I've been wondering for a while, so I finally put a [ame="http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1222932264&sr=8-2"]Kill-a-Watt meter[/ame] on my fully-loaded 5U server to find out what it really costs to run this mini-NetApp server.
The 5U server, with every slot filled, draws about 192 Watts, pretty consistently.
Yikes. do the math for your own utility rates... out here with PG&E, I pay nearly $0.33 per KwHr after all the surcharges and tiered power rate schedules.
So powering the Kscape server works out to $45.85 per month or $557 per year in electricity for me. I guess most people would say that's not a lot to pay for the convenience... but I bet most people don't factor that $557 per year in power into their cost calculation. And that's ONLY for the server... the players probably add a few tens of dollars onto that. I'll check them when I get the time.
I suppose most Kscape customers aren't too concerned about the cost, but I bet many of us just want to do what we can to reduce our own energy usage. Seeing that number on the meter was pretty sobering... I do resent the overall energy usage, especially as the things just sit there not doing anything most of the time.
I renew my call for Kaleidescape to offer programmable off-times for the server... if you never use the thing from 1am until 10am on weekdays, it's a shame it can't go into a lower-power standby state where it can spin down most or all of the drives, but I do know this is tough on hard drives to keep spinning up and down.
--josh
The 5U server, with every slot filled, draws about 192 Watts, pretty consistently.
Yikes. do the math for your own utility rates... out here with PG&E, I pay nearly $0.33 per KwHr after all the surcharges and tiered power rate schedules.
So powering the Kscape server works out to $45.85 per month or $557 per year in electricity for me. I guess most people would say that's not a lot to pay for the convenience... but I bet most people don't factor that $557 per year in power into their cost calculation. And that's ONLY for the server... the players probably add a few tens of dollars onto that. I'll check them when I get the time.
I suppose most Kscape customers aren't too concerned about the cost, but I bet many of us just want to do what we can to reduce our own energy usage. Seeing that number on the meter was pretty sobering... I do resent the overall energy usage, especially as the things just sit there not doing anything most of the time.
I renew my call for Kaleidescape to offer programmable off-times for the server... if you never use the thing from 1am until 10am on weekdays, it's a shame it can't go into a lower-power standby state where it can spin down most or all of the drives, but I do know this is tough on hard drives to keep spinning up and down.
--josh