This Is How Much Your Ps4 Or Xbox One Really Adds To Your Energy Bill
- Thomas TamblynThe Huffington Post UK
If there’s one thing the UK loves to do in its downtime it’s playing video games, whether that’s Candy Crush on our iPhone or tackling 40 hours of Fallout 4 on the PS4.
British Gas have carried out research into the energy consumption of the Xbox One and PS4 and it turns out that our gaming addiction is starting to cost us, quite literally.
The cost of running a games console has quadrupled since the 90s when the humble Sega Mega Drive cost us just £11 per year to run.
Well thanks to huge graphical advances in the last 20 years and the ‘always on’ nature of the latest consoles, both the Xbox One and PS4 are costing us a pretty penny, around £40 per year to be precise.
Own both an Xbox One and a PS4? Well you’re shelling out an extra £78 per year just to keep them turned on.
The award for the most energy guzzling goes to the Xbox One which costs a £43 a year, while the PS4 manages to just about maintain its dignity by costing only £35 per year.
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate does look beautiful, but there’s a price to the next-generation of consoles.
Don’t think the last generation were any better though with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 costing us £32 and £29 respectively.
Compare that to the classic Nintendo 64 which cost just £11 and you might want to consider digging out that old copy of Mario Kart.
Daniel Colford, a Smart Energy Expert at British Gas, said:
So Which Should You Use
The choice is up to you. It costs a bit more money to leave your Xbox One in Instant On mode, but its more convenientit boots up faster, allows you to resume games from where you left off without any loading screens or worries about saving your game, and you wont have to sit around and wait for your games or console to update when you want to play a game.
If you use your Xbox One frequently, its probably a better idea to leave it in Instant On mode. However, if you find you only use it rarely, and it sits around powered off most of the time, you can certainly save a little bit of money by using Energy Saving mode.
Why Do Gaming Computers Drain So Much Power
The high performance that gamers crave comes at a cost. High-definition, extra-bright monitors and the souped-up graphics cards that run them are anything but energy-efficient. Gaming PC power consumption is also driven by long hours of use.
Upgrades can reduce gaming PC power consumption. Replacing your old hard drive with a solid-state drive cuts the energy used by the drive itself and eliminates the need for a fan. You can also replace an old CRT with an LCD monitor with a good ENERGY STAR® rating.
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Power Consumption Of A Ps4 Xbox Gaming Console:
How much energy does your PS4 game console use? How much electricity bill you get for using your gaming console for 24 hours? How much power does PS4, Xbox or any gaming console use?
A modern video game console like the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One uses between 120 watt 150 watt when it is being used for gaming, and 1-10 watts during standby mode when the console is off but plugged in. For other uses like video and downloads, most consoles use in the 60-100 watt range.
If you want to use the gaming console power consumption calculator then feel free to scroll down the page to use it.
To use the gaming console power consumption calculator to calculate the power consumption of your PS4, Xbox or any gaming console and interpret the results correctly you understand the following terms.
To calculate your gaming console power consumption just put the wattage of your gaming console, operational hours and electricity tariff in your locality and you will get the units of electricity your gaming console will consume and the impact it will have on your electricity bill.
If you dont know the wattage of your gaming console then type in 150 watts.
Idle System Power Consumption
For this test, I completely powered the system down and then turned it back on. This means that there were no games in suspend mode and no other background apps running. There were no downloads running and nothing else active on the device that could be using system resources in a way that would influence power consumption
Lowest Reading: 48 wattsAverage Reading: 55 watts
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Tips For Reducing Power Consumption
The latest game consoles bring together many exciting new features, such as voice control, gesture recognition, connectivity, wireless controllers, and the ability to stream live Internet content. But many people may not realize that most of these new features draw power even when they are not using them. When all features are maximized, today’s game consoles can consume as much energy as all of the homes in the city of Houston, or the equivalent of the electricity delivered by four power plants.
Do you want to game on with the newest innovative and intuitive features, without wasting energy? With just a few simple steps, you can make the most of your system’s energy saving features, without missing any of the action. Reduce your game console’s energy use, save money, and help protect the climate.
With just a few simple moves, you can game with the best of them, while still saving energy and protecting the climate.
If all gamers took these steps with the roughly 19 million latest generation PS4 and Xbox Ones installed in 2014 and 2015, we would see a significant nationwide energy savings — over 800 million kWh every year — and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the emissions from over 120 thousand vehicles. Now that’s powerful!
