Small and quiet PC for Blue Iris?

dabflyboy said:
Good point. I already have 2 indoor Hik cubes that I'll keep on the system, and I think I want to add 2-3 outdoor 4MP turrets. Oh, and also a doorbell that works with Blue Iris. So, maybe around 6 cameras?
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That is a very low load (note the number of cameras is irrelevant, is the total MP/s which is total resolution x fps). You can easily run it with lots of room to spare on this i5-6500 for 140. Note that while it says no OS, all you need to do is use the free MS media creation tool to install w10 pro. You wont need a license key as its tied to the motherboard.
www.ebay.com

HP ELITEDESK 800 G2 SFF | INTEL CORE I5-6500 3.20GHZ | 1TB | 8GB RAM | NO OS | eBay

A disc or copy will have to be obtained to install.
www.ebay.com
There is no good cheap doorbell period. If you want to spend 700-800 look at the axis doorbell.
 
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I followed @fenderman 's, Blue Iris Cliff Notes, and other member's advice when I initially built my blue iris machine. Helped greatly to get on my feet. One thing to consider is your real estate available. At first, I purchased a $200 i7-4770 cpu Windows 10 mid-sized tower off eBay and it worked super great, but does take up space. At that time, it was not a concern as it sat on a shelf. However, later on, I installed a wall mounted networking cabinet and real estate quickly turned into an issue. Foolishly, I purchased a i7-4770 USFF (ultra small form factor) which does not allow 3.5" hard drives (Western Digital Purple for surveillance recordings only come in 3.5", not 2.5"). I opted to save all my new/stored recordings to my Synology NAS for 15 continuous 24/7 cameras. Which presented other problems that I didnt like. In the end (hopefully), after feeling comfortable knowing what hardware is happy for surveillance / blue iris purposes, I built my own server case.
Moral of the story... mid-size tower takes up lots of space. USFF is too small if using 3.5" hard drives. SFF (small form factor) cases might just be right even if the CPU for smaller cases are a little slower than big cases, or after a time of you knowing pro's/con's of hardware, your own server case.
 
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Holbs said:
I followed @fenderman 's, Blue Iris Cliff Notes, and other member's advice when I initially built my blue iris machine. Helped greatly to get on my feet. One thing to consider is your real estate available. At first, I purchased a $200 i7-4770 cpu Windows 10 mid-sized tower off eBay and it worked super great, but does take up space. At that time, it was not a concern as it sat on a shelf. However, later on, I installed a wall mounted networking cabinet and real estate quickly turned into an issue. Foolishly, I purchased a i7-4770 USFF (ultra small form factor) which does not allow 3.5" hard drives (Western Digital Purple for surveillance recordings only come in 3.5", not 2.5"). I opted to save all my new/stored recordings to my Synology NAS for 15 continuous 24/7 cameras. Which presented other problems that I didnt like. In the end (hopefully), after feeling comfortable knowing what hardware is happy for surveillance / blue iris purposes, I built my own server case.
Moral of the story... mid-size tower takes up lots of space. USFF is too small if using 3.5" hard drives. SFF (small form factor) cases might just be right even if the CPU for smaller cases are a little slower than big cases, or after a time of you knowing pro's/con's of hardware, your own server case.
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@Holbs Did you eventually get something like a SFF, instead of the USFF?
 

My new PC build for Blue Iris. Hopefully, my final build!

My first dedicated Blue Iris PC was a eBay bought mid-tower Optiplex 9010 i7-4770 for $200. Served it's purpose for my initial 4x2MP Dahua cameras wonderfully. Somewhere along the line, I wanted to downsize the footprint of the PC. I went out and bought a USFF Optiplex for $200. Great for...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
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Holbs said:
I followed @fenderman 's, Blue Iris Cliff Notes, and other member's advice when I initially built my blue iris machine. Helped greatly to get on my feet. One thing to consider is your real estate available. At first, I purchased a $200 i7-4770 cpu Windows 10 mid-sized tower off eBay and it worked super great, but does take up space. At that time, it was not a concern as it sat on a shelf. However, later on, I installed a wall mounted networking cabinet and real estate quickly turned into an issue. Foolishly, I purchased a i7-4770 USFF (ultra small form factor) which does not allow 3.5" hard drives (Western Digital Purple for surveillance recordings only come in 3.5", not 2.5"). I opted to save all my new/stored recordings to my Synology NAS for 15 continuous 24/7 cameras. Which presented other problems that I didnt like. In the end (hopefully), after feeling comfortable knowing what hardware is happy for surveillance / blue iris purposes, I built my own server case.
Moral of the story... mid-size tower takes up lots of space. USFF is too small if using 3.5" hard drives. SFF (small form factor) cases might just be right even if the CPU for smaller cases are a little slower than big cases, or after a time of you knowing pro's/con's of hardware, your own server case.
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Note SFF's use full desktop intel cpu's. Its is only the smaller USDT that uses the low powered cpu.
 
