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 expect to be able to recoup my costs within a year.

 

[tigerwillow1]

So what would be a good newish rig these days?

Newer the better of course, but at least generation 8 IMO. In terms of the speed of technology, gen 8 is actually pretty old now, it's just that there was a significant improvement with speed and efficiency with gen 8.

 

[mat200]

Newer the better of course, but at least generation 8 IMO. In terms of the speed of technology, gen 8 is actually pretty old now, it's just that there was a significant improvement with speed and efficiency with gen 8.

For Intel CPUs

i5 / i7 generation 8+ = MS Windows 11 OS cut off for easier install ( older gens you have to jump a couple of hoops to get Windows 11 OS on it )
i5 / i7 generation 12+ = significant jump in processing power

Personally, I would look to see what sort of used deals you can find on a business class PC i5/i7 gen 12+ .. and if that fits your budget go for it ( I would try to get 16GB of RAM already installed, if you need to buy more iirc DDR5 needed for these kits, and double check the specs may need 1.1v RAM that meets JEDEC specs .. this price has gone up a lot, as well as HDDs )

If that is too pricey, look for gen 8-11 and 16GB of RAM .. some of these use DDR4 so the ram is cheaper

HDDs, SSDs, and RAM all pricey now, .. RAM looks like hit a peak and getting a price pullback. If you look you can eventually find used RAM for about 1/2 of what some RAM scalpers are asking for.

Craigslist, facebook market place, ebay .. all sources I have looked at. Takes time to find the deals. Otherwise keep an eye on dellrefurbished for deals and only get if you see 40-50% off coupon. Otherwise they are overpriced.

 

[CrazyAsYou]

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 expect to be able to recoup my costs within a year.

That's a good shout on the PoE switch side of things, yes big old 24-48port enterprise Cisco switches can be had for cheap, but they consume loads of power. I ran a Cisco 3750G for a few years and swapped it for a cheap 8port TP link and dropped a few hundred watts.

FYI - If anyone is interested I have a monitor on one of my PoE switches that runs 3 of my outdoor cams, at night the switch with cams runs at a steady 42W and during the day 32W - so about an extra 10w at night for the IR lights on them.