  Scalability is a common issue among the most used permissionless blockchains,
and several approaches have been proposed to solve this issue. Tackling
scalability while preserving the security and decentralization of the network
is a significant challenge. To deliver effective scaling solutions, Ethereum
achieved a major protocol improvement, including a change in the consensus
mechanism towards Proof of Stake. This improvement aimed a vast reduction of
the hardware requirements to run a node, leading to significant sustainability
benefits with a lower network energy consumption. This work analyzes the
resource usage behavior of different clients running as Ethereum consensus
nodes, comparing their performance under different configurations and analyzing
their differences. Our results show higher requirements than claimed initially
and how different clients react to network perturbations. Furthermore, we
discuss the differences between the consensus clients, including their strong
points and limitations.
