Games Consoles and Power Usage

gobion on 23rd Apr 07, 13:39:40 said:

I came across an interesting article [ here ] that compared the power usage of various games consoles including the Wii, XBOX360, PS3 and PC using the [ Watt Up ] measuring device.

It made for interesting reading!

In an average period of gaming the Wii had "an 18 Watt average when playing what is considered the console's prettiest game! Compare that to the PC which hovers around 198 Watts steady, peaking around 209 Watts.

"While the PS3 had a lower minimum (probably due to the loading screen in between quarters in the basketball game), its average was about 13W higher than the XBOX 360 playing its most advanced game, Gears of War. GoW truly squeezes every little bit that the 360 has to give, and this is probably as much power any game today will require from it."

[ Read The Article ] 

Cheers,

Gobion 

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gobion on 23rd Apr 07, 13:48:07 replied:

The conclusions from the article:

"So now you know approximately how much power the 3 new consoles consume. Some of the more interesting notes to me were:

    * In video games, both the PS3 and XBOX 360 were relatively low compared to a mid-to-high range PC.
    * The Wii is amazingly efficient, using no more than 18 Watts in any of our tests (although it really shows in visual quality in games)
    * Both consoles are power hogs when it comes to playing movies.
    * XBOX 360's Dashboard console is power-hungry (and slow). PS3's is slick and uses a lot of power, but no more than playing a DVD.

"Neither the XBOX 360 nor PS3 really came out as a winner or loser when it comes to power consumption levels. The PS3 requires a bit more all around, but not much to write home about for now. Things may certainly change with future firmware updates (especially if either console adds DVD upsampling to the mix).

"If you are really interested in saving the earth while getting your game on, get a Wii (just be sure to disable Connect24)"

So now you know :) 

Gobion 

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