[CentOS] Power burn test

[Robert Moskowitz]

Some real good pointers and I am going to check them out....

gjgowey at tmo.blackberry.net wrote:
> APC has a selector tools on their website that takes the parameters of your system and tells you what model you need.  Not sure how accurate it is, but it's probably fairly close considering how many things you need to enter.
>   
And sometimes it gives you a close number.  I have used it in the past.

Actually, in this case I picked up 4 decTOPs.  The specs say they pull 
8W @ 12vDC.  That is with the supplied 10Gb 3.5" hard drive and 128Mb 
PC2700 SoDIMM memory, and I assume their USB keyboard, mouse, and ethernet.

So I am upping the memory on some to 256Mb, and others to 512Mb (max for 
the system).  I am pulling the 3.5" power-hungry (and heavy) 10Gb drive 
and either going with a 10-20Gb 2.5" drive (need an adapter for that), 
or two Compact Flash drives: 4Gb memory drive & 4Gb Hitachi MicroDrive.  
Add bluetooth, switch to a mini USB keyboard and Bluetooth mouse (would 
like a bluetooth keyboard, but too pricy).

Now the pwer supply states 40W @ 12vDC.  Can I power three of these from 
the one supply along with a monitor:

http://cgi.ebay.com/6-5-inch-TFT-flat-panel-great-for-Car-or-PC-project_W0QQitemZ330150648471QQihZ014QQcategoryZ3698QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

When I run them as a proof-of-concept demo?  How long can I run them on 
a 3500mAh 12vDC battery unit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Slim-External-Universal-NiMH-Battery-for-most-Laptops_W0QQitemZ150147746550QQihZ005QQcategoryZ14298QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Will be an impressive poc if I do it from batteries.

So I want to know what I can expect these systems to eat, electron-wise!
> Geoff
>  
> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Robert Moskowitz" <rgm at htt-consult.com>
>
> Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 16:29:00 
> To:CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org>
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Power burn test
>
>
> Timothy Selivanow wrote:
>   
>> On Fri, 2007-08-03 at 15:01 -0400, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> I need a program that will just run everything at max so I can measure
>>> the max power used on some systems.  My 'Kill a Watt' meter should show
>>> up early next week.
>>>
>>> SO run that CPU at max, using all memory, and keeping the harddrive
>>> spinning.
>>>
>>> I can jsut do pings on the lan card for it to stay awake.
>>>
>>> I have searched here and on the net and have come back with nothing.
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>       
>> Are you wanting max power for provisioning purposes?  If so, the max
>> power on the power supply or chassis will give you absolute max.  80% of
>> that number is what it is rated for on a continuous basis, 100% is for
>> max burst.
>>
>>     
> No for UPS purposes.  Actually some of these are 'portable' and I want
> to size an external battery.
>
> I will be running a number of tests.  Max, min, 'typical'.
>   
>> If you need a more accurate number (as the above is the rated Wattage,
>> which /will/ be different than actual usage for safety purposes), you
>> could run multiple of something like this: `dd if=/dev/urandom
>> of={somefile} bs=1024k count=1024`.  Depending on your processor speed,
>> that won't keep the disks busy all the time which is why I suggested
>> multiple running at the same time.  What that will do is pull 1GB worth
>> of random data (stresses CPU) and writes it as fast as possible to the
>> disk. Running a few of those in a loop should give you enough time to
>> see actual power draw.  Shifting bits around in the memory register
>> probably won't add too much power draw, as it is mostly CPU and chipset
>> (just CPU if you are using AMD).  The RAM stick is fully powered
>> regardless.
>>
>> Hope that helps at least a little.
>>     
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