1. From the main screen, go to “Home”, then select “Settings”:
2. Within the “Settings” screen, select “Power & Startup”, then “Power Mode”:
3. Finally, select the “Energy Saving” setting instead of “Instant On”.
How To Activate Power Saving Mode On Xbox
After you do the initial Xbox setup if you want to activate the power saving mode on your console follow the steps below. Here are the steps to follow.
- Press the Xbox button to open the guide
- Select Profile and system then go to Settings, find General and tap on Power supply mode and start-up
- In this menu, select energy saving
With this option, you will easily save money on console consumption, without losing a lot of functionality. Switching your Xbox to energy-saving mode according to NRDC would add an additional 10 seconds of load time.
For example, streaming content via or Netflix on Xbox Series X are drawing 10 to 25 times more power compared when you are using streaming devices. This is because Microsoft is opted to benefit the gamers to quickly switch between gaming and streaming content. So when you are playing your favorite game on Xbox, in the background the Netflix is being watched.
The NRDC says that Xbox Series S is using the least amount of power when they are streaming content , while the Xbox Series X uses 40 to 53 watts. On the other hand, the PS5 drew the most power, 68 to 70 watts.
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Streaming On Your Console Uses Lots Of Energy
These new consoles make it extremely easy to switch from playing games to streaming a show via a preloaded app without the need to use a TV remote control to change the TVs input or source. With a couple of very intuitive clicks on the gaming controller, a user can choose an app, select and begin watching a show like the Great British Baking Show, and then easily return to their game.
This may save a few seconds, but the console will draw between 30 and 70 wattsabout 10 to 25 times more power than a streaming device like Apple TV, Roku box, or Amazon Fire Stick to watch the same show. We have repeatedly urged Sony and Microsoft to include a dedicated low-power chip for video playback in their consoles, and this request is even more important today given the potential for long hours of binge watching via the console.
Our testing showed:
- Xbox Series S This console consumed around 31 watts to stream a show on Netflix and around 41 watts on Amazon Prime. We were unable to account for the roughly 10-watt difference.
- PS5 The PS5 drew between 68 and 70 watts for shows streamed from Amazon Prime and Netflix.
In addition, if the user does not take the extra step of turning off the console after switching off the TV, the consoles continue to draw power at these high levels for an hour or more. More on that later.
Power Consumption Of Xbox And Playstation
Xbox and PlayStation are very popular gaming consoles. The Xbox series was developed by Microsoft and the PlayStation was developed by Sony. Here you can calculate the power consumed by your Xbox or PlayStation. Their typical power consumption ranges between 70 watts to 180 watts while gaming and less than 10 watts during standby.
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Xbox Series X Power Options: Instant
Your console should explain these two different options for you, but in case you missed it, Xbox has summed up the differences between Instant-On and Energy-Saving modes in a handy Help page online.
As the Help page explains, when you choose Instant-On, youre able to: start-up faster, wake your console with your voice , and you can even use your console to turn on your TV and cable or satellite.
On the other side of the fence, in energy-saving power mode, your console is shut down to save energy. In this mode, your console takes 45 seconds to start up, and you must press the Xbox button to start the console.
Basically, Instant-On means your console will be that little bit speedier, but it will also be using more power. Youll get a slower start-up with Energy-Saving mode, but youll also be doing a little bit more to help the planet. Thats the choice you have to make, basically.
Personally, I opted for Instant-On because I really wanted to see the next-gen start-up speeds in action, but Im not against the idea of switching to Energy-Saving mode later on.
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How Much Power Does The Xbox Series X Use In Rest Mode
The final reading I took was to measure how much power the Xbox Series X uses while it is powered off in suspend mode or rest mode. This is a power option that will allow the system to access the internet to upload images, game saves and also to download system and game updates while the system is not in use.
One advantage of this game mode is that your progress in-game is stored. When you start back up, there are no load screens, you are instantly back to where you were when you powered down the system previously.
I was surprised at how much power the system was using in this mode. It was half of what the system uses when idle on the main menu. The system performs a lot better than the PlayStation 5 does in rest mode, but it was still a little high when the system should only need a trickle to keep internet connectivity going. Here are the results.
Lowest Reading: 21 wattsHighest Reading: 32 wattsAverage Reading: 27 watts
- TAGS
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Study: Xbox One Ps4 Consume Ridiculous Amounts Of Unnecessary Power
Both Microsofts Xbox One and Sonys PlayStation 4 consume between two to three times the power of their predecessorsmostly waiting around for something to do.
