We know that the Xbox 360 and PS3 are power hungry devices compared to the Wii, but the Electric Power Research Institute puts some figures down on paper to give consumers an idea of just how much juice it takes to use all of these systems. Chances are the data will not change people’s gaming habits, but it is still interesting stuff. The story comes from the New York Times' Environment section (the Green blog), for the record.
The EPRI calculated the power consumption of the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Not surprisingly, the results show that the Wii consumed the least amount of energy, while the Xbox 360 and PS3 fought for the top spot. The Wii drew an average of 13.7 watts, the PS3 drew 84.8 watts, and the Xbox 360 drew around 87.9 watts.
To calculate energy consumption for a year-long period, researchers used 2006 usage statistics from Nielsen about Madden NFL 11. Nielsen’s data showed that heavy Madden NFL players spent around five hours and 45 minutes a day playing the game.
Using those figures, the Wii's consumption came in at 29-kilowatt hours. Engineers compared that amount of usage to a fluorescent light fixture with tubes. The consumption of the PlayStation was 179-kilowatt hours, while the Xbox 360 came in at 184 kilowatt-hours. Researchers said the consumption of both systems equaled using a washing machine or a power-hungry TV set.
The Xbox and the PlayStation "are very powerful computing units that have powerful graphics cards and powerful processors, and it takes a lot more power to run things like that," Jeffrey A. Dols, a project manager at the lab told the New York Times. "The Wii is much less powerful."
So there you have it. If you want to be more efficient, I guess you will have to start playing all future Madden titles on the Wii. Too bad it won’t look as pretty..
Comments
Re: How Power Hungry is Your Favorite Console?
Can anyone explain this sentence to me:
"To calculate energy consumption for a year-long period, researchers used 2006 usage statistics from Nielsen about Madden NFL 11."
Doesn't there seem to be a pretty obvious 5 year discrepency in that sentence?
Re: How Power Hungry is Your Favorite Console?
Which is why I do what I do. I have my TV, PS2 and PS3 on a powerstrip.So when I'm done, *click*.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Re: How Power Hungry is Your Favorite Console?
And the same with the PS3 slim. And not to bash the Wii, cause I love it, but we have to take into account what the average, or standard consumption should be for all the consoles. If the Wii was just about as powerful as its competitors, most likely it would be drawing a lot more power too. It still might be the greenest, but all considered, it doesn't need the power because it doesn't have the capacity.
We'll see how things turn out next cycle, if all three manage to run a close race.
Re: How Power Hungry is Your Favorite Console?
The article doesn't specify if that is the xbox360 or the xbox360s.