Power consumption doubles PlayStation 3 cost

There cannot be any doubt about it, the PlayStation 3 is an astonishing device. It wields the same amount of power as a mighty gaming PC while measuring just a fraction of the size. It handles Blu-ray movies with ease and the graphics it can produce are nothing short of stunning.

Its main criticism has been its price, though. When it launched in the UK it cost £425 and you still can't get one for much less than 400 quid. And unfortunately for gamers, this is not the end of the story with the PS3.

[achira]

what bs. when you buy a car do you calculate how much the fuel will cost you when you drive 10 years, or how much this and that costs ? lol, some ppl are very ill. the same is with every console, yes the xbox360 needs current too! about the same like the ps3, so whats the point about this bs article ?

[nobizlikesnowbiz]

Haha achira its called MATH buddy...

Maybe you should do some calculations on how much its costing you not to play games but to rather be folding@home. hahahaha.

EDIT: I'm getting hasseled for hasseling achira? How much power does F@H use? Probably a good amount, which is why I made the comment about it.

[fenderputty]

it's called post number 3 NOB. Maybe you should read beyond the lame fanboy comment and come to some real conclusions.

[Fat Onion]

I am sure many people do. That is why hybrid and other types of cars will become more popular.

[ps3gogetitt]

He's simply making a point, don't be a fanboy...everything electronic needs power, it just happens that among consoles the ps3 cost the most, which isn't really a big deal it's around the same as xbox live per month which we have free (i know not as good as live yet but still free)

[Fat Onion]

Xbox live only cost $50 per year. Based on that website the PS3 would cost around $200/yr in power. Thats over $150 more per year than X360

[masterg]

@Fat Onion

So based on your calculations the 360 cost $0 per year in power. Wow maybe that's why it makes so much noise.

[soccerstar]

ya thats true that it has a 380w power supply but that doesnt mean that it maxes out that power supply when in reality it only uses about 200w while playing games, only 20w more than the 360
http://www.hardcoreware.net...

[fenderputty]

already debunked this crappy FUD. Thanks for the link.

[TheExecutive]

EXACTLY... Just because a car has 400hp doesnt mean it uses it at all times... bubbles for you sir

WTF... why am i losing my bubbles?

Edit: Lol who disagrees with that and why?

[StateofMind]

Yeah this is like FUD risen from the dead. This was a big deal right after the PS3 launched, and was debunked shortly after.

[VendettaWFT]

Nice link. I'm def. buying a Wii if electricity starts to become as abundant as fossil fuels

[SmokeyMcBear]

didn't they do a study on this power consumption thing, with the wii not using a lot of power, and both the 360 and ps3 using significantly more. Although the ps3 did use more energy during most situations, it was a negligible amount.

[soccerstar]

yes read comment 3

[PSTripleOG]

Anyone for a suck.

[Keyser]

Find something better to do dude posing as a chick. Seriously, there are several million porn sites where you can be a foul as you want.

[drtysouf21]

be true it will have a power save option so that will be good.

[sadiq]

bubbles 4u man u defend all ur console but when u flame u flame on the right side, not like a fanboy, we need more ppl like u

[ItsDubC]

Why do I feel like most of the ppl on this site aren't the ones in their household who pays the electricty bill and therefore don't care at all about how much power their console consumes?

[TheExecutive]

I pay... to tell you the truth i am more worried about leaving a window open now that it is spring. I am more worried about how much electricity my dryer uses, about how much my a/c uses, more worried about how good my seals are on my doors and windows, more worried about how much gas I use, more worried about my refrigerator... well you get the point.

[Kleptic]

I pay also...and since I bought the PS3 in March, I have not had a single change in my electric bill related to the ps3...I leave it folding overnight nearly every night...and its on with either someone playing a game, streaming music, or watching movies at least several hours during the afternoon...

My bill fluctuates by about $10 a month...but it does that every month because electric companies still think its a cool idea to "estimate" your usage...so they over estimate one month, then its less the next...then repeats...but with the ps3 running a lot...my bill is still no different than this time last year...

