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[IbizaPocholo]

Xbox is considering letting players reduce game performance to save energy | VGC

Frame rate and resolution adjustments are among the features cited in a new survey…

www.videogameschronicle.com

As reported by Windows Central, a new survey on the PC version of the Xbox Insider app asks players about energy efficiency.

It includes a number of questions around how concerned players are about energy use.

A number of these questions refer to the possibility of letting a game drop its performance in order to use less processing power and therefore cut energy usage.

One question asks: “In general, how would you feel about having in-game features that can optimise settings to save energy if you toggled them on?”

It then specifies: “Game settings adjustments could be things like resolution, frame rate, visual effects, or GPU.”

It follows this up with: “In general, how would you feel about individual games automatically lowering frame rate or resolution when the game is left idle or inactive (to save energy)?”

It also asks players if they’re worried that turning on energy saving features may negatively impact their gameplay experience.

 

[reksveks]

Could be useful for a handheld...

Only joking

 

[OZ9000]

It's somewhat amazing that we need so much energy to draw some pixels on a screen.

 

[64bitmodels]

this will be useful for steam deck assuming those games are already on there
and for people who own an rtx 4090

 

[Crayon]

I use the frame limiter through DXVK. It's better than vsync and it keeps my gpu cool and saving lots of power on average. I heard it's a lot better than most frame limimters, though. That's basically what steam deck uses and it should be available on the desktop steamos when it releases.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I want max power. Always.

 

[lh032]

i dont think PCMR who buys power hungry GPU's cares about environmental sustainability much.

 

[Calverz]

It’s a good idea. It works well on steam deck. More options are always welcomed.

 

[Crayon]

i dont think PCMR who buys power hungry GPU's cares about environmental sustainability much.

Not me. I don't like the thought of a pc burning electricity like 6 light bulbs on while I play for hours. With the framme limiter through gamescope, my gpu can hang out anywhere between 60-95% usage as needed and only use as much power is needed to get there.

Some people don't even think about it tho and I can't judge. I like stinky gas burning engines and that is way worse than leaving 6 lights on.

 

[rushgore]

Just cap your frames

 

[gothmog]

Sounds like a solution looking for a problem...

 

[Daytonabot]

i dont think PCMR who buys power hungry GPU's cares about environmental sustainability much.

Certainly not as much as console players who buy physical discs in plastic cases that have to ship from the factory to a warehouse to a store.

 

[RoboFu]

Finally!!



Said no one ever…

 

[DeepEnigma]

You know what uses insane amounts of energy?

Cloud infrastructures.

 

[lh032]

Certainly not as much as console players who buy physical discs in plastic cases that have to ship from the factory to a warehouse to a store.

GPU power consumption is way more serious than your argument above lol, people running their PC at least 12 hours a day, now imagine millions of people doing that everyday.

Physical is going to be dead one day, and the userbase for physical is getting lesser and lesser, so your argument is moot.
But power hogging GPU?i dont see it dying down soon, its going to be worse.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I usually cap my frames to between 90-120. I don’t really see the need for anymore personally. It saves on energy and keeps my parts running cooler.

 

[rofif]

just enable vsync. dont render beyond the cap

 

[Kilau]

I got that survey and I told them I want Max Power always.

 

[Kacho]

Can’t imagine many people would want or care about this

 

[Topher]

I mean....there is always....

 

[TintoConCasera]

A PC draws much less power than a water heater, an oven or a wash machine, right? This seems pointless.

 

[bender]

But power hogging GPU?i dont see it dying down soon, its going to be worse.

Well, we've already seen regulations to personal systems from a handful of States like California and Colorado which limit what manufacturers can sell to consumers and we've also seen regulations shape the television landscape. I guess regulators could get more granular and limit what components can be shipped/sold.

 

[Captain Toad]

If you're asking me to choose between stopping global warming and raytracing, I ain't choosing the environment.

 

[calistan]

MS Flight Simulator completely maxes out my GPU while loading and on menu screens. From the moment it starts loading, it ramps up to 600 fps with fans blazing at full speed, and in the menus it draws a full 3D hangar backdrop that sucks down 350W from my GPU for absolutely no reason.

They recently added a low power mode option to calm it down a bit, but you have to dig through the menus to toggle it on and off when required. So the current solution is to endure the hairdryer fan noise and 100% GPU use for a few minutes while loading, then find the low power mode toggle to hobble it to 15 fps while you mess around with options or plan a flight, then toggle it off again (whoosh!) when you want to fly. Not really worth it if you're only going to be in the menus for a short time.

The game is really badly designed in that respect, I'd be up for a system-wide limiter that I could quickly toggle on and off via the game bar or something like that.

 

[PhaseJump]

Getting use out of playing games on new power hungry GPUs already burns enough electricity to be comparable in cost, to constantly pumping a handful of quarters into an old arcade cabinet every hour. That's not accounting for the extreme hikes in energy prices coming in the future, thanks to the clown show governments the west have elected to save the world via excessive taxation and unicorn farts somehow replacing fossil fuel production.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I always disable all power saving options on all of my hardware and never use screensavers. Eco freaks would hate me.

 

[jaysius]

This is the way of the future, with a recession on the horizon.

 

[lmimmfn]

I stopped using my gaming rig(1080ti, 32GB, 35" Ultrawide gsync) for gaming and switched to steam deck because of stupid power costs but its actually working out great, no gamepass but 1000s of steam games in backlog

 

[Cohetedor]

Maybe they could even do this for consoles, shouldn't be too hard to lower a series x to a series s since they already know the graphics settings.

