UPDATE! Was kinda suspicious of the Indigo2 results before, so I checked... damn meter thingy was indeed showing VA instead of Watts (japes was right). Thus, I've corrected all the results with a .62 scaling, so assume these are estimates for the moment unless otherwise indicated (a .62 power factor should be ok for Indy, Indigo2, Octane, but not sure about Fuel and newer systems). When I can I'll retest the various configs...

Power Consumption Table for Various SGIs, in Watts (tested with a UK supply 240V AC nominal). 'Standby' usage is when the system is off, but the power cable is still live and plugged in, ie. wasted power. Use a plug with a switch on it, or switch off at the wall or extension! In the system descriptions, the number in brackets after RAM is the number of banks used. Description format is: name, CPU(s), gfx, RAM, disks, extras, note refs. The table is ordered by the unit using the least load power listed first (definition of load: forcing as many aspects of the system as possible to all be fully active at the same time, ie. CPU is loaded, all disks are doing something, all media devices are reading a disc, gfx is loaded with several 3D tasks, etc.) A system described as 'Octane2' has the later Cherokee PSU, while an 'Octane' has the older Lucent PSU.

Idle/Load Power Usage
                                                                                                                 IDLE   |  LOAD    Estimate?
System    Description                                                                                            Watts  |  Watts


O2        R5K/300, 512MB (2), 36GB 10K, AV, 40X CDROM, Adaptec dual-channel UW PCI                                 52   |    59     Y
O2        R12K/400, 1GB (4), 18GB 10K [No CDROM, no audio or AV board]                                             58   |    61     Y
O2        R12K/400, 1GB (4), 18GB 10K, 32X CDROM [No Audio or AV board]                                            61   |    63     Y
O2        R12K/400, 512MB (2), 36GB 10K, FC, AV, 32X CDROM                                                         66   |    71     Y
Indy      R5000SC/180, 256MB (2), 4GB 50pin, XZ, Sony PSU                                                          74   |    82     Y
Octane2   R12K/400, NONE, 1GB (2), 36GB 10K 1" (headless)                                                         104   |   107     Y
Octane2   Dual-R14K/600, NONE, 8GB (4), 36GB 10K 1" (headless)                                                    127   |   127     Y
Fuel      R14K/500, V10, 1GB (1), 18GB 10K 1" [2]                                                                 130   |   135     Y
Indigo2   R4K/200 (1MB), Extreme, 64MB (2), 9GB SCA 1"                                                            132   |   140     N
Indigo2   R10K/195, NONE, 512MB (2), 36GB 10K 1"                                                                  141   |   149     Y
Octane2   R12K/400, SE, 1GB (2), 18GB+36GB                                                                        149   |   150     Y
Octane2   R12K/400, V6, 1GB (2), 36GB 10K 1"                                                                      145   |   153     Y
Octane    R12K/300, MXI, 384MB (3), 4GB 1" 7.2K                                                                   177   |   195     Y
Indigo2   R10K/195, Solid, 256MB (1), 9GB 50pin 1" [4]                                                            190   |   201     N
Fuel      R16K/800 (4MB), V10, 1GB (1 bank), 36Gb 15K (MAX3036NP), Audigy2 ZS, 40X CDROM                          188   |   218     N
Fuel      R16K/700, V12, 2GB (2), 147GB 15K, LSI U320 PCIX, Gbit, Audigy2, DVDROM [1]                             213   |   231     N
Indigo2   R10K/195, High/TRAM, 256MB (1), 9GB 50pin 1" [4]                                                        222   |   244     N
Fuel      R16K/900 (8MB), V12, 4GB (2), 300GB/300GB/1TB, LSI U320/SAS, QLA12160, Rev 7.1, Gbit, CDRW/DVDROM [6]   261   |   277     N
Octane2   Dual-R12K/300, V10, 1GB (1), 36GB 10K 1"                                                                257   |   281     N
Indigo2   R10K/195, Max/TRAM, 256MB (1), 9GB 50pin 1" [4]                                                         287   |   319     N
Octane2   Dual-R14K/600, V12, 4GB (2), 146GB+146GB+36GB, PCI cage, Gbit, QLA1280                                  298   |   319     N
Indigo2   R10K/195, Max/TRAM, 256MB (1), 9GB 50pin 1" [3]                                                         287   |   325     N
Indigo2   R10K/195, Max/TRAM, 512MB (2), 36GB 10K 1", IMPACT Video                                                319   |   348     Y
Tezro     Quad-R16K/1GHz (16MB), V12, 8GB, 146GB 15K, 3xQLA12160, DM3, Dual-port serial, Dual-port Gbit           377   |   391     N

[1] PSU: 060-0148-005
[2] PSU: 060-0148-004
[3] PSU: 060-0027-002 (48A)
[4] PSU: 060-8001-001 (36A)
[5] PSU: Non-IMPACT older type
[6] PSU: 060-0148-007. CDR = Yamaha 16/10/40. DVDROM = Toshiba SD-M1711. Disks: 300GB 15K, 300GB 10K, 1TB 7200rpm SATA.



Standby Drain (power off but live cable still connected):

                 Usage
System           Watts

O2                 2.3
Indigo2 [5]        6.0
Fuel [2]           9.0
Fuel [6]
Indigo2 [4]       10.0
Tezro             11.0
Indigo2 [3]       12.0

EXTRA NOTES: 1. On O2, if the resolution is reduced from 1280x1024 to 640x480, the power consumption drops by 0.01A. :D