Computer hardware recommendations

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LiNK666

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Hello fellow Geeks!

I need advice. I haven't built a computer in a few years. I can still build it but I need hardware recommendations. I just need something cost effective.

Objective: I have a few stores that I need to constantly stream footage from two sources per store: the DVR and the POS. DVR is a straight forward stream through a 3rd party program and the POS is a VNC/teamviewer program that constantly lets me see whats going on. I need a two monitors per store (one for DVR and one for POS).

I already have a semi powerful computer that streams one store. I will need to stream 3 stores soon so 6 screens.

I can either have 3 computers with 2 screens each or I can have one computer stream 4-6 screens. I prefer the latter as it would be more cost effective. I also need large amounts of hard drive space to record the footage. I also need to setup a network solution for entire home where I can transfer large amounts of files over the network to different computer around the house.

I need a good keyboard and mouse with 10 to 15 ft range (No RFID).

Can anyone recommend any computer hardware configurations? I can start to scour the interwebz for it and build it soon. Cheaper solution the better.

Thanks!
 
Can't really comment on a full build, as my last build is a few years old (Q6600 CPU), but I am running dual NVidia 8800GT in SLI on that computer, and you can easily stream 4 non-HD streams through those cards onto 4 screens.
 
I just built one of these: http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=86386&vpn=BX80646I54670K%20%26%20SABERTOOTH%20Z87&manufacture=Bundle%20Deals&promoid=1190

With two of these (a little overkill): http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=78199&vpn=F3-1866C9D-16GSR&manufacture=G.Skill

And two of these (probably overkill): http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=73627&vpn=HD7870-DC2-2GD5-V2&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1190

One of these (required to run those overkill video cards): http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=65626&vpn=P11000BELX&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1190

Runs six 1080p monitors flawless.

He's using RAID0 (striped) SSD array for his boot/windows drive (500gb total storage) with two of these: http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=77219&vpn=MZ-7PD256BW&manufacture=Samsung Memory & Storage

And RAID10 (stripe+mirror) for his storage drive (6tb total storage) with four of these: http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=74269&vpn=WD30EFRX&manufacture=Western Digital WD&promoid=1190

Machine is retarded fast. You could ditch the SSD's and use RAID5 for 9tb of space if you wanted to keep costs down and sacrifice some speed, probably only needs 16gb of ram as well.

For all my long range mouse/keyboard needs I always use this kit: http://www.gyration.com/products/air-mouse-elite-with-low-profile-keyboard

Not cheap, but works flawless, every time. Good for 100ft (and that's conservative), nothing ever interferes with it, no lag like with the long range Logitech stuff, etc.
 
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You should consider recording the POS screen as a time stamped channel on the DVR. Much easier to catch the ones voiding orders and undercharging...
 
ViperZ said:
Can't really comment on a full build, as my last build is a few years old (Q6600 CPU), but I am running dual NVidia 8800GT in SLI on that computer, and you can easily stream 4 non-HD streams through those cards onto 4 screens.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll consider it.

chiefswallow said:
I just built one of these: http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=86386&vpn=BX80646I54670K%20%26%20SABERTOOTH%20Z87&manufacture=Bundle%20Deals&promoid=1190

With two of these (a little overkill): http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=78199&vpn=F3-1866C9D-16GSR&manufacture=G.Skill

And two of these (probably overkill): http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=73627&vpn=HD7870-DC2-2GD5-V2&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1190

One of these (required to run those overkill video cards): http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=65626&vpn=P11000BELX&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1190

Runs six 1080p monitors flawless.

He's using RAID0 (striped) SSD array for his boot/windows drive (500gb total storage) with two of these: http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=77219&vpn=MZ-7PD256BW&manufacture=Samsung Memory & Storage

And RAID10 (stripe+mirror) for his storage drive (6tb total storage) with four of these: http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=74269&vpn=WD30EFRX&manufacture=Western Digital WD&promoid=1190

Machine is retarded fast. You could ditch the SSD's and use RAID5 for 9tb of space if you wanted to keep costs down and sacrifice some speed, probably only needs 16gb of ram as well.

For all my long range mouse/keyboard needs I always use this kit: http://www.gyration.com/products/air-mouse-elite-with-low-profile-keyboard

Not cheap, but works flawless, every time. Good for 100ft (and that's conservative), nothing ever interferes with it, no lag like with the long range Logitech stuff, etc.
Click to expand...

