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Game Console Energy Usage Comparison

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the you-got-juice dept.

Broadband writes "Modern gaming consoles consume more and more power, dissipate more and more heat and cause a lot more noise with their cooling systems compared to their brethren a decade ago. While it's obvious that an Xbox 360 would have higher energy demands then a Playstation 1, the curious question is by how much? Even more importantly is the question of whether your console might be costing you money while you sleep. Preposterous you say? Actually quite the opposite! We put every console in our lab through rigorous testing to find the answers to these questions and see who the energy hogs really are. "

3 of 364 comments (clear)

  1. Embodied Energy by Distinguished+Hero · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A more interesting article would have covered how much energy it takes to actually produce each console (embodied energy).

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    Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
  2. Nintendo 64? by blues_shuffle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why didn't they test the N64? They have the Playstation and Dreamcast, both of which are from that era. Especially given that the Gamecube's energy consumption is so much lower than that of the PS2 or XBox, one would expect that they would test the N64. I wonder: are all Nintendo consoles more energy efficient than their contemporaries?

  3. Apply the figures to people playing at once by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While the numbers apply to one console at a time, it is always worth seeing what these energy look like when you consider 500 000 people playing a time. The way I like to look at it is if a wind turbine provides 100KW of power, how many wind turbines do we need to satisfy the power demand. Taking the figures from the dashboard usage page. My math is:

          turbines = unit usage * 500 000 / 100 000

    so at the highest end with xbox 360 (145W) we have 725 turbines and the lowest end the Playstation 1 (4W) we have 20 turbines. That is a huge difference in infrastructure needed to satisfy out gaming needs. I'll let you do the math for others.

    I am not sure the amount of energy produced by an average nuclear power station or hydro dam, so if anyone can advise me on them I would appreciate it.

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