Jump to content

Photo

Running games on a Potato (battery).

math

  • Please log in to reply
13 replies to this topic

#1
Hyginos

Hyginos

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1337 posts

I've often though about the common quip about games that "could run on a potato" and wondered what it would take to make games literally run on a potato.

 

The obvious answer is to power a gaming device with what is commonly referred to as a potato battery, but is more accurately described as an electrochemical potato cell.

 

These cells are quite weak however. My interneting puts them at the 1 volt 1 mA range, which is about enough to power a small LED, so it will take more than one to power anything useful for games. Connecting a bunch of cells together would put out the watts we need, and allow us to call it a "potato battery" while still being technically correct.1

 

The question is how big does that battery need to be?

 

A Gameboy Color requires 2 AA batteries, each having a nominal voltage of 1.5v, that would last about 30 hours of game play. Assuming an alkaline battery has a capacity of 3.9 watt hours and are used in series, that means that it would draw about 40mA. With nothing but 1 v 1mA spuds, it would take a battery 3 deep by 40 wide to power a Gameboy color. Assuming an average potato is about 200 grams, that battery will weigh in at 24 kilos, or 53 pounds, and would roughly fit in the box your microwave came in (641 kb/m3)

 

But will it run Crysis?

 

The minimum requirements for Crysis are actually pretty low, but in the spirit of the question, I'll put together a generic high end gaming rig and see what it takes to run that. PCpartpicker says it will pull 466 W, but I'd want a safety factor at least as high as the power supply's rating, so I'll use 750 W.

 

North American wall outlets typically put out around 115 volts. This is an AC voltage, but I'm going to assume that we have a magic inverter and that all the RMS values and power factors and whatnot work out nicely because I only have an hour to hack this out during my lunch. By this hand wavey theorem, 750 W at 115 volts gives you 6.5 amps.

 

...which means a potato battery 115 deep by 6500 wide. 747500 spuds, 149500 kilos (328900 pounds) and 510 cubic meters. You could fit it in 13 common 20 foot shipping containers, and it would feed about 700 people for a year.

 

The important thing to note here is that, by estimating the power draw of the hardware required, and subsequently calculating the needed battery size, we can roughly quantify the computational intensity of a game in potatoes. I estimate Hawken at 300000 potatoes, or 0.3 megapotatoes

 

1The author acknowledges that these statements make him "that guy".


  • Silverfire, Aregon, Meraple and 12 others like this

MFW Howken

 

My post count is neat.


#2
kaiserschmarrn_

kaiserschmarrn_

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 556 posts

This is the kind of content we need



#3
eth0

eth0

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 608 posts

If this doesn't belong in General Discussion then I don't know what does.


  • phed likes this

Pubstomping is a whole different strategic discussion, however, and usually just becomes an exploration of the ethics of dumpstering randos.

UYoy63i.png

Why mech game make when you no mech game have you don't want to make? 


#4
Pleasure_Mortar

Pleasure_Mortar

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 361 posts

For how long will the 149 tons of potatos supply power to play crysis?



#5
ticklemyiguana

ticklemyiguana

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1257 posts

I am so immensely happy that you did this. This is approximately the same kind of science that went into defining "horsepower", so please. Please can we refer to wattage as potatoes with a standard conversion?


Spoiler

LGdSqzD.png


#6
Hyginos

Hyginos

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1337 posts

For how long will the 149 tons of potatos supply power to play crysis?

 

Information on storage capacity is pretty sparse, but I would guess an hour or two max.

 

 

 wattage as potatoes with a standard conversion

 

Electrically it would be roughly one miliwatt per potato. Alternatively you could say 1 kilopotato per watt.


  • phed and ticklemyiguana like this

MFW Howken

 

My post count is neat.


#7
ticklemyiguana

ticklemyiguana

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1257 posts

 

Electrically it would be roughly one miliwatt per potato. Alternatively you could say 1 kilopotato per watt.

The latter, please. For obvious aesthetic reasons.


Spoiler

LGdSqzD.png


#8
coldform

coldform

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1100 posts
LOL,KILLER POTATOES

I like going against the best of any game I play. Helps you in the long run n motivates u to do more. Always room for improvement not failure

z6aJAX7.png?1

 

czerofive-Today at 2:22 AM > got banned from playing lazertag - I used a knife to conserve ammo

FIRST OFF WHAT THE FUZZ IS A "SHILL"


#9
ticklemyiguana

ticklemyiguana

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1257 posts

How many potatoes would it take to kill a person via electrocution??????????


Spoiler

LGdSqzD.png


#10
maxajcd

maxajcd

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 187 posts

 

International research begun in 2010 showed that boiling potatoes for eight minutes improves their electrical output, as does placing slices of potatoes between multiple copper and zinc plates. 

what about this?


I do appreciate the art, but I don't have time to find anything good. /h/


#11
maxajcd

maxajcd

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 187 posts

read the title and hoped someone had done it, read the post and oh boy am i wrong


I do appreciate the art, but I don't have time to find anything good. /h/


#12
Call_Me_Ishmael

Call_Me_Ishmael

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1114 posts

But...

 

I LIKE Crysis.


Did I say Call Me Ishmael?

 

You should call me Luna.


#13
m0bieduck

m0bieduck

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 92 posts

I've often though about the common quip about games that "could run on a potato" and wondered what it would take to make games literally run on a potato.

 

The obvious answer is to power a gaming device with what is commonly referred to as a potato battery, but is more accurately described as an electrochemical potato cell.

 

These cells are quite weak however. My interneting puts them at the 1 volt 1 mA range, which is about enough to power a small LED, so it will take more than one to power anything useful for games. Connecting a bunch of cells together would put out the watts we need, and allow us to call it a "potato battery" while still being technically correct.1

 

The question is how big does that battery need to be?

 

A Gameboy Color requires 2 AA batteries, each having a nominal voltage of 1.5v, that would last about 30 hours of game play. Assuming an alkaline battery has a capacity of 3.9 watt hours and are used in series, that means that it would draw about 40mA. With nothing but 1 v 1mA spuds, it would take a battery 3 deep by 40 wide to power a Gameboy color. Assuming an average potato is about 200 grams, that battery will weigh in at 24 kilos, or 53 pounds, and would roughly fit in the box your microwave came in (641 kb/m3)

 

But will it run Crysis?

 

The minimum requirements for Crysis are actually pretty low, but in the spirit of the question, I'll put together a generic high end gaming rig and see what it takes to run that. PCpartpicker says it will pull 466 W, but I'd want a safety factor at least as high as the power supply's rating, so I'll use 750 W.

 

North American wall outlets typically put out around 115 volts. This is an AC voltage, but I'm going to assume that we have a magic inverter and that all the RMS values and power factors and whatnot work out nicely because I only have an hour to hack this out during my lunch. By this hand wavey theorem, 750 W at 115 volts gives you 6.5 amps.

 

...which means a potato battery 115 deep by 6500 wide. 747500 spuds, 149500 kilos (328900 pounds) and 510 cubic meters. You could fit it in 13 common 20 foot shipping containers, and it would feed about 700 people for a year.

 

The important thing to note here is that, by estimating the power draw of the hardware required, and subsequently calculating the needed battery size, we can roughly quantify the computational intensity of a game in potatoes. I estimate Hawken at 300000 potatoes, or 0.3 megapotatoes

 

1The author acknowledges that these statements make him "that guy".

can i marry you?


prematurely declared king of typos, unreadable posts, and stupid threads.

#14
ticklemyiguana

ticklemyiguana

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1257 posts

can i marry you?


Back off wench.

Spoiler

LGdSqzD.png





0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users