Who's Working Harder? CPU or GPU?

cstout
cstout
edited May 2014 in SecuritySpy
The title really sums up my question. As far as processing goes for SecuritySpy, which is taking on the higher load? CPU or GPU? I'm curious whether or not graphics card will be as important of a configuration as CPU in building out SecuritySpy servers.

Comments

  • Ben
    Ben
    Generally it's going to be the CPU that's more important - this is the processor that will be decompressing incoming video feeds, and perhaps compressing them in order to record or send via the web server. Aside from video compression/decompression there are other tasks that use the CPU such as motion detection.

    The GPU on the other hand will be working whenever you have a video window in SecuritySpy open that is displaying one or more cameras, and the more cameras you have displaying at the same time in video windows, the higher the GPU usage.

    So basically if your SecuritySpy server is running headless and you will mainly be using the web server to interface with it, then the GPU is not very important. But if SecuritySpy will be frequently displaying video windows, then a fast GPU will make a significant difference to the overall performance.

    Hope this helps.
  • cstout
    cstout
    That's great to know. I wasn't sure how Mac mini's were performing with SecuritySpy since they switched back to integrated graphics. If I run SecuritySpy on a Mac mini with integrated graphics and a beefy processor I should be fine as long as I keep the "all cameras" window closed? When opening a camera window or "all cameras," you're saying that's when the GPU kicks in? Thank you.
  • Ben
    Ben
    Yes exactly - it's when you open the "All cameras" window or any other video window (e.g. a group window that displays a group of cameras) that the GPU kicks in. If all the video windows are closed then it's just the CPU that matters.

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