Xbox One and PS4 consume ridiculous amounts of power

[gorcorps]

Per report:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2156...-ridiculous-amounts-of-unnecessary-power.html

I'm sure it's not unexpected with the consoles having varying features requiring them to be in an idle state to work right. Still... over 3X as much power consumption as last gen is a pretty huge leap.

What's not clear is if this test only included the PS4 in it's standby mode. I can't imagine that it's pulling that much if you actually turn it off, but I could be wrong.

 

[Anteaus]

Yea it's pretty crazy. I've never used my XB1 in standby mode though. It is completely powered down between use. I also purchased the small IR remote control as to not need the game controller simply to use Netflix. It takes longer for a cold boot but I prefer that to standby mode. Also, I never hooked the Kinect up so the lack of voice commands in order to wake it up was never missed.

 

[zerocool84]

Because we want the ability to charge controllers and download stuff while it's idle. That's why.

 

[Kneedragger]

My PS4 when it first arrived was only drawing 12 Watts in standby. I don't really see that as a lot.

 

[Arkaign]

Because we want the ability to charge controllers and download stuff while it's idle. That's why.

True, though I would think something like that would be doable with a peanuts cheap obsolete ARM chip @ peanuts pricing? Or for that matter, are the power states on AMD processors so bad that they can't operate in a super low power mode at all?

I guess it's more likely that they just rushed through development on these things and power efficiency was literally the last thing they cared about.

I know the revised consoles whenever they get here will be a lot more efficient, but it'd be nice if future OS updates introduced vast improvements in the idle power usage.

 

[Aikouka]

Because we want the ability to charge controllers and download stuff while it's idle. That's why.

Regardless of that, they're still very inefficient. If I had to guess, a lot of that has to do with their choice of processors. It's understandable why they went with AMD, but AMD's PPW (performance per watt) is weaker than Intel... partly because of Intel's superior IPC and Intel's better power usage.

Although, I wonder how much of it is also an issue with the platform. For example, streaming Netflix should only require maybe 1 core active (the rest could be power gated), and Netflix should just use dedicated decoding hardware. Although, could there be a problem with the fact that they're using AMD's UVD? I wonder because my desktop uses NVENC (I have a NVIDIA GPU) and I can see up to 40W difference between playing a video and not. I don't know if I'm just getting something funky going on, but that's a lot more power than your average dedicated codec in something like a Roku.

Also, in regard to a platform, it's the duty of the hardware and controlling software to properly gate certain things while turned off (or are doing things like just watching video). If the PS4 or X1 just aren't designed for proper gating, then they can't turn certain things off.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Also, in regard to a platform, it's the duty of the hardware and controlling software to properly gate certain things while turned off (or are doing things like just watching video). If the PS4 or X1 just aren't designed for proper gating, then they can't turn certain things off.

That is a good point. I wonder if further software updates will help with this and they can park cores better.

 

[mmntech]

I only use the standby mode on my PS4 if it's downloading something.

It's not surprising since we all want our technology ready to go, and don't want to wait for it to boot. Cable boxes for example are a huge power hog. However, mine takes 5-10min to get going from a cold boot as it has to download the programming guide and everything.

Power consumption though is no worse than the original Xbox 360 and Fat PS3. The original 60GB PlayStation 3 consumed a whopping 206W while gaming and 171W at idle. Which is significantly more than it's successor. As far as streaming goes, there are much more efficient devices to use, like Chromecast or the AppleTV.

I agree though that there should be better power management baked into the firmware of the Xbone and PS4. Even on the PS3, you can set it up to schedule automatic updates, and shut itself down when it's done. Why this feature was left out of the PS4 is a mystery to me.

 

[futurefields]

It's not surprising since we all want our technology ready to go, and don't want to wait for it to boot. Cable boxes for example are a huge power hog. However, mine takes 5-10min to get going from a cold boot as it has to download the programming guide and everything.

So you're saying this stuff uses a lot of electricity because we want it ready to go and don't want to wait for it to boot. And then you mention how your cable box does none of these things ("takes 5-10 min to get going") and yet is a "huge power hog."

