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[zenosparadox]

Did Ars factor in the TV, DVR, etc? That would be nonsense, but I cannot understand 70W on standby...

 

[Deku Tree]

I usually trust Ars but this sounds fishy.

 

[JaggedSac]

There must be some confusion on what standby mode is because I would not think the ARM chip would require that much.

 

[Shai-Tan]

From what I understood there was no standby mode yet, not in the proper sense which is one of the reasons they don't have any suspend functionality.

 

[Damian.]

wowza

and 14W from the Xbox One while listening for "Xbox On"

That's really bad. But if you gotta be Batman, you gotta pay up.

 

[KennyLinder]

I thought that was when they were completely turned off (vampire load)? The Xbox One draws 15W as well during standby, and I'd guess that many PCs also draw more than 0.5W.

Xbox One draws 0.5w (have a dev kit on my desk), but 15w in "suspend standby" (when its waiting for aural commands etc).

 

[Y2Kev]

I don't think so. It even has a background, low power processor to handle standby tasks.

 

[Copenap]

And to be clear, 2013 rules state in the EU any electrical device has to draw NO MORE than 0.5w in Standby.

I am in no way familiar with the EU legislation in that regard but I assume that refers to the lowest possible power state available that is not plugging out the cable. So basically putting the PS4 not in stand-by but "off" which is technically not really off since it's still drawing power.

 

[RK9039]

European Commission > Sony.

You better be careful Sony, the Commission will slap your ass.

 

[BronsonLee]

Suck it landlord.

Hahahahahaha

Yeah... This doesn't sound right.

 

[KennyLinder]

I wonder if FW 1.5 fixed this?

 

[Sickbean]

I thought that was when they were completely turned off (vampire load)? The Xbox One draws 15W as well during standby, and I'd guess that many PCs also draw more than 0.5W.

Nope, this is from my bigass plasma TV manual -

 

[Irminsul]

Does the EU law mean standby as in operating system ready to go again, or standby as in how the PS1-PS3 are plugged in but off?

The latter. "Standby" in EU law basically means turned off but plugged in. So it is perfectly possible that the PS4 draws 70W in standby, as long as there's a mode in which it doesn't.

 

[Guerilla]

Really really doubt that's true unless there's a firmware problem.

 

[phosphor112]

Something is going wrong there. Very wrong.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

The menu idle draw definitely can't be right.

 

[MarionCB]

The "shutdown" state is probably the traditional standby we're thinking of, and will be ~ 0.5W, whilst the "standby" state is probably a new mode that keeps some ancillary functions going. Though, wow, 70W seems a bit much for it even then.

 

[Prince Vultan]

0.5w or 70w

No real meaningful difference there... /Ars... sorry, /Ars a week ago.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

Does the EU law mean standby as in operating system ready to go again, or standby as in how the PS1-PS3 are plugged in but off?

• Power consumption in off mode must be 0.5 Watts or less;
• Power consumption in stand by mode which allows reactivation must be 0.5 Watts or less;
• Power consumption in stand by mode which allows reactivation and displays information (such as a clock) must be 1 Watt or less.

The regulation also provides that equipment that is connected to mains power must have a stand by or off mode, and must also have a power management function which automatically switches the device into stand by mode or off mode when it is not being actively used.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Yeah, this can't be right.

Either faulty hardware, background processes or faulty measurements.

 

[strata8]

I don't think so. It even has a background, low power processor to handle standby tasks.

Yeah, exactly. I couldn't see 70W being drawn unless the main APU was still powered up during standby, and that would invalidate the background processor.

I am in no way familiar with the EU legislation in that regard but I assume that refers to the lowest possible power state available that is not plugging out the cable. So basically putting the PS4 not in stand-by but "off" which is technically not really off since it's still drawing power.

That was my impression as well.

 

[mattp]

they had to have fucked up their firmware and when it's in standby the apu isn't powering down
there's no way an arm chip and 256mb of ddr ram would be drawing 70watts

 

[ItIsOkBro]

Honestly there‘s too much ambiguity when it comes to off, standby, suspended, standby ‘but listening‘, low power mode etc...for any of this to have any meaning. PS3 w/ red light, some would consider off, others would consider standby.

 

[Always-honest]

Lol, no way. Well, never on standby then

 

[Portugeezer]

wowza

and 14W from the Xbox One while listening for "Xbox On"

Kinect has to listen to voice, seems a little more complex than 70W waiting for an IR signal to turn on system.

