PowerMac G5 power draw as fileserver

[godorowski]

I like using my old G5 as fileserver.
I don't care about read/write speed as it's okay for streaming or daily office file use but this device is so power hungry that I see this on my powerbill.

Is there a way to cap power usage of this pc or just this architecture is so bad that it needs 200W just to be alive in idle?

 

[juanstdio]

Hey there,

It's not bad, it's reliable😂
Between lifespan vs a compared server, a G5 properly configured can be such powerful as any NAS on the market.
I personally have one mounted at home and cant regret. it doesn't drain so much power (but because I have a solar grid too)

 

[godorowski]

Hey there,

It's not bad, it's reliable😂
Between lifespan vs a compared server, a G5 properly configured can be such powerful as any NAS on the market.
I personally have one mounted at home and cant regret. it doesn't drain so much power (but because I have a solar grid too)

Your answer let some sun inside my cloudy thinking of keeping it still

We are building a house right now with solars and powerwall so it may hide it's powerdraw in the bills (or not even show at all) but right now with the power price rises here in Poland this thing alone cost about 60$ a month

It's maybe not that much... but still its more than all my apple services combined - 2tb iCloud and apple music/tv for whole family! It's kinda crazy as my mac studio draws about 40W while rendering in blender lol

Let's keep fingers crossed for the sun.

 

[Doq]

Well as of me writing this post OP is suspended so they might not even see this; nonetheless....

You probably could reduce power draw by removing or replacing unused parts-- optical drive, second hard drive, lower power graphics card, etc.

My Quad draws about 185W or so at idle in Leopard; of course I also discarded the liquid cooling so that might've seen a power usage reduction. Older models may produce even lower power usage. Your mileage may vary. PowerPC 970/FX/MP was not very power efficient, and the processors themselves will draw between 50 and 200W on their own depending on load and other factors.