90% of the power in our academic data center goes 13.8kV 3-phase -> 400v 3-phase, and then the machines run directly from one leg to neutral (230v). One transformer step, no UPS losses, and the server power supplies are more efficient at EU voltages.
But what about availability? If you ask most of our users whether they’d prefer 4 9s of availability or 10% more money to spend on CPUs, they choose the CPUs. We asked them.
There are a lot of availability-insensitive workloads in the commercial world, as well, like AI training. What matters in those cases is how much computing you get done by the end of the month, and for a fixed budget a UPS reduces this number.
But what about availability? If you ask most of our users whether they’d prefer 4 9s of availability or 10% more money to spend on CPUs, they choose the CPUs. We asked them.
There are a lot of availability-insensitive workloads in the commercial world, as well, like AI training. What matters in those cases is how much computing you get done by the end of the month, and for a fixed budget a UPS reduces this number.