The small NAS server: about power consumption
The measurements were made and the writing started 2023-09-23. Writing completed 2023-10-11.
Why measure the power consumption
As power consumption of ICT equipment and power consumption in general have became popular subjects I decided to measure the power consumption of my small NAS server. The server is running 24/7 so the power consumption is an important fact to consider.
Since my server is built based on a passively-cooled mini PC I was expecting low numbers. The whole setup consists of the server, internal SATA SSD and two 3.5 inch external USB HDDs.
The results
| Setup | Power Consumption |
|---|---|
| Maximum power consumption while booting | 23 W |
| Full CPU stress load, USB disks spinning idle | 23 W |
| One client reading data from one of the USB HDDs | 21 W |
| Idle system, USB disks spinning idle | 16 W |
| Idle system, USB disks on sleep | 7 W |
| Maximum power consumption when disks are spinning up | 43 W |
To summarize these results, the typical power consumption of my small NAS server is 7 W while the disks sleep, 16 W while the disks are spinning idle and 21 W while data of the server is accessed.
How about a little bigger server
I am planning to replace the small server with a micro form factor PC. The small server is performing fine but it has not enough power for software development projects. And I prefer to run just one server 24/7 and to achieve this the best way is to upgrade the NAS server to a more powerful one.
The small server is based on Asus VivoMini UN45H and I got a used Dell OptiPlex 5050 MFF to be the upgrade.
The first thing I decided to do is to compare the power consumption of the two servers.
| Parameter | The small NAS server | The challenger |
|---|---|---|
| Computer make & model | Asus VivoMini UN45H | Dell OptiPlex 5050 MFF |
| Processor | Intel Celeron N3000 | Intel Core i5-6500T |
| Memory | 4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz | 2 * 4 GB DDR4 2400 MHz |
| Internal disk | 120 GB SATA SSD | 256 GB SATA SSD |
| Power consumption of the exteral power supply not connected to computer | 0 W | 4 w |
| Power consumption when the power supply is connected but the computer is off | 0 W | 7 W |
| Power consumption when computer is on and is running idle | 7 W | 11 W |
| Power consumption when CPU is stressed to full load | 9 W | 45 W |
The new server seems to consume 4 W more than the old server when running idle. On full load the difference is huge due to the fact that the new server has a much more powerful processor.