I created this page because I kept running into the same issue: people love to cite CPU benchmarks to justify their purchases, but it’s surprisingly hard to find realistic power consumption numbers for older workstations repurposed as home servers.
When I bought or picked up most of the systems I test, I was basically guessing what they’d cost to run and what the heat and noise trade-offs would be. Benchmarks tell you how fast a machine is, but power tells you what it really costs to keep that performance online, and whether it’s worth running at all when a comparable 1L Tiny PC can deliver similar performance for a fraction of the operating cost.
This is mainly for my own tracking and forecasting. These are not scientific measurements, and they aren’t captured with calibrated gear in a controlled environment, but they’re accurate enough for estimating monthly operating cost and useful for comparing a full workstation against lower-power options.
Methodology #
- Metering: Third Reality Smart Plug Gen 2 (with Power Meter)
- Averaging window: Unless stated otherwise, benchmarks are measured over a 15 minute run
- Reported values: Average wall power (W). This includes PSU losses, and excludes any attached monitors.
System: Lenovo ThinkStation S30 #
| Component |
Specification Details |
| CPU |
Intel Xeon E5 1650 v2 @ 3.50GHz (Ivy Bridge-EP, 6C/12T) |
| RAM |
32GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 1600MHz (11-11-11-28), 4x8GB ECC RDIMMs |
| Disk |
500GB Samsung SSD 860 EVO (SATA III) |
| Motherboard |
Lenovo ThinkStation S30 (Intel C602 Chipset / 0B98401) |
| GPU |
NVIDIA Quadro M4000 (4GB GDDR5) |
| PSU |
AcBel 610W FSA034 (80 PLUS Gold) with ~87% Efficiency |
| Testing Suite |
Windows 10 Education 22H2 w/ AIDA64 Stress Test |
Power Draw #
| State |
Power Draw (Avg) |
Notes |
| Idle (No DP) |
40W |
Baseline system power with no open applications |
| Idle (1 Active DP Output) |
86W |
Baseline + GPU/display overhead |
| 100% CPU (No DP)* |
129W |
CPU stress test, no active display output |
| 100% CPU (1 Active DP Output) |
175W |
CPU stress test with active display |
System: HP Z240 Tower Workstation #
| Component |
Specification Details |
| CPU |
Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 @ 3.40GHz (Skylake, 4C/8T, 3.80GHz Turbo) |
| RAM |
32GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 2133MHz, 2x16GB Samsung ECC Unbuffered DIMMs |
| Storage (Boot) |
180GB Intel Pro 2500 Series SSD (SATA III) |
| Storage (NVMe) |
960GB Samsung SM953 Enterprise SSD (MZ1LV960HCJH) |
| Storage (Data) |
3x 12TB HGST Ultrastar DC HC520 (HUH721212ALE601) - 7200 RPM |
| Motherboard |
HP 802F (Intel C236 Chipset) |
| GPU |
NVIDIA Quadro K600 (1GB DDR3), not in use |
| Network |
Intel I219-LM Gigabit Ethernet |
| Testing Suite |
Proxmox VE 8.4 w/ stress-ng |
Power Draw #
| State |
Power Draw (Avg) |
Notes |
| Idle |
45W |
Baseline system power with no running VMs |
| 100% CPU |
106W |
CPU stress test with stress-ng, all cores |
System: Lenovo Thinkstation P410 #
| Component |
Specification Details |
| CPU |
Intel Xeon E5-1650 v4 @ 3.60GHz (Broadwell-EP, 6 Cores / 12 Threads, Turbo up to 4.00GHz) |
| RAM |
32GB Quad-Channel DDR4 @ 2400MHz, 4x8GB ECC RDIMMs (Samsung/Hynix) |
| Motherboard |
Lenovo ThinkStation P410 (Intel C612 / X99 chipset platform) |
| GPU |
NVIDIA Quadro K1200 (GM107 “Maxwell”, 4GB GDDR5) |
| Storage (NVMe / Boot) |
960GB Samsung PM963 (Model: MZ1LB960HAJQ-00007) (PCIe NVMe) |
| Storage (Data) |
4TB Seagate Barracuda (Model: ST4000DM000-1F21) (SATA / AHCI) |
| Storage (Data) |
12TB HGST / Western Digital Ultrastar (Model: HUH721212ALE601) (SATA / AHCI) |
| Network |
Intel Ethernet Connection (2) I218-LM (1 Gbps) |
| Network |
Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Controller (1 Gbps) |
| Testing Suite |
Proxmox VE 9.1 w/ stress-ng |
Power Draw #
| State |
Power Draw (Avg) |
Notes |
| Idle |
59W |
Baseline system power with no running VMs |
| 100% CPU |
139W |
CPU stress test with stress-ng, all cores |
System: Dell OptiPlex 3020M #
| Component |
Specification Details |
| CPU |
Intel Core i3-4160T @ 3.10GHz (Haswell, 2C/4T) |
| RAM |
8GB Dual-Channel DDR3 SODIMM @ 1333 MT/s, 2x4GB (Configured 1333 MT/s) |
| Storage (Boot) |
128GB ORICO SATA SSD (SATA III 6.0 Gb/s) |
| Motherboard |
Dell Inc. 0VRWRC (A00) |
| GPU |
Intel HD Graphics (Integrated) |
| Network |
Realtek RTL8111/8168 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet (10ec:8168) |
| Testing Suite |
Proxmox VE 9.1 w/ stress-ng |
Power Draw #
| State |
Power Draw (Avg) |
Notes |
| Idle |
11W |
Baseline system power with no running VMs |
| 100% CPU |
34W |
CPU stress test with stress-ng, all cores |
System: Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q Tiny #
| Component |
Specification Details |
| CPU |
Intel Core i3-7100T @ 3.40GHz (Kaby Lake, 2C/4T) |
| RAM |
8GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 2400MHz (1x4GB Samsung + 1x4GB Crucial SODIMMs) |
| Motherboard |
Lenovo 3111 (Intel B250 Chipset / SDK0J40697) |
| GPU |
Intel® HD Graphics 630 (Integrated / GT2) |
| Storage (Boot) |
128GB 2.5" SATA SSD |
| Network |
Intel Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V (1 Gbps) |
| PSU |
External Lenovo 65W/90W AC Adapter |
| Testing Suite |
FreeBSD 15 w/ stress |
Power Draw #
| State |
Power Draw (Avg) |
Notes |
| Idle |
6 |
Baseline system power |
| 100% CPU |
23W |
CPU stress test with stress-ng, all cores |