Freenas - Power Saving Advise

[Rion]

I am new to FreeBSD/FreeNAS or Unix, So my simple question is since I have modern Intel i7 CPU which supports Speedstep EIST and C-States functions for power saving then how can I use them to drop Idle power consumption of my freenas box.

Before Installing Freenas I was using windows on my System, I was getting Idle 40-45 Watts of power consumption on it. but in Freenas My Idle power consumption is 80Watts, which is almost double.

I have searched in google and I did find some realted posts but I didn't understand them much, and fear if I can edit the loader.conf wrongly I may put my freenas box at risk.

So I would like to catch experinced Freenas users and hope to get detailed step by step about how to enable all those power saving steps in FreeNAS.

Thanks

 

[enemy85]

What hardware to get 80w in idle?

 

[Rion]

Freenas 9.2.1.7 64 bit
CPU - i7 870 Quad Core with HT
Mobo - Asus P7P55D ELX
RAM - 16GB - Corsair Non ECC
PSU - Cooler Master Silent Pro 600M
Case - CM Elite 430
HDD - Seagate 1TB x 2 (Mirroring)
USB - Sandisk 4 GB usb2

 

[enemy85]

For what i know Freenas doesn't support c states functions because it's intended to be a server OS and be uptime 24h a day 7days a week...
If for u power saving is a concern, i'll suggest you to find a more efficient and SUITABLE hardware for freenas...
My box with an i3 4130, 8gb ECC ram, 5hd and a 360w gold PSU idle at 45-50w

 

[Rion]

But there must be the way to atleast get the Speedstep (EIST) fuction to work. I have seen threads explaining how to get it work but its too technical for me to understand and is not for Newbie like me.

If my CPU is 3.0 Ghz and is going to serve as a storage server and nothing else then I dont think it needs more than 1.0Ghz of power to do it and without those Four cores with HT, its very simple task isnt it?

I don't want to invest right now in dedicated server hardware and will be using this my existing system for few months.

80-90W 24/7 is too much for me, I welcome other suggetions.

 

[enemy85]

have a look here
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/powerd-and-how-it-can-impact-server-performance.10739/

 

[Ericloewe]

Your hardware is not recommended for FreeNAS in the first place.

Moving to a Haswell or Avoton build will certainly lower power consumption a bit, but the main reason is stability - not using ECC is a very bad idea.

 

[Rion]

Yes I know my system is not as per recommended Hardware. I am just experimenting with FreeNAS and not putting any important data on it, till the time I build new system.

But my point is that if the CPU is not utilizing any power saving function available in my first generation i7, which windows does and makes use of only 40 Watts of power in idle mode (read write operation takes additional 5-7 watts) and without graphics it takes even less like only 32 Watts (I have Firepro V3750).

So if on the same machine with same Bios settings and same hardware on windows 7 I get idle 30-45Watt even when utilizing CPU for data transfer then why not I expect same from FreeNAS, why I dont go below 80-85 Watts on FreeNAS? If there is no way to do power saving then it will not hold true with any modern hardware like Haswell, it will be less power consuming off course but the difference I am getting in windows 7 and freeNAS will stay the same.

PS: I also saw Cyberjoke thread and have disabled the Virtualiation Tech in Bios but it didnt helped.

 

[enemy85]

There will always be a difference watt consumption between freenas and windows? Probably yes.
Are the two O.S. designed to do the same things?
Obviously not.
That is the price to pay in order to use freenas and its ZFS file system

 

[jgreco]

If my CPU is 3.0 Ghz and is going to serve as a storage server and nothing else then I dont think it needs more than 1.0Ghz of power to do it and without those Four cores with HT, its very simple task isnt it?

I always find it curious how people come to these pull-a-number-outta-butt figures for how much CPU they think it needs...