Power consumption guidelines

The BladeCenter S system is configurable with varying numbers of some individual components. As you add components to the BladeCenter S system, the power consumption increases.

Blade servers, fan modules, SAS or SATA drives, and other components all contribute to the power footprint. A BladeCenter S system can have a minimum of two or a maximum of four power supply modules that must provide the 12-volt power for all of the components that you are including in the chassis.

Table 1. Power consumption of BladeCenter S system components
Component Maximum Watts
Midplane 5W
Media tray 7.5W
Fans (four) 240W
Advanced management module 25W
Power module fans (two power modules) 20W
I/O module 45W
SAS connectivity module 65W
SAS RAID controller module 65W
Battery backup unit 10W
Disk storage module 120W
Serial pass-thru module
Note: Power for the serial pass-thru module is provided by the blade servers.
0W

The maximum wattage requirement for blade serves varies depending on the type of blade server installed in the BladeCenter S system. For the latest information related to power consumption and requirements for blade servers, see the IBM System x and BladeCenter Power Configurator.