 

[HeXen]

I figure if I have to be concerned about standby power from a console then I must not be managing my finances very well.

 

[dguy6789]

They don't consume a ridiculous amount of power. They consume almost the same amount of power as the launch 360 and PS3 did. They only seem to consume an excessive amount when compared to the newest most efficient revisions of those consoles and the Wii U. Higher standby power usage is explained by posts above.

 

[TheAdvocate]

The WiiU actually went down in power consumption. What a piece of junk.

It uses less than a 30 watt bulb to stream movies.

It doesnt get very hot either. Warm to touch at most.

Love this thing.

 

[dguy6789]

It uses 30W at full load playing games too

 

[DaveSimmons]

The WiiU actually went down in power consumption. What a piece of junk.

It uses less than a 30 watt bulb to stream movies.

It doesnt get very hot either. Warm to touch at most.

Love this thing.

That's because it's a last-generation (PS3 / 360 level) console. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[mmntech]

So you're saying this stuff uses a lot of electricity because we want it ready to go and don't want to wait for it to boot. And then you mention how your cable box does none of these things ("takes 5-10 min to get going") and yet is a "huge power hog."

I think you misread that. Because the cable box takes soo long to boot, there's no incentive to turn it off. It's more convenient to just leave it on standby all the time, despite the fact that it consumes a crap ton of energy. That's something that needs to be improved upon.

 

[Rakehellion]

True, though I would think something like that would be doable with a peanuts cheap obsolete ARM chip @ peanuts pricing?

You don't need a CPU at all to charge a controller.

 

[Aikouka]

I think you misread that. Because the cable box takes soo long to boot, there's no incentive to turn it off. It's more convenient to just leave it on standby all the time, despite the fact that it consumes a crap ton of energy. That's something that needs to be improved upon.

The companies just have no reason to actually improve upon them. It's pretty sad when my full-fledged HTPC can be more power efficient than a cable box, and I can actually turn mine back on and have it usable (for cable viewing not just desktop use) much, much faster.

 

[purbeast0]

If you are worried at how much money you spend powering a console you probably should find a new hobby

 

[TheAdvocate]

That's because it's a last-generation (PS3 / 360 level) console. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It uses substantially less power than the xbox 360 or ps3 as well, and out performs both.

 

[zerocool84]

It uses substantially less power than the xbox 360 or ps3 as well, and out performs both.

I think he's staying that since it's based on such old tech, going back to the GameCube, there's no reason why it shouldn't since they've had such a long time to refine it.

 

[BrightCandle]

Considering the progress we have seen in PCs generally its kind of disappointing not to have seen a lot of progress in the consoles power consumption. But its part of the price/capability tradeoff both firms made when they went with an AMD APU instead of an Intel CPU with either Nvidia or AMD GPU integrated together. AMD's power consumption reduction technology just isn't as good as Intel's at this moment in time, they don't have access to the same fab technology or the designs to make it happen. Their APU might very well be a better fit for the console in price/performance but the trade off is more cost for the people who buy their devices.

Saying that its not terrible consumption, its not bad enough to be concerned about it really its just disappointing not to see some progress on this front considering the state of the world and its power needs.

 

[Wingznut]

If you are worried at how much money you spend powering a console you probably should find a new hobby

Exactly. I'll bet that most of the people "disappointed" with the power consumption don't even own, or plan on purchasing, a new console.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The movie stream power is insane. I am happy to see my Wii U using less than my old Wii.

 

[magomago]

are they using launch consoels for ps3 and xbox360?

Otherwise the value of the charts can be misleading. Give the ps3 and xbox360 6 years and we'll probably find that the power draw is a lot less.

I'd love to see the power consumption across all the released north american versions (Hardware Revisions, not Console Game Bundles unless it included new revision HW) starting with the launch ps3 and ending with what you can buy today.

 

[TeknoBug]

I remember reading about that in another article months ago, they said idle consumption was 80W... what the heck?