power usage and heat output

So while that old i7 or Xeon + GTX card might feel “free”… it often isn’t.

The bit people overlook: energy cost over time​

Let’s say your older setup pulls an extra 50–100 watts compared to a newer efficient system.

Running 24/7:

• 50W = ~438 kWh/year
• 100W = ~876 kWh/year

With current UK electricity prices, that’s easily:

• £100–£300+ per year (and rising…)

That’s every single year, just to keep older hardware running.

What newer hardware gives you (besides lower power)​

Upgrading doesn’t just save power — you usually get:

• Faster AI inference times
• Lower CPU usage (less pegged at 90–100%)
• Better hardware decoding
• Smoother UI and remote access
• Less heat, less noise, more stability

Even modest modern CPUs are far more efficient per watt than older ones.

You don’t have to buy brand new​

This is the key point a lot of people miss:
You can often find much newer, far more efficient hardware for cheap if you look around:

• eBay
• Facebook Marketplace
• Refurb office PCs (Dell OptiPlex, HP Elitedesk, Intel NUC, etc.)

A 2–4 year old system can be:

• Faster
• Quieter
• Half the power draw

The reality: upgrades can pay for themselves​

If you:Save ~£150/year in electricity

• Spend ~£200–£400 on newer used hardware

You’re often looking at:
Break-even in 1–2 years

After that, it’s just ongoing savings.

Final thought​

Running older gear isn’t wrong — especially if it’s lightly loaded.

But if you’re:
Running multiple cameras

• Using AI continuously
• Seeing high CPU usage
• Or your system pulls a lot of power

…it’s worth doing the maths - buy one of those cheap energy/power monitoring plugs from somewhere like Amazon/AliExpress and run it for a few weeks/months just on your BI rig and see just how much you're using.

In a lot of cases, the “cheap” option ends up being the expensive one over time.

 

[iseeker]

So what would be a good newish rig these days?

 

[CrazyAsYou]

So what would be a good newish rig these days?

Well for me, I use my BI system also as my main PC (mainly a little office work, web browsing and watching YouTube etc) I went with an Intel Ultra 5 245KF paired with a RTX 4060 - When I'm not using the PC and it's only performing BI and AI tasks it sits at about 45-52watts, that's with 8 cameras recording 24/7 all doing motion and AI on the PC.

 

[aesterling]

On that same topic, I bought a used enterprise POE switch for $15 and it works great to power my cameras, but it’s a big power hog and has noisy fans running 24/7.

I think it’s time to replace it with a smaller and more power efficient switch. I’m expect to be able to recoup my costs within a year.