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Article Description
Capabilities of servers and their power consumption have increased over time. Multiply the power servers consume by the number of servers in use today and power consumption emerges as a significant expense for many companies. The main power consumers in a server are the processors and memory. Server processors are capping and controlling their power usage, but the amount of memory used in a server is growing and with that growth, more power is consumed by memory. In addition, today's power supplies are very inefficient and waste power at the wall socket and when converting AC power to DC. Also, when servers are in operation, the entire chassis will heat up; cooling is required to keep the components at a safe operating temperature, but cooling takes additional power. This article explains how servers consume power, how to estimate power usage, the mechanics of cooling, and other related topics. (18 pages, PDF, 410KB)
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