Low power (cheap to operate) server with lots of RAM? [closed]

Solution 1:

HP has a small-form-factor server in the ProLiant DL320e Gen8 V2 system.

These can be equipped with Intel E3‑1240v3 or E3‑1240v3L low-wattage CPUs, yet have the RAM expansion you need. This server idles well below 100W. ~54W with the E3-1240v3 CPU. The low-power model may be even better.

See: http://www.alphr.com/hp/32368/hp-proliant-dl320e-gen8-v2-review

Modern servers don't use that much power.

Here's a busy 2-CPU HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 set to max power consumption (no C-states or power management).

Solution 2:

Not sure why you think you would need "100s of watts" to operate a rack server, but if it's just about the available memory, have a look at the Supermicro Atom boards (up to 64GB of memory) or even the Xeon SoC models (up to 128GB). In case this is still not enough, think about getting a dual socket mainboard, which supports up to 1TB. In the later case, you would like to run low power CPUs, which are the Intel models with the trailing L.

Full disclosure: I'm not working for Supermicro (but still would recommend them), and I'm pretty sure similar options are available from other vendors as well.