multiple video cards in one PC - what works?

stifler · Post by **stifler** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 3:41 pm

Hi folks,

currently we have a (rather big) building monitored by 16 cameras that are hooked up to 2 hdd-recorders. The windows interface isn't the frendliest one, and I would love to switch to ZM. By the way I have also 4 more cams that I can't hook up right now - no more free inputs. So I need at least to build a machine and choose the right video cards so that I can hook up at least 20 cams. Even better if I do have some spare inputs.

Does anybody know what works best (or even does not work) ?

I could go with a 16CH and a 8CH video card or with 3x 8CH video card. But I could not figure out anywhere what is the maximum that works in a system. I guess there are limits that I don't know about (like IRQ, shared mem, what-so-ever).

So if anybody could help me out, I would appreciate that a lot!

Thanks
stif

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 5:48 pm

basically the pci bus is what will limit you.

2 4chip pci cards I believe is the max however you can also use pci-e cards mixed with the pci.

also a pci-e x1 card will work in x4 x6 x16 with no problem also pci-e is not shared so you can have as manny cards as you need. Also with all camera hooked up to a card you get around 10fps just fyi.

http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... _8port.htm

http://store.bluecherry.net/PV_981_4_po ... pv-981.htm

curtishall · Post by **curtishall** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:42 pm

kingofkya wrote:basically the pci bus is what will limit you.

2 4chip pci cards I believe is the max however you can also use pci-e cards mixed with the pci.

I've heard of customers stacking four cards without too many issues. Besides the PCI bus limit, you might also encounter issues with the kernel (bttv) driver not loading more then 16 devices. If so it's a quick fix in the kernel and a recompile

stifler · Post by **stifler** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:17 pm

Two 16ch PCIE + from your bluecherry store would be great - if they work. unfortunately I have limitied supply possibilites here in Germany. So I might go with two 8CH PCIE cards and one 8CH PCI card (from camsecure).

any recommendations on the hardware in general? I plan to go around 3 fps for all 20 cams and a raid0 for the storage. Data will be backed up overnight to a NAS. Any suggestions for the CPU?

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:19 am

I take where I live for granted no import tax like you have in germany.
so hears some ebay links.

oh if you only need 3 fps. You need 1 chip on the card for every 4 cameras.

If you relly are only going for 3 fps you can use a very low end
AMD Sempron i just know its the cheapest readely available.

my Amd 3000+ can run 8 cams at 3fps with around 40% cpu useage with motion detect and recording constant.

so a 4 chip card can run 3 fps on 16 cameras

http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... pv-155.htm

also you can get them cheaper but just make sure they have the same chips there pretty common. See ebay the below will work but you need 4 pci slots.

http://cgi.ebay.de/CCTV-PCI-zu-BNC-4-Ka ... 125wt_1167

The Techwell chip will also work but requires manual driver install but there cheaper 25pal fps on all 16 inputs.
http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14588

http://cgi.ebay.de/16-Channel-CCTV-Secu ... 3334wt_941