John D 0 Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) I've been looking into systems over the past few months and I think I decided to create a PC-based DVR using a Geovision GV-1240A-8 card. I chose this based on my desire for 8 cameras and having 30fps recording for each of them. I've had good luck with Dell systems over the years, so I'd just assume buy another Dell for this purpose. Based on what I've read, I searched Dell's site for machines that contain: - Intel Duo-2 processor - XP - non-VIA and non-nVidia graphics. The below have Intel graphics chipsets. Below are the three that I found. Is there any reason why one of these machines would not work? Any reason why I should choose one over another? Other opinions/suggestions? Thanks! Inspiron 537s: $578 PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500 (3MB L2, 2.93GHz, 1066FSB) OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 32 Bit to XP (English) MEMORY 3GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2 DIMMs HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive VIDEO CARD Integrated Intel® GMA x4500 Graphics (no monitor) (if need non-integrated video card: ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB [add $30]) Vostro 220 mini: $564 ($880-$316savings) PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500 w/ VT (2.93GHz, 3M, L2Cache, 1066FSB) OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Professional Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade MONITOR Dell E Series 18.5 inch E1910H Flat Panel Monitor MEMORY 3GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHZ - 1x2GB 1x1GB OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ VIDEO CARD Integrated Video, Intel® GMA X4500HD (Same system without Monitor bundled costs more: $880) (If I desire 4GB, I can get it for $20 more by pricing it in a different bundle: $584 ($974-$390)) (if need non-integrated video card: 512MB ATI Radeon™ HD 4350 [add $85]) OptiPlex 760: $781 ($1076-$295savings) BASE OptiPlex 760 Minitower Base Standard PSU OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Professional Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPTIONS Dell Energy Smart Power Management Settings Enabled POWER SUPPLY OptiPlex 760 Minitower Standard Power Supply PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E7500(2.93GHz,3M,1066MHz,FSB) THERMALS Heat Sink for Intel Celeron Core 2 Duo Processors, Minitower MEMORY 3GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM,800MHz, (2 DIMM) VIDEO CARD Integrated Video, Intel® GMA 4500 HARD DRIVE 500GB SATA,7200RPM,WDXL320 OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW SATA, Roxio Creator™ CyberlinkPowerDVD™ MONITOR Dell E Series E1910H 18.5in Wide Monitor, VGA Only SPEAKERS No Speaker, OptiPlex (Same system without Monitor bundled costs more: $787) Notes: - No wireless network options listed for Optiplex, so didn't add those to other systems either for comparison. - 500GB HDD highest option in Optiplex, so chose the same in other systems for comparison. I'd likely go with 1TB to start. Regards, Edited November 17, 2009 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
larry 2 Posted November 17, 2009 The geovision is a good card. I'd go with the second system adding an upgrade to a real non-integrated video card and XP Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John D 0 Posted November 17, 2009 The geovision is a good card. I'd go with the second system adding an upgrade to a real non-integrated video card and XP The video card options through Dell for the Vostro system are: - Integrated Video, Intel® GMA X4500HD - 512MB ATI Radeon™ HD 4350 ($85) Is it really worth getting a non-integrated card? What's the benefit? Will that ATI card work? (The warnings about some video cards not working with GeoVision has me a bit nervous) Also, I'll likely have this system locked up in a closet or similar. I'll be able to sit in front of it if I want, but it won't be at my desk. As such, I guess I'll be more likely looking at the recordings via a remote view method on my office computer. Due to that, does it make sense to have a better graphics card if I'm not going to be looking at that monitor much? Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
larry 2 Posted November 17, 2009 Separate video cards are a personal preference of mine. I'd rather not have the integrated video rob cpu RAM for processing video. I have this rule for all my desktops regardless of their purpose. But if you don't plan on reviewing video much, I guess it should not be a problem from what I know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John D 0 Posted November 20, 2009 They have a new deal going on that they add Norton 2009 15month to the bundle and it actually dropped the price. So I ordered that. Also upgraded to 4GB. So it's: Vostro 220 mini: $554 ($964-$410savings) PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500 w/ VT (2.93GHz, 3M, L2Cache, 1066FSB) OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Professional Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade MONITOR Dell E Series 18.5 inch E1910H Flat Panel Monitor MEMORY 4GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHZ OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ VIDEO CARD Integrated Video, Intel® GMA X4500HD Norton 2009 15month Above I had priced 500GB for comparison with other units. I wanted 1TB, but it didn't make sense to swap out the included 250GB -> 1TB for $145 extra. So I decided to go with the standard 250GB and I'll buy my own 1TB for <$100 which I'll have in addition to the 250GB. As such, my price was really $499 ($909-$410savings). Not bad at all in my mind for a new Dell machine with: - Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500 - Win7 & XP - 4GB - 250GB - 18.5" Monitor Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sinbad 0 Posted November 26, 2009 hmm don't buy a dell? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
