cheap 24/7 computer?

sonne

sonne

sonne

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Hi i'm looking to setup a 24/7 cctv type webcam for my home but i can't find a cheap way of doing it. I'v bought a rasberry pi but it's soo slow and annoying it's useless for using for this purpose. I just need something i can leave on 24/7 all year with windows and a small hard drive. Any suggestions. thanks.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A78M-DS2 AMD A78 (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £43.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £32.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x In-Win EM019 Mini Tower Case - Black £28.99
Total : £238.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Depending how small you mean by 'small HDD':

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £47.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A78M-DS2 AMD A78 (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £43.99
1 x Kingston 30GB SSDNow S200 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (9.5mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SS200S3/30G) £35.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £32.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x In-Win EM019 Mini Tower Case - Black £28.99
Total : £229.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
 
 
Yeah, second hand would be a good shot. Even an old dell tower could do you just fine, saw a Q6600 machine go on the 'bay for about £60 w/ a monitor!
 
You can probably do a complete NM70/C847 build for around £100 if you shop around. It will also be more power efficient than a second hand rig.
 
sonne said:
That Synology Diskstation is it able to run a webcam with motion detect software and able to view it on a tv or is it purely for storage.

I want the cctv setup for my driveway.
Click to expand...

You should be able to attach a USB web cam to it, or network IP camera to it as it has a single camera license installed by default.

The surveillance station software allows you to setup all manner of things, including motion detection.

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/support/tutorials/467

However you need a camera that supports motion detection. And if you want it to record 24/7 you will want a camera that can see in the dark and uses infrared light.

Add a 4TB drive and it will do 720p video at 10 frames per second and write over itself every 24 hours. You'll need a more powerful NAS for more FPS or longer write over times. My DS413J will do 1080p at 30fps write over every 24 hours.

The following link you can pin down a specific NAS for your requirements.
https://www.synology.com/en-uk/support/nvr_selector/

The following link you can demo the Synology operating system, including seeing how the functionality of the surveillance station software is laid out.
http://www.synology.com/en-uk/products/dsm_livedemo

In short, the cheapest way to do surveillance is through a NAS, and it doesn't actually work out that cheap once you factor in the NAS, HDD and camera. But it's cheaper than trying to build or buy a custom computer for it as well as camera and then a windows license and then surveillance software.
 
gamesaregood said:
How about a second hand nettop?

The HP Microservers are great bits of kit also and can be had for £100 after cashback.
Click to expand...

A nettop is no more powerful than a NAS in most cases. Unless it's using newer Intel Atom processors, in which case you're not going to get one for under £100, even second hand, unless you're lucky. And there's quite a few Synology NAS's that use new Intel Atoms as well, but they're not cheap (the DS112J and my DS413J use Marvell ARM chips, just at different clock speeds).

The HP micro server is a good buy. But then you still need to buy an IP camera (such as Foscam), an HDD or two, a Windows license and surveillance software. Or you could use an open source alternative. But then that comes down to how handy you are with Linux / Unix and if you think the hassle is worth the time when you could buy a NAS that has it already done for you (I can use Linux / Unix quite happily and I choose to use a Synology because screwing around is not worth the time).
 
Last edited:
I already have a 1080p webcam i intend to use with motion software i just need something small compact preferably silent i can hide away under my desk which supports windows and it's cheap as possible.
 
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