[lowmanslyric85]

hands down, thats the dumbest thing i've read all day. who cares??? my computer that i'm typing on right now, doubles the ps3 (i've got one hell of a pc)

[TLSBill]

TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is a valid metric, and yes it is used in car buying decisions.

Author of this article pretty biased, and rather than take the opportunity to come up with a real analisys that could maybe help someone just dumped fanboy crap and tried to justify it with numbers.

Thanks for the link soccerstar, at least that one was imformative.

[nobizlikesnowbiz]

One question for anyone who feels fit to answer it:

When the PS3 is sitting there idle runnign F@H, how much power does it use then. I mean F@H uses a lot of the cells power right? Therefore it will draw more electricity correct?

[kr9091]

It uses no more than 200w when running folding@home. Check the link.
http://www.hardcoreware.net...
And this link too: http://folding.stanford.edu...

[ohiost74]

For one, this article isnt true b/c if you go back to maybe a month of so ago, there was a article on here that stated and showed graphs/facts that the ps3 consumes less watts than the 360 and a major PC......the article stated it only used about 89watts out of the 380 max and never once reached higher than 89. While the 360 was I believe well over 120. so this article should be really taken down b/c its false....I would take the time to find the article but i really dont feel like it.

[Diselage]

If this is true this is kinda silly, but from what i remember there were a lot of articles like this when the ps3 first came out and none of the estimates were this high.

[dale1]

just a bit of humour 20 red rings of death 20 scratch disc and cost of system with electric a mere $2000 dollars min absolute bargain
wi no longer sold

[DrPirate]

I pay the electric bills, there's been no increase since I got it. (Yeah yeah yeah, I've been using it).

This article is wasteful.

[weekapaugh]

PS3 and 360 use about the same amount of power. Amazing how desperate the x-kiddies are getting.

[Karibu]

They didn't even measure it. They just assumed it uses the max out of it all time.

[Firewire]

I pay my own bills to, and haven't seen an increase at all. I use my PS3 almost every night. However I have been making an effort to cut my energy consumption for enviormental reasons, I don't use my AC unless it is very hot, won't leave it on during the day when I'm not home, I don't leave lights on when I'm not in the room....

[Real Gambler]

C'mon, this is very, very, very old stuff. Yes, next-gen consoles take some power, but way less than a gaming PC. This as been debated many times before. Why bringing it back again! Either you want next-gen and you can afford paying the electricity, or you go for a Wii, or maybe a handheld and a bunch of batteries! I'm guessing this guy love playing Pong on a black an white tv because it take less electricity???

N4G was pretty much my favorite web site, but lately, it's been falling down badly. How could such a stupid article be posted AGAIN!!! There's not enough good stuff to write about and you have to bring back 9 months old articles? Well, anymore article like that, and I won't be here to read this one again in 9 months : )

[TheMART]

So Sony gives you free online basic gaming (although no unified friendlist and step in co-op online)

But on the other hand you pay because it uses so much power.

You rather could get premium online gaming on the 360 then and pay some for it...

[sadiq]

mart read all the comments b4 u start crap, the ps3 isnt maxed out at all times, usually 200w when playing a game, it is less than a gaming pc, it is like only 20w more than the 360

[Kleptic]

don't bother ever pointing out how incredibly flawed Mart's logic is...he will call you a fanboy, or droid...and somehow doesn't see the glaring contradiction in that........

he is definitely the worst on this site...

[Gibroon]

"According to research site Sust-it.net , if you spent £400 on a PlayStation 3 this year, you'll find that over an eight-year period you'll spend another £400 just powering the thing. It has a 380w power supply, meaning that if it is maxed out for two hours every day, it will cost you about £48 a month to run - and that's on top of the £40 a game that Sony also charges."

Hmm he first says it will cost £400 to power the PS3 over an 8 year period then he says it will cost £48 a month to power it

Lets see 12x £48 = £576

8 years 8x £576 = £4608

There is a major error here methinks.

What a lot of nonsense!

[LoneGun]

Idiots like this guy seriously needs to do more research before posting on the internet. It has already been proven to death that PS3 consume around the same amount of electricity as X360 months ago, and this moron comes in with completely misleading information thinking that he's so smart. It's safe to say I will not be reading any article from that site.

