Is my thinking correct in that processing of multiple camera streams in SightHound would benefit from more processor threads?
I'm in the process of moving SightHound to its own dedicated machine -- but I'm hung up on processor. I'm deciding if something like a Xeon E3-1225v3 (4-core/4-thread) would suit my needs, or if I'd benefit from stepping up to a processor that had hyperthreading enabled, like the Xeon E3-1230v3 (4-core/8-thread).
I'm considering 3-4 1080p streams with simplistic rulesets for motion capture in SightHound. For now, a single 1080p stream has my processor around 11% (i5-3570k) - I'm assuming similar per-core performance between the Xeons listed above and my current i5 processor, so I'm not expecting much difference and, if things are perfectly multithreaded, I'd expect to see a rather linear increase in CPU utilization as more camera streams were added (assuming all the same stream, which isn't realistic -- but it should be close).
Anybody have any thoughts? Is hyperthreading worth it for SightHound, or does core performance alone make a bigger impact?
More threads/cores for more cameras?
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beeftube - Posts: 21
- Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 2:19 pm
Re: More threads/cores for more cameras?
So, as an update here, I finally settled on some hardware for SightHound (and some other things around the house as well - a Plex server, legal torrents, etc.). So far I'm extremely pleased with the results.
For now, I'm just processing on one h.264 1080p/3MP camera and one VGA Foscam. However, I plan to ramp this up to 4 x 1080p (or better streams).
For the hardware, I went with a Lenovo ThinkServer TS140. You can have these with anything from a Haswell i3-4130 to a Xeon E2-1225v3. In my case, I bought the bare-bones model, containing the i3-4130 and 4GB of ECC RAM. I planned on upgrading it to suit my needs. The model I bought can be found on Newegg for $209 with a $30 rebate, totaling $179. I couldn't build anything similar for this price. Best of all, Lenovo touts this model as being very quiet at roughly 26dB. I can't attest if it's that quiet or not, but it is very quiet, unlike some other mini-tower servers (HP ML310e, for instance, has superb hardware but is *not* quiet).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
I also ordered an extra stick of 4GB ECC UDIMM for about ~$50. Since this is server hardware, it can be picky about memory, so make sure you get a stick that's compatible:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
From there, I went to my local Microcenter and picked up a new processor and an SSD.
I specifically sought out the Xeon E3-1246v3 for my processor of choice. This processor has hyperthreading enabled for a total of 8 logical cores @ 3.6Ghz, and has a built-in video chipset. It is the cheapest Xeon that has both of these features. Microcenter has them for an insanely cheap $239:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4423 ... _processor
I also picked up a 120GB Crucial BX100 for my main OS drive (SightHound video being stored on a much bigger HDD):
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4434 ... 0BX100SSD1
I also planned on migrating over some existing HDDs from my workstation (that house my existing SightHound video as well as other Windows Storage Space volumes for personal storage).
...with all my parts, I came home and put them all in the server for a total spec of:
Lenovo ThinkServer TS140, 280W
CPU: Xeon E3-1246v3 @ 3.6Ghz
RAM: 8GB ECC DDR3-1600
SSD: 120GB Crucial BX100 (OS)
HDD: 2 x 1TB WD Blue (single platter, mirrored storage space)
HDD: 1 x 3TB WD Green (sighthound video + media store)
Bonus from upgrading to the Xeon is I now have a spare Core i3-4130 which I can potentially use for a replacement desktop CPU when I upgrade that machine. It's not the fastest thing on the block but 54W TDP and acceptable benchmarks in just about everything you could ask of it (short of processing tons of video!) make it a solid choice.
I had a spare Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials license sitting around, so I installed this. It's a great platform for sighthound as well as other home-server duties like backup, simple AD, etc. I considered virtualizing everything via ESXi or XenServer, but the problem of resilient storage always came up, and I didn't want to build a separate NAS.
So, in short, this processor yawns at camera streams. With 1 1080p h.264 stream and one VGA MJPEG stream (and also running other windows services + plex at idle), CPU usage sits around 8% and is rarely speedstepped above 1GHz.
Bumping that stream to 3MP, the results are nearly identical. Barely a yawn from the CPU, total usage under 10%.
By comparison, the workstation I was running SightHound on prior to moving to the TS140 is a Core i5-3570k @ 4Ghz, 16GB RAM, same hard disk (literally) as what's now in the TS140. It would sit around 25% CPU utilization on the same load, and almost always be running near full clock speed. This Xeon is insane by comparison.
I plan on installing more cameras soon (need more switch ports), and I will update this thread on progress and how this machine handles more streams (I imagine without a problem and still having loads of overhead).
For now, I'm just processing on one h.264 1080p/3MP camera and one VGA Foscam. However, I plan to ramp this up to 4 x 1080p (or better streams).
