So I have a Dell PE R710 that I am using for UNRAID, but it is definitely power hungry. It has been a very long time since I custom built anything (2001), so I need some advice. The server is performing great, but I need to reduce the power use. At the time of typing this, the idrac is reading 252W. Is this just what I need to expect on power usage or can I decrease this a good amount with a modern build that won't break the bank? Is my best option to just remove what I don't need as far as like a CPU and some RAM?

 

Here are the specs of the R710:

 

Dual Xeon E5645's

128GB RAM

1 x 500GB Edge SSD plugged into DVD connection as a cache drive

6 x 4TB WD Green 5400 RPM internal

3 x 4TB WD Green 5400 RPM in a Mediasonic box

1 x 4TB Seagate 7200 RPM in the same Mediasonic box

1 x 7 port USB3 card with 2 500GB SSD in external enclosures as unassigned drives

1 x 2 port esata card (Mediasonic box plugged in here)

4 x GBe ports in a bond group

 

Here is what I am running on it:

Docker Containers:

plex

deluge w/vpn

nzbget w/vpn

radarr

sonarr

tautulli

jackett

pi-hole

grafana

influxdb

telegraf

varken

apcupsd-influxdb-exporter

 

VM's:

Windows 10 VM for Blue Iris (Will be moving this off to it's own machine) 8 cores & 8GB of RAM

Ubuntu 19.04 VM for Hass.io (Possibly moving this to a RPi4 once it works properly) 2 Cores & 4GB of RAM

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by WhiteNoseThunderPants

I would expect not much would save due to E5645 was 80w TDP only. People always think will save a lot if change to a 65w CPU.

 

The reason was those 15w different was CPU only and talking in heavy load. This still in small ratio if compare to whole system power usage.

 

I notice you have 2 USB mediasonic box, this also a factor for high power usage and UPS power reading just is a ref. and not always accuracy.

 

Unless electric bill show save a lot, otherwise not much meaning.

 

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by Benson

Actually I only have one mediasonic box connected via esata. The drives listed are in the same box. I see now how it could be confusing. and seem like two.

 

So if I was to remove one of the processors, I would only save that 80w if the processor was always pegged at 100%, correct? If it is idle most of the time, I won't save much power by removing it.

41 minutes ago, WhiteNoseThunderPants said:

I would only save that 80w if the processor was always pegged at 100%

Yes, est. save this amount, and counting with power convert efficiency will be a bit more.

 

41 minutes ago, WhiteNoseThunderPants said:

If it is idle most of the time, I won't save much power by removing it.

Yes.

 

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by Benson

@Benson, thank you very much for your advise, I appreciate it!

If you remove one CPU, appreciate if you could feedback the founding here, thanks.

9 hours ago, WhiteNoseThunderPants said:

So if I was to remove one of the processors

keep in mind that typically you loose half of available PCIe lanes too. it depends on you MB, so read MB manual, cos i don't know how much cards you have in your system