 

[SSfox]

One of the aspect that put me off from PC gaming.

 

[64bitmodels]

A PC draws much less power than a water heater, an oven or a wash machine, right? This seems pointless.

i guess but when those are the things you're comparing it to it kind of brings into question how much power a PC is consuming. like the Xbox Series S manages to stay under 70 watts while you've got GPUs alone that take up 300, 350, 400, 450 watts.

Like come on man it's a gaming machine primarily

 

[NickFire]

Not personally interested. Others might appreciate it I guess. Seems weird to me to consider dropping graphics settings though. Kind of kills the point of shiny new consoles every few years to me.

 

[M1chl]

I guess good for laptops, for newbies only tho

 

[64bitmodels]

You know what uses insane amounts of energy?

Cloud infrastructures.

to be fair asking MS to get rid of that would basically be shuttering their entire business since... yknow, azure and all that. they're a cloud company these days

that being said i do hate corporations shifting the whole climate crisis thing on us when they're the people who are mainly causing the damage to the world.

 

[anothertech]

I want max power. Always.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

I can downgrade my Xbox to Switch performance to save energy?

Well sign me down right now.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Awesome.

So I have a choice between reducing performance to save $4.38, or play games at it's best spec. Hmmm.... I wonder what I'll do.

 

[ReBurn]

I mean....there is always....

Solar panels just need to be a thing included in new home construction.

 

[reinking]

Just buy mid-tier gpu/cpu. Save money save the world.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Better solve the problem at the source: make those damn GPU and CPU energy efficient as before (love my GTX 1070 and i7 4790K) instead of letting them getting out of control as actually.
Yes, looking at you ridiculous NVIDIA and more recently, INTEL with the xx900K line.

*hold on city, booting up my computer*

 

[sendit]

Just cap your frames

Microsoft has to cater to the average Joe.

 

[Tams]

One of the aspect that put me off from PC gaming.

Gee, golly, gosh.

If only there were software out there that could limit your components. I can't believe no one has thought of this!

 

[TintoConCasera]

i guess but when those are the things you're comparing it to it kind of brings into question how much power a PC is consuming. like the Xbox Series S manages to stay under 70 watts while you've got GPUs alone that take up 300, 350, 400, 450 watts.

Like come on man it's a gaming machine primarily

I got curious and ended up looking it up.

• Tinto's PC: 750W at tops
• Freezer: 250 - 350 W
• Laundry machine: 1.500 - 2.500 W
• Dishwasher: 1.500 - 2.500 W
• TV: 200 - 400 W
• Electric heating: 1.000 - 3.000 W
• Air-conditioning: 1.000 - 2.000 W
• Microwave: 100 - 1.500 W
• Ceramic hob: 1.000 - 2.000 W
• Oven: 1.000 - 2.500 W
• Vacuum cleaner: 1.000 - 1.500 W

I got kind of confused with this thread since I always thought a PC is one of the devices you have at home that consume the less electricity, and it certainly seems that way.

Anyone who's really worried about this kind of stuff should just look into installing solar panels at home. I'm looking into it and it's pretty cool, since apparently they don't need direct sun contact, just it's light, so it's perfectly fine if the weather is cloudy.
Domestic wind turbines seem to also be on the rise, but I'll hold on those until they are more developed/common.

 

[Haggard]

Certainly not as much as console players who buy physical discs in plastic cases that have to ship from the factory to a warehouse to a store.

Riiight...
Let`s all give our rights of ownership away to save on a few grams of plastic, and the digital infrastructure`s energy consumption doesn`t matter ofc.

 

[The_Mike]

I'm sure people who has fans with light in them and 20 different light panels in their cabinet will appreciate this and use it.

 

[Mr Moose]

Xbox... On PC?
Just undervolt the GPU.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Heck I already limit my 3090 to 85-90%

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

If you're asking me to choose between stopping global warming and raytracing, I ain't choosing the environment.

MS Flight Simulator completely maxes out my GPU while loading and on menu screens. From the moment it starts loading, it ramps up to 600 fps with fans blazing at full speed, and in the menus it draws a full 3D hangar backdrop that sucks down 350W from my GPU for absolutely no reason.

They recently added a low power mode option to calm it down a bit, but you have to dig through the menus to toggle it on and off when required. So the current solution is to endure the hairdryer fan noise and 100% GPU use for a few minutes while loading, then find the low power mode toggle to hobble it to 15 fps while you mess around with options or plan a flight, then toggle it off again (whoosh!) when you want to fly. Not really worth it if you're only going to be in the menus for a short time.

The game is really badly designed in that respect, I'd be up for a system-wide limiter that I could quickly toggle on and off via the game bar or something like that.

Just rent a real plane, dude.

 

[Zug]

Energy efficiency is necessary in an increasingly energy-stressed world.
These new graphic cards are an aberration, for instance.

There should also be some kind of "efficiency QC label" before games/software goes to market, so we don't get menus at 3000fps that fries GPUs, or code so badly optimized that it doesn't run decently on anything.
Professionally I see a growing interest for "green IT" and more efficient / less CO2 emissive software and infrastructure in IT projects. Most of this trend as it is marketed is greenwashing and opportunism, but there are still a few good things to take from it, because efficiency often goes pair with quality.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Fuck em.

Give me