The report, issued Friday by the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, found that the Xbox Ones power consumption was especially egregious, consuming a maximum of 289 kilowatt-hours per year, as opposed to the 70 kWh/year consumed by the last-generation Xbox 360. But the Nintendo Wii U went the opposite direction, actually consuming 37 kWh/y versus the 40 kWh/y consumed by the Wii.
The Ones power consumption was especially egregious, due to the fact that the console is used both for controlling a television as well as listening for voice commands. But the Playstation 4s USB recharging is also very inefficient, the NRDC said.
NRDC
NRDC power estimates say the current crop of consoles consumes much power than their predecessors.
All told, the energy consumed from all three modern consoles will cost U.S. consumers an estimated $1 billion in energy costs this year, consuming enough electricity to light all the homes in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country, the NRDC estimated.
Most of that energy will be consumed in the middle of the night, when the console is in standby mode but still listening for voice commands, like the Xbox One, or using higher power than necessary to keep USB ports active, like the PS4, the NRDC said.
NRDC
Movie streaming power, compared.
Electricity Usage Of A Game Console
Game consoles have become a standard entertainment device in many homes, allowing people to play games, go online, watch movies or stream videos. But how much energy does a game console use? Use the following console energy calculator to find out, we estimate that an average video game console will use around 90 watts when it is being actively used for gaming, and 1-2 watts during standby mode when the console is off but plugged in. For other uses like video and downloads, most consoles use in the 50-70 watt range.
Click calculate to find the energy consumption of an average game console using 90 Watts for , check the chart below and modify the calculator for your console.
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Latest Game Consoles: Environmental Winners Or Losers
1/28/2021: This blog has been updated to correct a prior typo and reflect that NRDC modeling shows Xboxs instant on feature could cost U.S. gamers an extra $500 million in electricity bills through 2025.
The latest Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles are out, and NRDCs initial testing indicates their annual energy will likely increase in most cases, depending on how the user sets them up and operates them. However, the electricity consumption would be even higher if there had not been a lot of work by the engineering teams at Microsoft and Sony to improve the efficiency of the new models.
Noah Horowitz
NRDC measured the power consumed by these consoles while playing a game, streaming video, and when not being actively used and found:
- When playing the latest games, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles draw between 160 and 200-plus watts of electricity, which is higher than earlier generation consoles. Thats more power than the huge 60-inch TV it might be connected to uses! The good news is that these consoles draw significantly lower power levels when playing games designed for older consoles and are backward compatible. The entry-level Xbox Series S drew lower power levels during game play than the other three new consoles.
How Much Electricity Does A Ps5 Use
The different modes obviously consume different amounts of electricity. In standby mode, with no network connection the PS5 consumes 1.5W. When powered off, but still plugged in, the PS5 can consume 1.3W. The console has a power rating of 350W and the maximum consumption recorded when gaming was 203W.
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Turning Off The Controllers Automatically
To enable this feature, simply follow steps 1 and 2 but select the third option “Turn Off Controllers Automatically” above, then:
1. From the Home Screen, go up and scroll right until you reach “Settings”:
2. Within “Settings”, select “Power Save Settings”:
3. Click “Turn Off Controllers Automatically” and select “After 30 Minutes”, or less depending on your gameplay habits:
Electricity Consumption Of Xbox Series X
The next generation of consoles just like Series Xs are much more power-hungry than ever before and they will consume twice the energy on a standard 60 TV. The Xbox Series X draws 160 to 200+ Watts of electricity when you are playing it at the peak, which is much higher than their previous models and more than a regular 60-inch TV.
When it comes to the power consumption of Xbox Series X, it all depends on the type of mode in which you are. Therefore, you should pay attention to each mode, because the difference in consumption can vary a lot. Below we will present you the average values for each mode.
- Switched Off Mode: When your Xbox is turned off, there is a little power consumption between 0.1 to 0.3 watts per hour because of the LED lamp that is turned ON.
- Stand-by Mode: During this mode, the Xbox consumes between 4 to 6 watts per hour. In case that Xbox is doing some updates true internet, it can use up to 13-15 watts per hour.
- Menu Mode: In this mode, the console will consume between 70 to 80 watts per hour.
- Gaming Mode: This is the most used mode in Xbox Series X. The power that is used in this mode varies between 160 to 180 watts per hour. This also varies of the resolution and the graphics of the game that is played.
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