Need feedback on server build please

[mattk]

I need to build a new system to recorder between 10-16 cameras. Currently I am looking at the RLC-820A. It should be compatible. It will be indoors in a well-lighted areas. Wiring closets to be specific. So very little movement most of the time. My calculations show I should expect about 20Mb/s per camera and that means a max of 205Mb/s. The areas of coverage is largely static so I'm hoping it will be less over all.
Here is the system I have spec'ed for this. I plan to use the 2 SSDs in the build. One for the OS and Software. The second for the initial target of the recordings. The spinning disk will archive things out. One NIC for management and one for camera target.

What are your thoughts on my build?
Intel Core i7-13700K 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor
32 GB Memory
2x 1 TB Solid State Drive
Western Digital Purple 10 TB
Wired Network Adapter:
Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Gigabit Ethernet PCIe x1 Network Adapter

[PaulDaisy]

The computer configuration looks good to me, however I would install 2x wired NICs or a dual port NIC (or it may be fine with 1x if it has another on board network interface). It will be most optimal if your camera traffic is on a separate switch from the rest of the network, so you can set up one NIC for that and use the other to stream the UI3 out to client browsers.
You may wish to look around for the camera model feedback. Reolink is frequently reported to have issues with BI, but that is your call of course.
I think you are overestimating the need for the bandwidth; depending on the camera compression algorithm, you may need only half of what you are thinking, take a look at this excellent calculator. My installation is using half as many cameras, they are almost all 4K and I am observing the max of 61 Mbps on the network. (This may or may not matter in your case, but could influence the decision on the PoE switch selection, which, IMO, is as important or more so than the computer specs).
It looks from your use case that you don't need AI, so you can easily forego the CUDA card, as you are planning.

[mattk]

I was thinking about adding a GPU (RTX 2060) I guess your right that I don't need to in this situation though. The Motherboard has it's own NIC and the extra one is for the cameras.

The computer configuration looks good to me, however I would install 2x wired NICs or a dual port NIC (or it may be fine with 1x if it has another on board network interface). It will be most optimal if your camera traffic is on a separate switch from the rest of the network, so you can set up one NIC for that and use the other to stream the UI3 out to client browsers.
You may wish to look around for the camera model feedback. Reolink is frequently reported to have issues with BI, but that is your call of course.
I think you are overestimating the need for the bandwidth; depending on the camera compression algorithm, you may need only half of what you are thinking, take a look at this excellent calculator. My installation is using half as many cameras, they are almost all 4K and I am observing the max of 61 Mbps on the network. (This may or may not matter in your case, but could influence the decision on the PoE switch selection, which, IMO, is as important or more so than the computer specs).
It looks from your use case that you don't need AI, so you can easily forego the CUDA card, as you are planning.

[TrickyMonkey]

That CPU with quicksync should be no problem whatsoever.

Looking at the DB: https://biupdatehelper.hopto.org/default.html#stats
Someone using the same Intel UHD 770 GPU is pushing 650MP/s (over 15 cameras) with less than 15% utilization when using QuickSync.

I suggest using an SSD lifespan calculator to ensure the SSD won't wear out too quickly.

Our setup of 44 cameras (1/2 are 4K, 1/2 1080p, all 15fps/h264/VBR) only pushes 200Mbit network throughput when the site is extremely active. I don't expect network to be a problem for you.

[PaulDaisy]

Our setup of 44 cameras (1/2 are 4K, 1/2 1080p, all 15fps/h264/VBR) only pushes 200Mbit network throughput when the site is extremely active. I don't expect network to be a problem for you.

Is there a reason you are not using H265? It seems to reduce the bandwidth usage by another 30%. Although you obviously don't have to worry about that, so its purely a mathematical savings.

[TrickyMonkey]

Our setup of 44 cameras (1/2 are 4K, 1/2 1080p, all 15fps/h264/VBR) only pushes 200Mbit network throughput when the site is extremely active. I don't expect network to be a problem for you.

Is there a reason you are not using H265? It seems to reduce the bandwidth usage by another 30%. Although you obviously don't have to worry about that, so its purely a mathematical savings.

CPU.
With our dual E5-2650 V3's lack of QuickSync, we're relying on software decoding. H265/HEVC impacts quite heavily when the site is crawling with activity.

[bigbillsd]

I find that the reolink cameras work very well, but they really come up short zooming in to read license plates at 30 feet from the camera. I'm running 16 RLC-410-5MP cameras, maybe you 4k models will work better for zooming in to get more detail. I also have a few other WiFi type cameras on that Intel(R) Xeon(R) E-2224G CPU @ 3.50GHz 24GB of RAM. It's been using 9GB of RAM after upgrading the server to Windows 11 recently. CPU stays around 35% with BI using around 13% of the CPU and 4.23GB of that 9GB of RAM. My NIC is receiving 75-85 Mbps most of the time. Its on a separate 16 port POE switch with the BI server connected to keep all that traffic off my the rest of the network. I will probably upgrade that switch next year to one that supports VLANs.

I believe I am still using the direct write to disk, but when looking for that in my current version of BI, I am not finding that setting. It must still be there, as before I turned that on my server's CPU was so hammered it was barely usable. -Bill

[PaulDaisy]

I find that the reolink cameras work very well, but they really come up short zooming in to read license plates at 30 feet from the camera. I'm running 16 RLC-410-5MP cameras, maybe you 4k models will work better for zooming in to get more detail.

I believe I am still using the direct write to disk, but when looking for that in my current version of BI, I am not finding that setting. It must still be there, as before I turned that on my server's CPU was so hammered it was barely usable. -Bill

I find that none of my cameras, which include 4K and 6MP $800 Panasonics, can read license plates from 200 ft away. It is just too far. Which doesn't seem right: a picture from a 6 MP DSLR from the same distance shows the plate crystal clear. It must have to do with the sensor, which is abysmally small 1/2.8 on most of the cameras, and the lens, which is much too small as well. Could also be the skip frame design where not all frames are captured, and then when the images are interpolated, small details are all smeared.

DTD is still there: Camera properties -> Record -> Video file format.

VLANs are only needed IMO if you want to limit cameras use of the primary LAN. Which is accomplished just as well when they are all put on the same PoE switch with the BI PC. VLAN does make it convenient to block the cameras from reaching out to the world though.