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Geekbench 4 figures?

edited October 2017 in SecuritySpy
I know you guys have produced a Security Spy Mac spec calculator, and it gives a good guide, but I am trying to gain some more insight into what sort of Geekbench 4 figure people's Mac have, in relation to their SS performance in relation to what cameras they run
ie How many cameras are running through your SS on your Mac that has a Geekbench 4 figure of x. (eg 11000) for multi-core performance.

The reason for this, is I am selling more and more IP cameras to people that I try and lean towards using SS as opposed to a hardware NVR, and I want to try and advise them on what spec Mac they need for their setup, or more importantly whether they one they own is good enough for what they need security wise. Obviously the calculator is good, but I would like to see if I can gather more data.

For instance, I run 7 cameras; 5 x 2mp, 2 x 4mp all running 10fps, recording 24/7 to USB drive, + motion detection
I run this on a Mac mini (late 2012), 2.3Ghz i7 quad core. I used to have major issues, with a very slow Mac, but now I have set automator to restart SS every morning, taken the back off the Mac mini and I have 90% idle CPU most of the time. No dropped cameras pretty much ever.
I know a lot has to do with network topology, but I am the one setting them up, so I consider myself a non-variable, but yet I see some customers struggle with dropped cameras etc, and I want to know if it is Mac spec.

Could we set something up so that people feed into a table, just like Geekbench, but for SS? Or, just on here and I could collate the info?

Comments

  • The problem is that everyone's setup is different in significant ways, so it's difficult to collate a table, or to give very accurate advice about this in general. The actual hardware requirements depend on so many things (number of cameras, resolutions, video formats, frame rates, recording settings, recording schedules, web viewing demand etc.).

    Our calculator is designed to give a rough estimate, and I think it would be difficult to improve upon this.

    However I can give you feedback about our in-house system that we use for testing. It's a 2012 2.3GHz quad-core Mac mini with a multi-core Geekbench score of 10462. It's running 10 cameras which are on average 2 MP and 5fps each. It's typically 80-85% idle.

    Network topology certainly makes a difference with regards to the reliability and speed of network connections to the cameras. Ideally you want a reliable Gigabit switch at the heart of your network, and all devices (including the Mac, router and cameras) connected by wired ethernet directly to this switch). Avoid connecting cameras to the ethernet ports on routers if possible, as these are often unreliable. However, an unreliable network won't affect SecuritySpy's CPU requirements.

    Hope this helps.
  • Hi Ben
    Understood, but the feedback you just gave is exactly what I am after. I now have another benchmark to add to my table thanks to you. :)
    If anyone else would like to post their setup in the same way I and Ben have done then I will collate the results.
    You're right though, it's probably no better than your calculator but if I am trying to gauge whether a customer's existing Mac is good enough for what they want then a table of this sort of thing helps, as I can sample it from its Geekbench result and it would give me a very good indication.
    eg. I am starting to think if you want to run 8-10 cameras, running at around 8fps, and they are approx 2mp, then you need a Geekbench score of around 11000 to be reliable. That is very helpful for me.
  • And just to add the topology you state is what I setup for all customers, so it removes that variable.
    I am using netgear network switches GS208 for non PoE, any thoughts on those?
    Haven't found a Network switch PoE that I can fully state is the best yet though. Tried some ANVISION ones recently, and sent them back due to plastic burning smell!!!
    I will probably try Netgear PoE version next.
  • OK, glad to hear my feedback helped!

    I think you could comfortably get many more than 10 cameras on a Mac with a 11000 Geekbench score. But of course this depends on all the other factors mentioned above. I would say that you want to keep the overall CPU idle figure above 20% ideally - certainly if this is going below 10% on a regular basis then you're likely to get problems.

    Netgear are always a safe bet, and the GS208 looks good. I haven't heard of ANVISION, but it's good to hear your feedback - burning plastic smell is not a good sign!
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