Will a Gigabyte Intel Celeron 847 1.1 GHz Intel NM70 Mini ITX DDR3 1333 Motherboard handle 4 Foscam Cameras

[C0RR0SIVE]

I suggest going with the "Balanced" setting, your machine will throttle the CPU down to conserve power and create less heat, but it will allow the system to remove the throttle when a higher load is needed. If you set the machine to "Power Saver" it usually doesn't like to lift the throttle and the machine can become sluggish. Also, since this machine will be a recording system from the sounds of it, make sure that stand-by and sleep modes are disabled, otherwise it will not record anything. Oh, one setting that I always look around for, is the HDD Sleep setting... For some reason, my copy of win7 likes to install with a setting of 20 minutes before it spins a disk down, I suggest setting it to 0 so that the disk never spins down, yes it uses just a slight bit more power to keep a disk constantly running, but the system wont hang waiting on the disk to spin up.

Also, all the work-load will be CPU based and HDD based, depending upon how many cameras you have, you may want to consider a RAID array for more performance on the disk side of things unless you are going with an SSD.... Aside from that, the cameras do most the heavy lifting if you are planning on using the Blue Iris software. Blue Iris will just connect to the camera streams and watch them, and do as you tell it to do with each camera stream.

Aside from that, make sure if you can, to use a wired network, and make sure it's all wired for Gigabit speeds, each camera may only be 10/100Mbps, but the machine can at least talk to more of them at one time efficiently, especially if these are 720P streams.

 

[PP Mguire]

How do I "turn my power settings on?" Are you referring to "power saver" in Control panel?

Thanks,

Soar

What I'm referring to would be C-State packages and Intel Speedstep in the bios.

Corrosive pretty much covered up the rest.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I suggest going with the "Balanced" setting, your machine will throttle the CPU down to conserve power and create less heat, but it will allow the system to remove the throttle when a higher load is needed. If you set the machine to "Power Saver" it usually doesn't like to lift the throttle and the machine can become sluggish. Also, since this machine will be a recording system from the sounds of it, make sure that stand-by and sleep modes are disabled, otherwise it will not record anything. Oh, one setting that I always look around for, is the HDD Sleep setting... For some reason, my copy of win7 likes to install with a setting of 20 minutes before it spins a disk down, I suggest setting it to 0 so that the disk never spins down, yes it uses just a slight bit more power to keep a disk constantly running, but the system wont hang waiting on the disk to spin up.

Also, all the work-load will be CPU based and HDD based, depending upon how many cameras you have, you may want to consider a RAID array for more performance on the disk side of things unless you are going with an SSD.... Aside from that, the cameras do most the heavy lifting if you are planning on using the Blue Iris software. Blue Iris will just connect to the camera streams and watch them, and do as you tell it to do with each camera stream.

Aside from that, make sure if you can, to use a wired network, and make sure it's all wired for Gigabit speeds, each camera may only be 10/100Mbps, but the machine can at least talk to more of them at one time efficiently, especially if these are 720P streams.

What I'm referring to would be C-State packages and Intel Speedstep in the bios.

Corrosive pretty much covered up the rest.

Guys, you are super helpful and I appreciate you taking the time to help me make the right decisions.

Ok, I also opened a Foscam account so I could access their forums there too.

Corrosive, they too highly recommended the Blue Iris software. They also told me the Intel G2020 would more than adequate for this security system, so I ordered the Fry's combo G2020 + ASUS P8H61-M LX3 for $85. I am getting kind of excited about this build because I have a gut feeling it will exceed my expectations.

I would like to use one or two of the extra Intel SSD's I have had laying around for months. I have two 160GB Intel SSD's and a 120GB Intel SSD. I could also use two Seagate 2TB's, but I do not think I need that much storage.

Now I must decide on whether or not to use my my new Corsair White 500R or a new COUGAR Spike Black MicroATX Mini Tower that NE had for free.

I am leaning toward the decision to not waste a nice 500R on a cheapo security build...

Finally, what say you about a PC Cooling Modular 400? I still have a white one laying around...

Soar

 

[PP Mguire]

Well the 2020 is IB and faster than the previous combos suggested, so yea it most definitely will handle it.

Well you say you don't need that much space, but are you going to be recording 24/7 and backing up? Or just running a stream? 720p content is rather large for long recording times.

That PSU should be fine.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Well the 2020 is IB and faster than the previous combos suggested, so yea it most definitely will handle it.

Well you say you don't need that much space, but are you going to be recording 24/7 and backing up? Or just running a stream? 720p content is rather large for long recording times.

That PSU should be fine.

To be honest with you, I am not exactly sure yet how to set it up...

I was thinking to record according to when motion detectors are triggered...yet perhaps I will have one or two cameras recording full time...but can and probably will clear [erase] the footage every week or so...

Perhaps I should use the Intel SSD for the OS, and record to an HDD?

And are you very familiar with the Blue Iris software?

Soar

 

[PP Mguire]

To answer the first question, yes I would use the HDD for storage because a weeks worth of footage can really eat up a drive I'm to understand.

No I'm not unfortunately. When my fiance was talking about an in home daycare I was thinking and searching of ways to have a nice HD stream for parents to see their kids and came across the Blue Iris software. Unfortunately, I don't know much more about it.

 

[soarwitheagles]

To answer the first question, yes I would use the HDD for storage because a weeks worth of footage can really eat up a drive I'm to understand.

No I'm not unfortunately. When my fiance was talking about an in home daycare I was thinking and searching of ways to have a nice HD stream for parents to see their kids and came across the Blue Iris software. Unfortunately, I don't know much more about it.

Which version of Blue Iris do you use?

After reading your posts, I have done some reading up on it...

Blue Iris Pro, Blue Iris SE, or Blue Iris free demo?

Soar

 

[PP Mguire]

I don't use any version. Like I was saying I don't know much about it but I was reading up on it to use it if she was ever to do that home daycare thing.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I am unsure of how the software works, or what settings it could support for certain features, but I would look at having all the cameras record 24/7, but every three or four days set it to start over-writing the oldest recordings. This way you have a decent length of time recorded in the event something bad happens while you are gone for a short period of time and can capture as much footage that would help in any potential investigations. It would also help keep free-space to a certain point on the disk.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I am unsure of how the software works, or what settings it could support for certain features, but I would look at having all the cameras record 24/7, but every three or four days set it to start over-writing the oldest recordings. This way you have a decent length of time recorded in the event something bad happens while you are gone for a short period of time and can capture as much footage that would help in any potential investigations. It would also help keep free-space to a certain point on the disk.

Great advice again!

Thank you!

Ok, I have everything now ready to build.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions:

Intel G2020
ASUS P8H61-M LX3 R2.0
Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600MHz
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W White
Corsair 500R White
Intel 160GB SSD
Seagate 3TB HD

Any more ideas and/or suggestions before I slap everything together?

Soar