Significantly reduced idle state power consumption
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My pfSense box consists of a Intel kaby lake G4560T 2.9Ghz 35watt cpu, a HP NC364T quad nic and a Liteon LMT-128M6M msata ssd 128GB.
Update: running openvpn, pfblockerng, suricata, squid and squid guardReduced idle consumption from 23.4 watts( 2017 Thermaltake 500W smart series 80+) to 18.4 watts using a re-dedicated eBay 2011 Dell 80+ gold efficiency power supply. Saving is approximately $6.50/year. PSU costs $15 including shipping.
Cannot justify buying a brand new $50 after rebate gold efficiency PSU. It will take too long to realize the costs savings.
https://plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSuppliesDetail.aspx?id=26&type=2
Ran speedtest.com, my internet bandwidth is 75/75 and power consumption max was 21.2 watts
with CPU usage maximum at 13%.
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I agree low power is a good thing but costs need to be considered. I have an old Intel 40 watt low voltage Xeon which I use in my pfsense machine. I built this machine 10 years and it was low power back then. Now days not so much.
I can't see spending $400 to replace my current machine so I can save 30 watts. What I have works great.
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At first this mobo was coupled with an old 2005 non-80+ psu consumed 38W. This bothered
me until I realized it was the psu was the culprit. The Thermaltake psu helped but it was 500W and only a 80+ efficiency. -
If you look at the specs for 80 plus you'll note that Gold does not have an efficiency requirement for even 10% rating. A 500W PSU running at 23W is <5% of it's rating. Actually less than that as that's the output power which will be less than the measured input. It's almost certainly worse than 80% efficient anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus
Random link for reference: https://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4683/3/45-psus-tested-at-very-low-loads-which-one-is-the-most-efficient-225-watt-test (may contain internet fact!)
Steve
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Thermaltake 80+ was "improve power consumption attempt #1" and was only $20 after rebate.
Several weeks ago, I saw the same link and did purchase an Antec 380W EA-380D earthwatt 80+ bronze to test (attempt #2) with this mobo. The Antec was marginally better than the 500W Thermaltake and idle consumption was around 22-23W. It wasn't worth the effort to swap out the Thermaltake psu until I found an eBay 80+ gold psu that was reasonably priced with a 80-84% efficiency at 25W. As a guide for the 10% load, I used
https://plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSuppliesDetail.aspx?id=26&type=2Last week, I found an Dell L265EM-00 for $15 that looked like a possible solution. I already repurposed the Antec for the wife's desktop.
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Mmm, 88% efficiency at 10% load is pretty good. That would appear to beat even a Pico PSU style DC-DC PSU when you include the external power brick. In most cases at least.
Steve
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Top efficiency is at 50% load. A low power machine using less than 10% would never achieve it.
At such load I would use a pico-psu with a level vi brick.
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stephenw10, if the Antec consumption was 22.0W(best of my knowledge) @71.2% efficiency then the Dell psu would be rated @85% efficiency which is similar to the plugloadsoultions.com spreadsheet results for gold model psu under 10% load. From what I researched pico psu have high efficiency but their cost $40+ make it prohibitively expensive unless you have space restrictions due to a mini itx case. I can live with a micro ATX case.
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Does that $6.50 in savings include reduced heat leading to less AC needed?
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Or additional heating required depending on your location. ;)
Steve
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You are both correct and a much smaller carbon footprint for our future generations. Lol
