February 16, 201610 yr Hi there, I'm asking support again in my decisions, 'cause I admit I can't get through my ideas. So, I'm tinkering about underpowering my box, since my job will get me around for a big while. You can see the specs in my sign: I'm totally satisfied with it, but my wife won't use it so much for VMs, so maybe it's better a 24/7 very low power config instead an "ondemand" one (it yet sleeps during the day). Anyone is using a passive solution, like Asrock N3700-ITX ? I'm shure I'll have to add a SATA controller to it, like the Syba SI-PEX40064. Will I compromise data integrity, or go down too much in performance, with such downgrade? Any suggestions? TIA! Marco
February 16, 201610 yr A faster processor doesn't mean it uses more power when idle. It just means the potential for performance is available. You'd probably be surprised at how little it uses while just sitting around waiting. My suggestion is to determine how much power it is drawing from the wall before dropping hundreds on a "low power" setup. If you're hell bent on lowering your performance, I'll gladly swap my celeron g1840 with your i5 for free!
February 16, 201610 yr My system uses old parts and draws about 85 watts when idle. I could easily get that under 50 watts with a new build - but I ran the numbers and even with very high New England power rates the payback would take years. Unless you need the parts for something else, it usually isn't worth pulling apart a build just to achieve lower power utilization. It might make you feel better but the cost savings alone won't justify it.
February 16, 201610 yr Agree with mr-hexen and tdallen, I started my first build with a Xeon E3-1240Lv3 2.0GHz and later changed to a Xeon E3-1271v3 3.6 GHz and when I compare idle power usage they are basically the same. If I would convert a video stream into a new format it will be done slower with the E3-1240L than with the E3-1271 but the totally energy used (W Hours) will probably be the same. But You need to consider that the low powered CPU will keep your disks spinning during longer time making the total power consumption higher for the low powered CPU! Decide what minimum performance for the CPU would be, if you are using Plex and need to transcode you need a Passmark around 2000 per video stream. Selecting disks is also important, look for low idle power and low peak currents (at start up). It will likely to be something like WD red with 5400 RPM. Not high performance but well suited for a NAS. It’s also important to use a power supply designed for high power efficiency at the power level where your server normally operates but still designed to be able to handle the peak power needed when your disks spins up. The absolutely best way to save energy is powering of the server, buying new components just to save energy very seldom pays off unless you are running really old stuff.
February 16, 201610 yr I used to run a Supermicro X10SBA (J1900 CPU) - it didn't use any less power on idle than my current Fujitsu server. The Fujitsu is much faster, so actually ends up using less power due to the "race to completion". For example, when transcoding videos in Plex, the J1900 was at 100% CPU for the whole time of viewing the video. The Xeon goes to 100% for about 20-30 seconds at the start of the video, and then back to idle. There's small spikes of 100% CPU while it refills the buffer, but it ends up using less power over all.
February 16, 201610 yr I'm with the others on this one. By the time you pay for new motherboard/controller combo it may be years before it pays for itself. Unless you want to reallocate or sell the Gigabyte and i5. That would be the only reason I could see swapping out parts. The cost of cooling is not usually considered, but if the machine is on demand, that does not come into your equation as much. In addition, if you ever want to add hash check-summing to your files, the extra horsepower comes in handy.
February 16, 201610 yr It’s also important to use a power supply designed for high power efficiency at the power level where your server normally operates but still designed to be able to handle the peak power needed when your disks spins up. I used to think this as well, but alas it's been proven incorrect:
February 17, 201610 yr Author I'm with the others on this one. By the time you pay for new motherboard/controller combo it may be years before it pays for itself. Unless you want to reallocate or sell the Gigabyte and i5. That would be the only reason I could see swapping out parts. The cost of cooling is not usually considered, but if the machine is on demand, that does not come into your equation as much. In addition, if you ever want to add hash check-summing to your files, the extra horsepower comes in handy. I'm quoting WeeboTech just for added laziness... Thank you all, really! T So, yesterday I ordered a wattmeter and hooked it up today: it looks like it's idling now with disks spun up at 50W, going up to 130W during startup. How is it? I'm going to monitor the electricity consumption for some days more, the meter keeps saved statistics in it. I don't know if the meter is measuring right, but anyway it's better than I thought! So, adding this to all your opinions, I think I'll keep all the hardware and maybe I'll change the CS430M for gold rated PSU - I'll see if I can effort a Silverstone SFX one.
February 17, 201610 yr So, adding this to all your opinions, I think I'll keep all the hardware and maybe I'll change the CS430M for gold rated PSU - I'll see if I can effort a Silverstone SFX one. CX430M or CS450M? No such thing as a CS430M. The CS450M is Gold. A CX430M is Bronze.
February 17, 201610 yr Author Ops, CX430M... Bronze one. Not bad at all, if I can't get a SFX gold at fair price, I'll look for the 450M
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