For the hardware, I went with a Lenovo ThinkServer TS140. You can have these with anything from a Haswell i3-4130 to a Xeon E2-1225v3. In my case, I bought the bare-bones model, containing the i3-4130 and 4GB of ECC RAM. I planned on upgrading it to suit my needs. The model I bought can be found on Newegg for $209 with a $30 rebate, totaling $179. I couldn't build anything similar for this price. Best of all, Lenovo touts this model as being very quiet at roughly 26dB. I can't attest if it's that quiet or not, but it is very quiet, unlike some other mini-tower servers (HP ML310e, for instance, has superb hardware but is *not* quiet).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
I also ordered an extra stick of 4GB ECC UDIMM for about ~$50. Since this is server hardware, it can be picky about memory, so make sure you get a stick that's compatible:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
From there, I went to my local Microcenter and picked up a new processor and an SSD.
I specifically sought out the Xeon E3-1246v3 for my processor of choice. This processor has hyperthreading enabled for a total of 8 logical cores @ 3.6Ghz, and has a built-in video chipset. It is the cheapest Xeon that has both of these features. Microcenter has them for an insanely cheap $239:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4423 ... _processor
I also picked up a 120GB Crucial BX100 for my main OS drive (SightHound video being stored on a much bigger HDD):
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4434 ... 0BX100SSD1
I also planned on migrating over some existing HDDs from my workstation (that house my existing SightHound video as well as other Windows Storage Space volumes for personal storage).
...with all my parts, I came home and put them all in the server for a total spec of:
Lenovo ThinkServer TS140, 280W
CPU: Xeon E3-1246v3 @ 3.6Ghz
RAM: 8GB ECC DDR3-1600
SSD: 120GB Crucial BX100 (OS)
HDD: 2 x 1TB WD Blue (single platter, mirrored storage space)
HDD: 1 x 3TB WD Green (sighthound video + media store)
Bonus from upgrading to the Xeon is I now have a spare Core i3-4130 which I can potentially use for a replacement desktop CPU when I upgrade that machine. It's not the fastest thing on the block but 54W TDP and acceptable benchmarks in just about everything you could ask of it (short of processing tons of video!) make it a solid choice.
I had a spare Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials license sitting around, so I installed this. It's a great platform for sighthound as well as other home-server duties like backup, simple AD, etc. I considered virtualizing everything via ESXi or XenServer, but the problem of resilient storage always came up, and I didn't want to build a separate NAS.
So, in short, this processor yawns at camera streams. With 1 1080p h.264 stream and one VGA MJPEG stream (and also running other windows services + plex at idle), CPU usage sits around 8% and is rarely speedstepped above 1GHz.
Bumping that stream to 3MP, the results are nearly identical. Barely a yawn from the CPU, total usage under 10%.
By comparison, the workstation I was running SightHound on prior to moving to the TS140 is a Core i5-3570k @ 4Ghz, 16GB RAM, same hard disk (literally) as what's now in the TS140. It would sit around 25% CPU utilization on the same load, and almost always be running near full clock speed. This Xeon is insane by comparison.
I plan on installing more cameras soon (need more switch ports), and I will update this thread on progress and how this machine handles more streams (I imagine without a problem and still having loads of overhead).
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CrazyFin - Posts: 8
- Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 3:34 pm
Re: More threads/cores for more cameras?
Hi "beeftube"
Thanks for sharing your setup. I am also in the process of changing my setup and to use a dedicated video surveillance server.
Are you running your cameras in UDP or forced TCP mode?
If in UDP mode, have you experienced video tearing with your new setup as described in the thread topic11559/page70.html#p15995
I was looking at a similar setup as yours and I have a couple of the Intel 910 series PCIe disks with 800GB memory that I was thinking of testing with this setup. Extremely good performance but somewhat too small storage space for video surveillance though but I was thinking of using two of these as daily storage and then once every night move saved clips to a 4TB storage pool. (I was able to buy my Intel 910 PCIe disks at a HUUUGE discount in prev year when a local IT supplier together with Intel made a marketing push.)
Did you look at the new video surveillance adapted disks from Western Digital, the so called WD Purple with 4TB storage? Review at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sur ... ,3831.html
Thanks for sharing your setup. I am also in the process of changing my setup and to use a dedicated video surveillance server.
Are you running your cameras in UDP or forced TCP mode?
If in UDP mode, have you experienced video tearing with your new setup as described in the thread topic11559/page70.html#p15995
I was looking at a similar setup as yours and I have a couple of the Intel 910 series PCIe disks with 800GB memory that I was thinking of testing with this setup. Extremely good performance but somewhat too small storage space for video surveillance though but I was thinking of using two of these as daily storage and then once every night move saved clips to a 4TB storage pool. (I was able to buy my Intel 910 PCIe disks at a HUUUGE discount in prev year when a local IT supplier together with Intel made a marketing push.)
Did you look at the new video surveillance adapted disks from Western Digital, the so called WD Purple with 4TB storage? Review at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sur ... ,3831.html