Check out this link idiots:
http://www.hardcoreware.net...

[kevin]

some idiot said that his gamming pc doubles ps3, he cannot mean graphics, he must have a super super computer if that is so, but oh well, nice try for him

[sadiq]

"... and that's on top of the £40 a game that Sony also charges."
obviously they are xkiddies due to the fact they are bringing stuff in that has nothing to do with the topic or the article

[theShah]

False information...ps3 doesnt even COME CLOSE to using the full 340 W or w/e....it was proven by this news site that it uses about the same as the 360...less even...250 or something watts.

[neogeo]

I Could save alot of money living in a cave eating ground squirs.

[Raist]

Ho god, this old sh*t again ?

Some people need to learn the difference between power supply max wattage and actual power consumption.

I can't believe this news got approved. No need to wonder by who it has been, tho.

Lol, it's even worse than I thought

"over an eight-year period you'll spend another £400 just powering the thing. It has a 380w power supply, meaning that if it is maxed out for two hours every day, it will cost you about £48 a month to run"

400£ over 8 years = 48£ a month. rofl

[kingboy]

i`v got many other electrical devices sucking me up dry on a monthly basis more than a ps3..

[Close_Second]

...to be more concerned about how we're all acquiring more and more devices for use in the home. Hell, has anyone heard of global warming for goodness sake? No, I'm not saying that the PS3 is the cause of global warming but too many consumers keep pushing their household eco footprint up and up on an annual basis by introducing more and more devices into their home.

I guess what I'm saying is that most of us don't care if our own power bill fluctuates a little but when we all increase our eco footprint what kind of strain is that putting on resources. Hell, its not like we're using less energy over time now is it...

[sandip787]

id rather pay a little extra on electricity than have my house burned down by a 360.

[xg-ei8ht]

Anyone that was bang on dissing this bs will get a nice little bubble from me:)

My pc psu is 600w.

Doesn't use anywhere near that.

It may do one day.

Bubbles are on their way.

[kewlkat007]

I mean, when you purchase a car, you can tell the ESTIMATED cost per year, to at least fill up, if you know the given GAS PRICES, which varies. Well that's why it's an ESTIMATE. Of course how far you drive, also varies. They say the Average here in the States is like 15Kmi a year roughly.

As far as the PS3 and Consoles, the only thing that Varies is the length of time one sits to play from day to day. If you really wanted to write down how many hours you play for the whole year you can ESTIMATE around how much you would have to pay monthly.

Or I may be wrong, I'm no electrician by all means. Yeah I wonder when does the PS3 Maxes out, or does it ever?

I think this was old news though..
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/...

[hikikimori]

How many of us have PC's? PS3 or 360 owners? And you know how much juice they use. This is yet another anti ps3 FUD article that is pointless.

[Strange]

Pointless? no... Obviously he wants to convey something. Wrong as it may be.

Worthless? sure...

[bootsielon]

PS3 doesn't use all the energy it can burn. It only consumes 10% more energy than the 360. But if we're going to include all the costs, then you should also include Xbox LIVE Gold, WiFi, and that makes it more expensive. That doesn't even take in mind a larger HDD, and if you want High def movies, HD-DVD. So, if you're gonna take in mind PS3's "power cost", then take in mind 360's power cost, and the fact that PS3 includes almost everything, 360 doesn't.

[MK_Red]

I think thats the price of future tools and game gadgets. If you want a PS3, 360 or a powerfull PC, there has always been and will be a price to make it work, energy price.

[CrazzyMan]

^^XBOX 360, PS3 and Wii Power Consumption Report:
http://www.hardcoreware.net...

[Mycococo]

HAHAHAHAHAHA. THIS IS FUNNY!!! FIND OUT THE ACTUAL POWER CONSUMPTION OF AN XBOX360 AND YOU WILL SEE IT IS BARLY LESS IF ANY. MORONS!!!!

[4me2]

Because is internal Power Supply it must be 50-100% bigger then actual MAX usage.

Just think if they would put 200W PowSupply then during playing PowSupply would work at 100% and because is internal generated heat would fried system in min.