Balancing Power and Performance: A Multi-Generational Analysis of Enterprise Server BIOS Profiles

There is growing concern over data center energy consumption and the largest energy consumer in a data center is invariably the IT equipment. Power management systems in a server allow for a balanced or energy efficient modes but often there is concern that efficiency mode will reduce performance. This paper profiles multiple generations of server from the last decade, comparing balanced settings against performance settings. We analyse the potential savings available through using a more efficient BIOS setting and given typical server utilisation conclude that there is very little reason to use the maximum performance settings outside exceptional circumstances.