XBOX 360 Power Draw

[Dave Baumann]

I've seen power mentioned a couple of times, so I figured I'd hookup the power meter to the XBOX 360 and check its power draw in a couple of situations:

Off - 1W
Dashboard - 152W
PGR3 (Single Car - Hot Lap): 170W Peak
PGR3 (5 CPU Opponents): 177W Peak
Kameo: 166W

(Note that these are with the Wireless on, which i minimal difference, and with the Wireless controller).

It strikes me that the CPU has no power management/clock throttling either built in or currently enabled, going by the Dashboard power draw.

 

[Bobbler]

What about during DVD playback?

I vaguely remember them mentioning that 2 cores of the CPU would shut down then.

 

[Nite_Hawk]

I've seen power mentioned a couple of times, so I figured I'd hookup the power meter to the XBOX 360 and check its power draw in a couple of situations:

Off - 1W
Dashboard - 152W
PGR3 (Single Car - Hot Lap): 170W Peak
PGR3 (5 CPU Opponents): 177W Peak
Kameo: 166W

(Note that these are with the Wireless on, which i minimal difference, and with the Wireless controller).

It strikes me that the CPU has no power management/clock throttling either built in or currently enabled, going by the Dashboard power draw.

sounds about right given the load/idle power mentioned in this thread in the last couple of pages:

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24619&highlight=power

Nite_Hawk

 

[AlphaWolf]

What about during DVD playback?

I vaguely remember them mentioning that 2 cores of the CPU would shut down then.

It's definitely using less power in dvd playback than gameplay, it doesn't even fire up the fans for dvd playback.

 

[scooby_dooby]

It doesn't fire up the fans for the dashboard either...... ???

thx for the info Dave

 

[mrdarko]

What about during DVD playback?

I vaguely remember them mentioning that 2 cores of the CPU would shut down then.

this site measured 118 watts for dvd playback.


http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

 

[Guden Oden]

it doesn't even fire up the fans for dvd playback.

That's completely wrong. They do spin slower though.

 

[AlphaWolf]

That's completely wrong. They do spin slower though.

Ya when the unit is on, the fans are spinning. I meant fire up to speed.

 

[Bill]

So would the real power "to the console" be less? Allowing for PSU inefficiency?

I'm wondering because 177W allowing 85 for the CPU mean hopefully the GPU is drawing more than 35?

Hopefully because it implies more horsepower as far as I'm concerned.

 

[one]

How about SD / HD comparison? (GPU load)

 

[AlNom]

How about SD / HD comparison? (GPU load)

Should be the same.

 

[hadareud]

So would the real power "to the console" be less? Allowing for PSU inefficiency?

I'm wondering because 177W allowing 85 for the CPU mean hopefully the GPU is drawing more than 35?

Hopefully because it implies more horsepower as far as I'm concerned.

I hope so too, if only they wouldn't have gone with EDRAM

 

[Guden Oden]

I hope so too, if only they wouldn't have gone with EDRAM

I can't make heads nor tails of your statement. Having the eDRAM mated to xenos is one of the best design decisions MS/ATi made. Not only would external video memory draw (a lot) more power, it would be (a lot) slower as well.

 

[Bill]

I can't make heads nor tails of your statement. Having the eDRAM mated to xenos is one of the best design decisions MS/ATi made. Not only would external video memory draw (a lot) more power, it would be (a lot) slower as well.

I think he's mocking me.

 

[hadareud]

I can't make heads nor tails of your statement. Having the eDRAM mated to xenos is one of the best design decisions MS/ATi made. Not only would external video memory draw (a lot) more power, it would be (a lot) slower as well.

Yeah, it was a joke

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

I'm wondering because 177W allowing 85 for the CPU mean hopefully the GPU is drawing more than 35?

Well, assuming 177W is at the plug, means that probably only about 70% of that is actually being delivered to the hardware (PSUs are typically about that efficient). So it's more like 124W actually used by the internal components.

Also, it's not likely that the CPU is going full out on current titles, so it's probably not actually drawing 85W yet. Well, you'll have to allow a few extra watts for everything else... DVD drive, hard drive, network controller, busses, DACs, fans, etc.

 

[silhouette]

I've seen power mentioned a couple of times, so I figured I'd hookup the power meter to the XBOX 360 and check its power draw in a couple of situations:

Off - 1W
Dashboard - 152W
PGR3 (Single Car - Hot Lap): 170W Peak
PGR3 (5 CPU Opponents): 177W Peak
Kameo: 166W

(Note that these are with the Wireless on, which i minimal difference, and with the Wireless controller).

It strikes me that the CPU has no power management/clock throttling either built in or currently enabled, going by the Dashboard power draw.

I posted some temprature measurements in another thread.. Seems like they are inline with these readings. Link

I am also suprised that there is no power saving features currently in the system. I wonder if the hardware supports such features, and MS will update software to use them.

 

[Nite_Hawk]

Well, assuming 177W is at the plug, means that probably only about 70% of that is actually being delivered to the hardware (PSUs are typically about that efficient). So it's more like 124W actually used by the internal components.

Also, it's not likely that the CPU is going full out on current titles, so it's probably not actually drawing 85W yet. Well, you'll have to allow a few extra watts for everything else... DVD drive, hard drive, network controller, busses, DACs, fans, etc.

70% is pretty bad these days, I'd hope they are atleast getting more like 75-80% for a cutom designed system like this.

Nite_Hawk

 

[Guden Oden]

Some PC PSUs get upwards of, or maybe over 90% efficiency I believe, when heavily loaded.

 

[Rys]

Some PC PSUs get upwards of, or maybe over 90% efficiency I believe, when heavily loaded.

I don't know of any commercially available PC PSU that'll do 90% under load. Close (~80% at best), but not quite that flavour of cigar.

I do agree with you that 70% or so would suck for the 360's PSU, though. I hear people say it gets really hot too, which absolutely sucks for a ~180W draw from the mains, indicating efficiency is quite ass.