Total cost to own a homelab server
A $300 server that idles at 160 W can quietly cost you more in electricity over a few years than you paid for it. Plug in a price and idle draw (or pick an archetype) to see the real number.
Over 3 years, electricity adds $505 — about 168% on top of the purchase price. A power-hungry box can cost more to run than it cost to buy.
Power is estimated from idle draw (homelab boxes sit near idle almost always), at the rate and hours you set. Real draw varies with load, drives, and fans. Idle-watt figures for specific models are on the noise & power reference.
This is the homelab power wedge as a dollar figure. When you're comparing two servers, the cheaper one to buy is often the more expensive one to keep running. Browse the quiet & low-power models, see what each model actually sells for, or read the quiet/low-power buying guide.