Game console Electricity Cost & Wattage
What a game console costs to run: typical 150 W, about $28 a year. Adjust the figures to your own usage and electricity price.
Your Game console running cost
Costs about
/ month
- Per day
- Per year
- Energy per day
Change the hours and price to match your case.
Typical wattage
| Low | 45 W |
|---|---|
| Typical | 150 W |
| High | 220 W |
| Typical use | 3 h/day |
A modern game console draws far more power than the smartphones and tablets it competes with for attention, especially during graphically demanding games. While playing, a current-generation console typically pulls 120 to 200 watts, more than a large television, and often it is running alongside that television and a sound system. This page uses an hours-per-day approach; enter the console's in-game power, how long it is actually played each day and your price to see the yearly cost.
The number most people miss is standby. Consoles default to a 'rest' or 'instant-on' mode that keeps the machine partly awake to download updates and resume quickly, and that mode can draw 10 to 15 watts around the clock — every hour the console is 'off'. Over a year that idle draw can rival or even exceed the energy used for actual gaming, particularly for a console that is played a few hours a week but left in rest mode the rest of the time.
The fix is almost free. Switching the console to a full power-down or 'energy-saving' shutdown instead of rest mode removes nearly all the standby draw, at the cost of a slightly slower start-up and downloading updates when you next play rather than overnight. Turning down or off any always-on features you do not use, and not leaving a paused game running for hours, trims the in-use figure too.
Console type changes the number more than most people expect. A hybrid handheld console draws only a handful of watts running on its own screen, and noticeably more once docked and driving a TV; a console with a spinning disc drive pulls more than the same game run from an installed digital copy, since the drive itself draws power on top of the processor and graphics. If you own more than one type, the gap in wattage between them is often bigger than the gap between a 'quiet' and a graphically demanding game on the same machine.
How to cut game console running costs
- Use a full shutdown or 'energy-saving' mode instead of rest/instant-on to kill standby.
- Don't leave a paused game running for hours — the console keeps drawing full power.
- Turn off features you don't use, like keeping controllers charging or voice always listening.
- Put the console, TV and sound bar on one switched strip to cut them all at once.
- Schedule updates for when you'll be playing anyway rather than overnight rest mode.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run a game console?
Playing three hours a day at 150 W costs about $0.08 daily, or roughly $28 a year at $0.17/kWh — before standby. Rest mode left on can add a similar amount again over the year.
Does rest mode use a lot of electricity?
More than people expect. At 10–15 W around the clock it can use as much over a year as the actual gaming, especially for a console played only a few hours a week. A full shutdown removes it.
Is a console cheaper to run than a gaming PC?
Usually yes. High-end gaming PCs can draw 300–600 W under load, well above a console's 120–200 W, so for the same hours of play a console typically costs noticeably less to run.