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fenderman said:
Note SFF's use full desktop intel cpu's. Its is only the smaller USDT that uses the low powered cpu.
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Yeah, that's what I've been seeing as I keep researching. BTW, when you asked what kind of load I expect to put on the system, what I meant in my reply is that those cameras are what I would like to start out with, definitely not the final product. There are just some coverage areas that are more of a priority than others, at the moment.
 
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Hi guys! I'll just re-use this thread as I found it while searching on Google for answers to a similar question: I am looking for a PC, that is small AND low on power consumption to run Blue Iris. Is this too much asked for or are there any options? Are there any good alternatives to the Intel NUCs? I find them a bit expensive for what they are offering hardware-wise. I am about to run 4-6 IP cams with it.

I have some good knowledge on assembling PCs, so there is no limitation on already assembled PCs by the manufacturer (I guess here I can relate on this: Choosing Hardware for Blue Iris, but unfortunately the variety doesn't consider power consumption).

Too much power consumption means: > 50 Watt. I would prefer sth. comparable to the Synology NAS, about 20 Watt max. including hard drives.

I live in Germany and the energy prices here are the highest in Europe: about 0,30€ per kWh. So any saving on power consumption is good, also for the environment.

I appreciate any suggestion!

Thanks and best regards!
 
NASSY said:
Hi guys! I'll just re-use this thread as I found it while searching on Google for answers to a similar question: I am looking for a PC, that is small AND low on power consumption to run Blue Iris. Is this too much asked for or are there any options? Are there any good alternatives to the Intel NUCs? I find them a bit expensive for what they are offering hardware-wise. I am about to run 4-6 IP cams with it.

I have some good knowledge on assembling PCs, so there is no limitation on already assembled PCs by the manufacturer (I guess here I can relate on this: Choosing Hardware for Blue Iris, but unfortunately the variety doesn't consider power consumption).

Too much power consumption means: > 50 Watt. I would prefer sth. comparable to the Synology NAS, about 20 Watt max. including hard drives.

I live in Germany and the energy prices here are the highest in Europe: about 0,30€ per kWh. So any saving on power consumption is good, also for the environment.

I appreciate any suggestion!

Thanks and best regards!
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My Dell Optiplex SFF I7-7700, use's on average 25 watts.
 
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Arjun said:
If you intend to build out a new system, go for a mini-ITX foam factor
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Honestly I would disagree

I fell into the Mini ITX Trap too many times. Yeah they are nice and small, but they limit you way too much on upgradability. Unless you live in a small apartment with no space, I see no reason not to go with Micro-ATX at the very least
 
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I should have retracted that statement, I tried the mini-ITX, went back to full ATX :rofl: Obviously that was posted a while ago


IReallyLikePizza2 said:
Honestly I would disagree

I fell into the Mini ITX Trap too many times. Yeah they are nice and small, but they limit you way too much on upgradability. Unless you live in a small apartment with no space, I see no reason not to go with Micro-ATX at the very least
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IReallyLikePizza2 said:
Honestly I would disagree
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Just joking, but mini-itx for something you don't need a lot of expansion slots wouldn't concern me, and you probably don't need more than 2 memory slots etc.

Just get the cheapest somewhat close to current gen used desktop like the guide says. It might be a little tough right now, at least in the USA it is, to get decent computer stuff but with Intel that has built-in graphics and substreams to lower CPU usage you will be sipping power if you get relatively recent generation stuff.
 
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How does one determine how many watts their system is drawing? that Kill o watt thing?
 
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