 

[ekim]

Maybe they had the controller plugged in for charging? (I've read somewhere it charges even in standby)

 

[Irminsul]

I don't think so. It even has a background, low power processor to handle standby tasks.

Additionally, at 70 watts the fan would have to be on to prevent the PS4 from melting. Did ArsTechnica say something about this?

 

[twobear]

I thought PS4 doesn't have a standby mode?

 

[The Cowboy]

I hope to god its a mistake and its 0.70watts as 70watts would be crazy, I know the PS4 is not a PC but to compare, my PC in sleep state uses if I recall something like 5/10 watts.

 

[Guerilla]

Maybe they had the controller plugged in for charging? (I've read somewhere it charges even in standby)

Isn't USB 5W max? No way it's from that.

 

[coldfoot]

Maybe they had the controller plugged in for charging? (I've read somewhere it charges even in standby)

USB ports don't provide 70W.
My guess is that they enabled remote play while on "Standby" which means it's really not on Standby at all.

 

[Sickbean]

they had to have fucked up their firmware and when it's in standby the apu isn't powering down
there's no way an arm chip and 256mb of ddr ram would be drawing 70watts

Exactly - power draw from that should be more comparable to a smartphone, i.e. 0.5W -1.0W

 

[SappYoda]

Maybe it was installing a game while they took the measure.

 

[PhoenixDawn]

Something has to be screwed up either with their measurements or the system's design itself. There's no way it should be drawing 70W watts in a standby mode. That's more than double what the Wii U uses when it is on and running a demanding game. I know there's a spec difference in power there, but still, you can't tell me that the PS4 doing nothing and in standby is working harder than the Wii U is when playing games.

 

[petran79]

PS4: 150 watt peak performance
Gaming Laptop: 180 watt peak performance

Great job Sony!

 

[foxbeldin]

Standby could only draw that kind of power if :

-Background install/update
-Background download
-Controler charging.

 

[Ghost]

I don't think Sony has to worry about the EU because my understanding is that the PS4 shuts down into its 0.5w mode (that doesn't do anything except allow you to turn it on with a controller) when it's standby tasks are done (ie when the files are downloaded and the controllers are charged).

I'm sure that 70w number is wrong though, or maybe its when controllers are charging.

MS on the other hand, I don't know how they are getting round the EU (or Californias) laws. 14w is 13w too many.

 

[panty]

Bullshit. Either a glitch or they measured it wrong.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Ars needs to do a retest

 

[typical_user]

Kinect has to listen to voice, seems a little more complex than 70W waiting for an IR signal to turn on system.

Yea, I guess I should have phrased that comment differently...

I was noting how much less the Xbox One draws, while having to do more computations in standby.

 

[Portugeezer]

I thought PS4 doesn't have a standby mode?

They mean standby as in, you turn it off but leave it plugged into the mains.

 

[maabus1999]

Maybe they had the controller plugged in for charging? (I've read somewhere it charges even in standby)

4 watts charging. In the article.

And LoL at charging a battery at a draw of 70 watts. Not sure the voltage of the battery but that could be some serious amperage.

 

[darkwing]

so the PS4 is going to be basically banned in EU?

 

[Bill Rizer]

Maybe it's been measured with the Ps4 doing its auto background routine (synch and download), which means it's in fact on.

 

[Sickbean]

Isn't USB 5W max? No way it's from that.

5V not 5W. I'd expect current draw for a charging DS4 to be 500mA so your talking about 2.5W.

 

[todd360]

Wattgate

 

[ekim]

4 watts charging. In the article.

And LoL at charging a battery at a draw of 70 watts. Not sure the voltage of the battery but that could be some serious amperage.

I was more talking about the possible fact, that the system may needs to turn on several parts for chargin.

 

[maabus1999]

Maybe it was installing a game while they took the measure.

They had another standby/downloading field. It added a couple watts.

 

[Portugeezer]

so the PS4 is going to be basically banned in EU?

Firmware update: EU users can't turn off PS4 normally into standby, can only unplug it.

 

[coldfoot]

Guys it's Kyle Orland. Disregard the article completely.
He's the guy who said resolution doesn't matter between PS4/Xb1 less than a month after shitting on the PS Vita TV because its resolution wasn't enough.