Displaylink USB Video - The New Energy Star?

A study, funded by Displaylink, has been released recently discussing the relationship between multi-display setup and power consumption. Displaylink engineers measured the power required for a PC to run from one to four LCD monitors. Two PCs of the same configuration were put to the test where one was equipped with Displaylink USB video products (eg. Samsung 940UX) and the other with dual-DVI graphics cards. The PCs were then checked for their power usage under different scenarios.

When the data came in, it wasn't a surprise that the quad-display setup driven by Displaylink required less energy than the discrete graphics solution. This is mostly due to the addition of a dual-DVI card for the quad-display that ended up drawing 117W power compared to under 16W with USB. Therefore, the study (warning: PDF) came to the conclusion that USB multi-monitor setup - powered by none other than Displaylink solution - consumes up to 80% less power than that of discrete graphics. Video after the jump.