A Walkthrough Of The New 32 System Open-Source Linux Benchmarking Test Farm

[Michael]

Okay? Why not use them? Is it a very large room and you want all the machines to stay in one corner?

Multiple outlets/connectors are being used but they're all running off the same circuit.

[dungeon]

Anyway just as safety advisory

When deciding how many receptacles to add to a 20-amp circuit, consider what you are likely to plug into each one. For safety, the total draw on the circuit shouldn't exceed 16 amps at any one time, which translates to a maximum power draw of 1,920 watts on a conventional 120-volt circuit, even though the breaker won't trip until the power draw exceeds 2,400 watts.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/many-outlets-can-placed-20-amp-household-circuit-82633.html

[david_lynch]

This whole setup really reminds me of my office...

[schmidtbag]

I wouldn't be too concerned about power. These aren't servers here - most of them are relatively weak systems and as long as he doesn't run them all at 100% load (including GPUs) at the same time, he should be fine.

Suppose the average maximum wattage of each of those computers is 400W (also taking into account the switches, monitors, and other peripherals) running all of those systems at 100% would be 12800W. That is far beyond what a single 120V 20A fuse can supply. So, as long as his total power consumption during tests doesn't exceed 2000W, I think he'll be fine.


Michael:
I'd advise you try really pushing each system individually (CPU and GPU) and check the maximum wattage for each system. Then just make a sticker and put it on each of these computers (containing their max wattage), so you know what to look out for when running your tests.

[Marc Driftmeyer]

All off one ~20 amp circuit, multiple outlets/sockets in the room though.

If this is your house you should have had a full upgrade with a 200AMP or 400AMP circuit breaker arrangement. Then have cabinets designed with the redundancy and breakers built in.

Hell the wiring apparatus alone screams this work to be done. Retrofit a lot of those systems into 2U/3U cases would save a lot of space.

http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/

[computerquip]

@Michael, does the air filter work for reducing dust? I'm having a major issue of dust in my PCs since I don't use dust filters over the fans. Even cleaning the dust is difficult since I can't use anything to weigh the dust down... any suggestions?

[schmidtbag]

If this is your house you should have had a full upgrade with a 200AMP or 400AMP circuit breaker arrangement. Then have cabinets designed with the redundancy and breakers built in.

Hell the wiring apparatus alone screams this work to be done. Retrofit a lot of those systems into 2U/3U cases would save a lot of space.

http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/

lol a bit overkill. Redundancy is NOT a necessity for test systems, but, a heftier circuit breaker would probably do some good. Also, most server-class cabinets wouldn't work that well since they're not designed for desktop PCs, which most of these are.

[Michael]

@Michael, does the air filter work for reducing dust? I'm having a major issue of dust in my PCs since I don't use dust filters over the fans. Even cleaning the dust is difficult since I can't use anything to weigh the dust down... any suggestions?

Air filter + Ionizer work great.

[Michael]

If this is your house you should have had a full upgrade with a 200AMP or 400AMP circuit breaker arrangement. Then have cabinets designed with the redundancy and breakers built in.

Hell the wiring apparatus alone screams this work to be done. Retrofit a lot of those systems into 2U/3U cases would save a lot of space.

http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/

I have room to expand at the breaker box, but the wiring is only rated for so much and I believe the circuit breaker is at its rating. Upgrading the wiring or adding extra wiring for another circuit to that room would be... costly.

At least hopefully next year will get the basement (re)finished and seeing as it's next to the breaker box, will have a lot more space plus can have another circuit(s) added in with ease.

Saving space is one thing but I still have more space left in that room, and it's only a server room. For the cases I didn't already have, I basically bought the cheapest but good cases available, of which none were 2U/3U cases. So again it comes down to money why I didn't buy rackmount arrange with 2U/3U cases.

[GDJacobs]

I think a big concern is the weird contraption you've got on the wall plug. To me, every one of those plug connections is a potential failure point for up to 15A of current.

Any chance of finding a good PDU on sale at Amazon instead?