[nabilt]

This is a pretty cool solution. I didn't know the capabilities of USB4 before this.

The comparison with the Dell r630 power numbers got me interested since I just purchased a Dell r430 to host my site so I decided to benchmark mine.

Specs:

  * 2x Xeon E5-2680 v3 (same CPU)
  * 64GB RAM
  * 2x power supply (can't remember if it's 500W or 750W each and too lazy to look)
  * 1 SSD & 1 7300 RPM HDD
  * Ubuntu server 22.04.3 LTS

Using a Kill-A-Watt meter I measure ~100 watts after boot. Running sysbench (sysbench --test=cpu --threads=12 --cpu-max-prime=100000 --time=300 run) I get up to ~220 watts.

If my calculations are correct that's 72 kW per day or $11.05 per month at idle:

  0.1 kW * 24 hours * 30 days = 72 kWh
  72 kWh * 15.34 cents/kWh = $11.05 

and 158.4 kW or $24.3 per month during load:

  0.22 kW * 24 hours * 30 days = 158.4 kWh
  158.4 kWh * 15.34 cents/kWh = $24.3

I'm not sure of OP's use case, but these numbers are probably more realistic than using the max wattage of the power supply for most people. I will still be hosting in a co-location for the reliable internet and so I can sleep without the sound of a jet engine taking off. Those fans are loud!

[justsomehnguy]

> I'm not sure of OP's use case

Lack of understanding. Even comparing 65W to 1000W should had ring some bells, but.

> but these numbers are probably more realistic

Almost, depends on the load (hardware) and load (software), as someone who manages a fleet of 720/730/630, a standby server eats around 150W and under the load up to 300-350W, depending on the package.

> Using a Kill-A-Watt meter

You can use built-in measuring in iDRAC.

[evanreichard]

Another data point - I'm running about 500w for my small rack. NAS (20 x 3.5HDD), ICX6610 (3 PoE APs), 2 x R630, and some small devices.

According to iDRAC, my R630's are drawing almost exactly 100w/each. Each with about 75 pods (k8s nodes).

[justinclift]

> You can use built-in measuring in iDRAC.

Does anyone know if ~modern HP iLO can show power usage too?

Looking through my Gen8 HP Microservers just now, I'm not seeing power usage info. :(

"Power Information" is just showing the state of the power supplies (aka "OK", "Good, In Use") and not much else.

[nabilt]

Thanks, good to know. I may need to request a 3A 1U in that case.

I didn't know iDRAC could measure real time power usage. Pretty amazing.