ESXI 6.5, Windows 10 HTPC sleep mode or idle?

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das1996

Member
Sep 4, 2018
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One box is serving several functions including running win 10 pro for htpc function. This is used for 1-3 hours most days and some days unused at all.

Windows 10 (1803) has the most current updates with further updates fully disabled.

At the end of the viewing session (kodi) I can either just turn the tv off, or put windows 10 to sleep. Hibernation is not enabled so no worries of excessive ssd writes.

From a cpu usage perspective, idle appears to be ~1.5-2% (i5 6600k) according to vsphere vm monitor. Power usage wise according to the ups appears the same whether windows is idling or sleeping. The ups report isn't very precise. It reports in terms of %, where each % point is ~8.1watts. Not sure how it's rounding.

So, what do folks think about leaving it just idle or putting it to sleep?
 

billc.cn

Member
Oct 6, 2017
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9
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Most computer with a good power supply should use <1W in sleep mode and I have yet seen a standard desktop build to use less than 30W.
 

das1996

Member
Sep 4, 2018
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17
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Bare metal OS sleep and one under esxi is not the same thing. Not sure what the power supply has to do with this. Esxi OS is still powered and managing other vm's.
 

billc.cn

Member
Oct 6, 2017
49
9
8
Bare metal OS sleep and one under esxi is not the same thing. Not sure what the power supply has to do with this. Esxi OS is still powered and managing other vm's.
Sorry, misunderstood. If your Windows is running on ESXi, there's no point putting it to sleep.
 

das1996

Member
Sep 4, 2018
75
17
8
Thus the reason for this thread. With windows running, cpu usage & power consumption is higher. Windows is used for htpc, typically 1-3hrs/day. After more observations, windows cpu usage varies depending what's left open. If I leave a browser open with some tabs, then idle is more like 5-10% vs 1-2%.

Goal is to save electricity as this box is on 24/7. Unless there's negative side effects, I've been putting the windows vm to sleep after watching tv.