Any tips for building a surveillance computer?

[PlayStation 2]

I would have to disagree, but if you say so...

I mean I gotta say from personal experience that more cores probably will = better performance with this streaming.

Are Reds cheaper than Purples in your area?

[babadoctor]

WD Green is for mass storage consumer grade stuff

So

greens are for surveilance?

[Sam Z Man]

I mean I gotta say from personal experience that more cores probably will = better performance with this streaming.

Are Reds cheaper than Purples in your area?

Streaming and recording footage are different things.

[Analog]

I mean I gotta say from personal experience that more cores probably will = better performance with this streaming.

Are Reds cheaper than Purples in your area?

 

It is not exactly streaming... The PC just needs to be able to record the footage and that is it. At least in The Netherlands, Reds are usually cheaper than Purple WD drives, but if this is not the case where the OP is from, the Purples will do just fine. In his case it doesn't really matter that much as long as he is not using Blue or Green drives. 

[PlayStation 2]

Streaming and recording footage are different things.

I've done both. Recording just murders your hard drive more.

[Analog]

So

greens are for surveilance?

 

No, they are for the average dude that just wants to put his downloaded movies and pics on it for storage or backup in case of an SSD failure. They are not intended for continuous 24/7 operation. 

[PlayStation 2]

It is not exactly streaming... The PC just needs to be able to record the footage and that is it. At least in The Netherlands, Reds are usually cheaper than Purple WD drives, but if this is not teh case where the OP is from, the Purples will do just fine. In his case it doesn't really matter that much as long as he is not using Blue or Green drives.

Not to sound arrogant but I meant recording, just tired

Ah, that's probably it. Purples are typically cheaper here in the States

[Sam Z Man]

So

greens are for surveilance?

Greens are for people who need to store a few TB's of data on the cheap and aren't looking to use them 24/7 and don't need fast speed, or raid arays.

Example: your one relative who wants to take there bookcase of family photo albums and convert them to digital copies.

[babadoctor]

No, they are for the average dude that just wants to put his downloaded movies and pics on it for storage or backup in case of an SSD failure. They are not intended for continuous 24/7 operation. 

porn

pics?

[babadoctor]

Greens are for people who need to store a few TB's of data on the cheap and aren't looking to use them 24/7 and don't need fast speed, or raid arays.

Example: your one relative who wants to take there bookcase of family photo albums and convert them to digital copies.

So

its where i store my 2tb of pepe memes

[Clanscorpia]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Nrwc99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Nrwc99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($112.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($43.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($77.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 250 2GB Core Edition Video Card  ($81.98 @ Directron)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($78.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($18.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1230.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-09 22:07 EST-0500

 

Don't know anything about RAID controllers so I can't help on that

[Gumi Rokkaku]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Nrwc99

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Nrwc99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($112.89 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($69.89 @ OutletPC)

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($43.49 @ Amazon)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($77.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Western Digital WD Purple 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($153.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 250 2GB Core Edition Video Card  ($81.98 @ Directron)

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($78.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($18.88 @ OutletPC)

Total: $1230.06

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-09 22:07 EST-0500

 

Don't know anything about RAID controllers so I can't help on that

If he "Wants to get the job done" this looks like it would definitely do it. 

I'm still confused why we need the video card though.

[Clanscorpia]

Just fotr the speed, he could easily do without it

[Gumi Rokkaku]

Go watch Linus video about the servalance PC for the new office follow the general plan and scale back to your clients needs.

I also suggest building 2 separate machines for the client and have a dedicated surveillance PC, to make a barrier so it can't get viruses and shit from the owner fooling around on the web.

Greens would be bad for this, they make purples for a reason.

Yeah the two machines really would be a great solution. Especially if they don't need internet on the surveillance server. That way it can run some kind of Linux server distro, and just set up a network drive to access the files from the windows machine.

EDIT: Also that way they can shut the desktop computer off like normal and not have to worry about shutting off their security server.

[Clanscorpia]

And the overkill PSU is because it's 80+ platinum and for a 24/7 build, you want energy effiecency

[iamdarkyoshi]

I worked an IT job, and we used cameras from vivotek and they were able to dump recordings to a network storage or use a monitoring software with tons of options. The software would run on a potato. An i3 would handle it fine.

[Sam Z Man]

Yeah the two machines really would be a great solution. Especially if they don't need internet on the surveillance server. That way it can run some kind of Linux server distro, and just set up a network drive to access the files from the windows machine.

I would also have full server grade hardware especially a redundant powersuplly and UPS because honestly surveillance systems are always ignored and neglected until after they are most needed.

[Gumi Rokkaku]

I would also have full server grade hardware especially a redundant powersuplly and UPS because honestly surveillance systems are always ignored and neglected until after they are most needed.

 

I agree if it were my system. I'm just not entirely sure how serious he wants to get with it. I don't know If he wants a "mission critical system" (as the big man calls it) or just some small little thing for a couple of 480p streams / recordings.

Either way, it's clear that I need to dig for more info.

[applesuxD]

I had a potential client reach out to me about maybe building a general purpose desktop computer (not a gaming pc), with the only requirements being "I want it to go fast and be able to play my DVDs."

Then he throws me a curve ball and says he also wants it to be able to record 30 days of decent-quality surveillance footage from multiple cameras. It also needs to be easy enough to use so that it could be used by someone who doesn't know an incredible amount about computers.

I need a good surveillance program that has an intuitive UI that will run on Windows so they can actually use it. I have no idea where to even begin with that.

Also, what kind of drive configuration would be good for something like that? I'm thinking 2 or 3 WD Purple drives in RAID 1 for stability.

Asus Z97 WS

Intel i5 4690 (Not K, they probably won't be overclocking)

Samsung 850 Evo 250GB for programs (And "going fast")

[some kind of surveillance storage solution, I'm assuming it'll need a raid card]

1TB HDD for misc. storage

8GB DDR3

Some kind of DVD drive

Any kind of feedback would be appreciated. I've never built a system like this before.

EDIT:

After some feedback from this thread, I think the ideal solution would be to just build two separate machines. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to contact the client about that kind of change.

SSD

i3

b85/business class mobos

alot of ram for footage 24/7

alot of hard drive storage

sli gtx 950 for monitor if their all display ports... if not then go for amd cards/ any lower end nvidia

and good psu and silent case for the job

Silencio series/100r silent will do perfect

[shymi]

Why use a computer instead of a DVR for the surveillance stuff?