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how much energy does a macpro consume ?

F

faumble

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 8, 2008
141
0
I am looking for a ups for my macpro so wanted to ask you guys how much energy the macpro consumes? I asked at the apple store and a tech guy told me the minimum a macpro (stock configuration) uses is 250watts and the maximum 350watts, can I trust these numbers?

I have the stock configuration with a geforce 8800 and added 4 more hard drives and another 8800, so I am guessing I will need an ups around 600 watts?
also What else should I look in a ups beside the amount of watts?

Thanks in advance, really appreciate your help :)
-J
 
Sky Blue said:
1.21 Gw
Click to expand...

Thats only for the special-order iFlux-Capacitor versions ...... and then only when using Time Machine ;)



Seriously tho - Any UPS of 1000VA or above, and save your hair and nerves: Get an APC unit, not some other random brand (trust me Ive had a Belkin 1000VA go Bang taking a 650watt Enermax PSU with it!). Now I stay with APC and my 1500VA unit is 24-7 100% reliable.
 
Sky blue, wow! thats a lot, which macpro you have?
costabunny, lol.
 
I am seeing APC has 2 kinds of ups, SC and RS, which one shoould I be looking at for the macpro?
 
faumble said:
I am seeing APC has 2 kinds of ups, SC and RS, whhich one whould I be looking at or the macpro?
Click to expand...

Well I have the SC1500 (its a 2U rack model) mainly as I like the way it stands on its side, slender against the wall and doesnt get in the way too much.

(mmm now I think about it maybe I should get it painted in aluminium...)
 
what is the difference btw SC and RS? both have 1500va versions (and RS is almost half the price, or do I need SC?).
 
If memory serves the RS is a black-box, whereas the SC is the rack mount (always more expensive maybe cos it ships with a rack kit, and stand etc) Dunno about the other diffs - I suggest looking at both in side by side browsers and judging which appeals to you. (of course if money is the issue, the go with the RS) :)
 
faumble said:
I am seeing APC has 2 kinds of ups, SC and RS, which one shoould I be looking at for the macpro?
Click to expand...
A more useful question to ask is; what is the difference between RS and Smart series UPS?

Simple, all the Smart series have true AC 50/60Hz sine wave, where as the RS (which itself is belong to the Back-UPS range of UPS's) has stepped simulated sine wave. The RS is one level above all the cheap Back-UPS again, as it has a smoother sine wave (more steps per cycle).

I am running on XS1500, and I have no problem with it. It can withstand the wake from sleep surge test on battery (in a power outage condition). My UPS only need to give me enough time to save my working files and shut down my Mac Pro, and XS1500 is perfect for that.

My 2008 Mac Pro 2.8GHz Quad-Core (everything stocks) uses 135 Watts and the 23" ACD uses 65 Watts. They are both plugged into the XS1500. The running time from 100% charged battery, reported by the XS1500 is 24 minutes.
 
costabunny said:
Thats only for the special-order iFlux-Capacitor versions ...... and then only when using Time Machine ;)



Seriously tho - Any UPS of 1000VA or above, and save your hair and nerves: Get an APC unit, not some other random brand (trust me Ive had a Belkin 1000VA go Bang taking a 650watt Enermax PSU with it!). Now I stay with APC and my 1500VA unit is 24-7 100% reliable.
Click to expand...

Lol, nice.

Video cards alone can use over 150W (easily...), so I don't see how the "max" could possibly be 350.

Edit: Holy ****, I just looked it up... 350's about right. Which makes.. no sense, since some of the G5s had 600W PSUs? =\
 
dchao said:
My 2008 Mac Pro 2.8GHz Quad-Core (everything stocks) uses 135 Watts and the 23" ACD uses 65 Watts. They are both plugged into the XS1500. The running time from 100% charged battery, reported by the XS1500 is 24 minutes.
Click to expand...

Firefly2002 said:
Edit: Holy ****, I just looked it up... 350's about right. Which makes.. no sense, since some of the G5s had 600W PSUs? =\
Click to expand...

For the max possible power consumption, are you considering loading in as many drives as you can, running them all, multiple video cards, etc? The Mac Pro and PMG5 are designed to be able to run like that using the stock power supply, aren't they? OTOH, dchao's 135 watts surprises me a bit on the low side. I would've rather thought a bit more than that...
 
My Kill a watt meter registers 300 watts. That is a MacPro 2.8, 6GB ram, 8800gt 4 hard drives 20 in LCD(it uses 50watts) UPS cable modem, Airport base station & Speakers. It can go to 350 with max load. I use a APC 1500VA 8-Outlet UPS.
 
Just checked again. 150 watts with some apps (PS CS3, VMware etc...) loaded in the background. I have the stock Radeon 2600XT plus 1 x 7200.10 HD.
 
I remember reading barefeats or someone studying this in depth, and one of the factors that makes a huge difference in power consumption is the amount of RAM.

More RAM dramatically increased the wattage being pulled. FWIW
 
At this moment on my APC SmartUPS1500 (980Watt), from the (optional) Network Management Card AP9617:

immagine1xz0.jpg


MacPro 2008, 2x2.8Ghz, 8GB, 2xWD7500AYYS, Radeon 2600XT, Eizo HD2441W 24", Eizo L685 18", Router Cisco 877W, Canon MP970 printer/scanner, Klipsch Promedia 2.1.

32.5% of 980W = 318.5W

When the monitors are in standby, Load Power is 21% more or less...




Go with APC :)



Ciao :)
 
Every time I fire up my Mac Pro the neighborhood dims a little.

I've been warned by the hydro company that if I keep it up, I'll put humanity in the dark ages again.
 
akm3 said:
I remember reading barefeats or someone studying this in depth, and one of the factors that makes a huge difference in power consumption is the amount of RAM.

More RAM dramatically increased the wattage being pulled. FWIW
Click to expand...

FB-DIMMs are very power hungry, over twice that of a regular DDR2 DIMM, though it should have no influence on someone just running a single system for moderate use.
 
Umbongo said:
FB-DIMMs are very power hungry, over twice that of a regular DDR2 DIMM, though it should have no influence on someone just running a single system for moderate use.
Click to expand...

I can't find the link I had read earlier that used kill-a-watt to measure Mac Pro power usage at differing amounts of RAM in the system, but I remember it was something like 20watts per DIMM or something surprisingly insane.

So, if you load up all eight slots, you are pulling 120watts more then if you just had two slots. (Or something similar, I can't find the exact numbers)
 
I have a Mac Pro 2.8 GHz 8 Core with 4 GB RAM. It has 3 hard drives in it - the original 320 GB, plus a 500 GB and 750GB - both Seagate 7200.10.

My Kill-A-Watt shows it using between 188 and 204 Watts, depending on if Time Machine is running and just what is happening.

I'm also in the market for a UPS for this machine - it's been connected to an APC BackUPS 500, which I thought ought to be enough, but twice now when our airconditioning has started up, and the lights dim a bit and the UPS kicks in, the Mac Pro has just gone off. So either there's something wrong with the BackUPS 500 or it simply isn't enough to run this Mac Pro (or I suppose something is wrong with the Mac Pro).

I'm also going to see if I can measure just what the voltage drop is when the airconditioning (a whole house unit connected to the furnace) comes on. Maybe the power company isn't giving us enough juice.

I'd be interested in any comments about this.

Thanks

Roger
 
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