Too expensive. Is there a cheaper build? Max I want to spend is $1100 on the computer.

DaveOke said:
You should consider recording the POS screen as a time stamped channel on the DVR. Much easier to catch the ones voiding orders and undercharging...
Click to expand...

Those systems tend to usually cost $3k+.
 
This is the closest I could get to your $1100 price point while retaining good performance for your application:

COOLER MASTER HAF series RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Western Digital Red NAS Hard Drive WD30EFRX 3TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive x2
CORSAIR CX600M 600W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10R
Intel Core i5-4430 Haswell 3.0GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I54430
ASUS H87M-E LGA 1150 Intel H87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 uATX Intel Motherboard
VisionTek 900614 Radeon HD 7750 2GB GDDR5 PCIe 6x mini DP Video Card (Eyefinity 6)

Grand Total: $1,274.10
 
silverbullet132 said:
This is the closest I could get to your $1100 price point while retaining good performance for your application: VisionTek 900614 Radeon HD 7750 2GB GDDR5 PCIe 6x mini DP Video Card (Eyefinity 6)
Click to expand...
To run 6 displays off that card you'd need to buy 4 x Active DisplayPort to HDMI adapters, add at a minimum $100 to the price.

Ok, to run 6 monitors under $1100 without any funny stuff:

$120 CPU - http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=4_1210_64&item_id=053265
$90 Mobo - http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_1207_1205_1156&item_id=053267
$70 RAM (8gb) - http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_614&item_id=060905
$260 ($130 x 2) video card - http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_1200_557_558&item_id=059647
$45 Power Supply - http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_442&item_id=053054
$45 Case - http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=6_113&item_id=062142
$300 3tb x 2 Hard drives (save $50 if you don't want Red edition) http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=15_1086_210_212&item_id=050755
-------
$930!!!
 
Thanks for the recommendations. I'm going to wait it out until festivus to get a deal on all these parts.
 
anyone sit back and realize how affordable PC's have become?

I remember when the whole Pentium from 486 jump happened back in 99/2000 and i was pricing out a sys with my dad. Bare bones pentium 233 (LOL!!) cost about $2500!! back then that was a whole lot more money then now as well.
 
Red_Liner740 said:
anyone sit back and realize how affordable PC's have become?

I remember when ..the whole Pentium from 486 jump happened back in 99/2000 then that
Click to expand...

Heh, I remember when in 1984 the IBM AT came out for $7,000, 80286 running at 6 or 8 Mhz, with a whopping 10 meg hard drive and up to 16 meg of memory :D
 
you're just old! fossil!!!
 
silverbullet132 said:
I think the extra cost of the red drives is warranted for his application, the rest looks pretty solid. Would change the case though, last cheap-o brand case I bought caught fire (one of the included fan cables shorted out).
Click to expand...
I always replace any stock fans with Arctic Cooling PWM fans (they have sheathed cables) and always tie up my cables extra neat. If it's passing by any metal parts I always cut a little bit of clear aquarium air line tubing and slit it down the side and put it either over the wires, or over the sharp edge.
 
chiefswallow said:
I always replace any stock fans with Arctic Cooling PWM fans (they have sheathed cables) and always tie up my cables extra neat. If it's passing by any metal parts I always cut a little bit of clear aquarium air line tubing and slit it down the side and put it either over the wires, or over the sharp edge.
Click to expand...

Spending the extra $10-15 is worth it at that point imo.
On your next build, try Noctua fans or a set of Corsair SP120's, in my current build I have 6 of them:

1355959752006_zps3e1f19a5.jpg
 
silverbullet132 said:
Spending the extra $10-15 is worth it at that point imo.
On your next build, try Noctua fans or a set of Corsair SP120's, in my current build I have 6 of them:
Click to expand...
Nice. Are they PWM? I dun rock nothin unless it's PWM :)

And I got 6 fans just on my side panel, don't even remember how many more inside! lol

IMG_0881_L.png
 
You don't need all those fans! All you need is a little liquid nitrogen flowing all around to keep things cool.
 
LiNK666 said:
You don't need all those fans! All you need is a little liquid nitrogen flowing all around to keep things cool.
Click to expand...
You're preaching to the choir ;) I got a few liquid cooled boxes, but this was a OEM computer and I didn't wanna void the 3 year warranty so my mods had to be external. Thing was noisy as hell and overheated constantly until my fan mod. Now dead silent and super cool temps :D
 
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