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Xbox 360 Electricty costs
Does anyone know how much it costs roughly to run a Xbox360?
I've read that the Jasper Chipset runs in at a hefty 150 watts.
That works out at more than my PC, monitor, tv and wii when they are all switched on.
I'm thinking of buying one but if my electricty bill goes up by around £100 per year then I will probably stick with my wii.
I've read that the Jasper Chipset runs in at a hefty 150 watts.
That works out at more than my PC, monitor, tv and wii when they are all switched on.
I'm thinking of buying one but if my electricty bill goes up by around £100 per year then I will probably stick with my wii.
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Surely if you have enough money to own a Wii, PC and a TV and plan to buy a 360, then why are you worrying about what the cost of electricity to power a 360 is
If you've got an upscaling DVD player use that for DVDs, the power consumption for DVD playback on the 360 is terrible.
It common sense to factor in running costs before making a purchase, it no different to checking the fuel consumption before buying a car.
£100 a year is nothing. What, £2 a week? On electric? If your paying Gas, then fair enough. i can understand why you wouldnt want to fork out more for more energy.
I know what your saying but it's a games console!
Yes, the price of the console is less of an issue for me than the running costs.
150 watts is 3 times the power consumption of my pc.
Quote from The Guardian in 2005; "At full whack the machine (XBOX 360) uses as much power as the spin cycle on a washing machine, adding up to £18 to the average annual electricity bill."
It still costs money to run and it's not unwise to factor that in when thinking of making a purchase.
yea but he's talking like he's going to play 24/7. 150 watts is nothing, and well such devices have fluctuating load based on how much is going on anyways, like how a computer psu doesn't run 500 watts max all the time because of its 500 watt spec:P in any case, 150 watts is like lighting a room, if you are worried about that kinda stuff bankrupting u..., u got issues.
Unlikely.
150 watts is not nothing, one of the reasons I haven't upgraded to a PS3 or Xbox 360 is exactly because of the power consumption.
The earlier xboxes used around 200 watts, the new chipset has reduced it to around 150 watts.
Most people use energy saving light bulbs now and they're around 9 to 11 watts.
According to this site the PS3 costs more to run, approx $260 (£155) per year. Xbox 360 $203 (£121) per year, though these are based on US costs.
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:+/2008/06/04/ps3-xbox-360-consume-more-energy-than-a-fridge-mac-beats-pc/
My tv is 35 watts, PC is 50 watts, monitor is 35 watts and a wii is about 17 watts.
So very likely in my case.
If you look at the link I gave you'll see that the power consumption just from the dashboard is very high, DVD playback is even worse. I'm not sure what point your trying to make about PCs, it's a statement of the obvious that has nothing to do with the 360. People don't realise the 360/PS3 (and PC before you point that out) are using well in excess of 100watts while idle. I know a guy with one of those key meters, he has to put quite a bit extra on if he has extended gaming sessions over the week.
What is the alternative though?
You can choose a different model of car that's more efficient, but with Games consoles you don't really get much choice.
You could pick a console with a lower power consumption, but there's obviously only really a choice between three consoles at the moment and the other issues should be far more important when choosing between them.
The point is that a device with a power supply rated at a specific wattage does not use that amount of power 24/7.
i.e. the 500w PSU in the computer is not drawing 500w all of the time, that's simply the maximum it is rated for.
The Xbox 360 is the same. The console wont be using 203/175/165w (depending on chipset) all of the time that it is on.
The xbox 360 is primarily used for gaming, if you stick any game in whilst running a power reader it is often over 100 watts.
A PC has many functions, if you are using it for basic browsing or office apps it should be a lot less than 100 watts dependant on the specs etc.
A PC with a big @ss graphics card, I'm talking the shader 4 ones clock up 200 watts easy as the inbuilt fan is usually always spinning.
There is a lot more wattage variance in a pc than a games console, unless you use the PC specifically for the latest graphic intensive games.
Modern cards aren't so bad, they turn the clock speeds right down when not gaming.
Why do you keep bringing up the PC? of course power consumption varies, has anyone suggested it doesn't? the fact is the 360 uses a ridiculous amount of power when doing nothing other than sitting at the dashboard and even more when gaming compared to the Wii. The OP asked about the difference between the 360 and the Wii, he didn't ask about the PC.
It reminds me of a conversation a few of us were having in work the other day. Someone who earns at least £50k a year doesn't allow his family to put the heating on till November to save on the bills. I just couldn't get over how someone who earns a nice amount can still be really tight when it comes to things such as this.
It costs £100 a month to heat my house top to bottom with Gas. So I don use it because thats WAY too much. But if I were earning £50k, Id have the heating on DOUBLE!!
Unbelievable.
And everyone should play Video Games in the dark. Its the only way!
It's not something that would cross my mind, if I see a nice tv that I really like I buy it, I wouldn't let something so trivial put me off
Ducks backside comes to mind
Yeah and the guy who doesn't put his heating on till Nov and earns £50k, don't worry we really did rip into him when he told us that.
You'd be surprised how many people see a plasma tv at a reduced price, buy it without realising that it will cost over £200 per year to run.
All these new consoles that eat up a lot of electricty, a lot of the time it is down to lazy manufacturers who try to outperform each other in specs.
Seeing as I've posted twice in his thread, with only one post mentioning PCs, I haven't "kept bringing up the PC".
no, actually we see who reads headlines without a bit of skepticism or common sense.
http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_1288/How_Much_Power_Does_Your_Xbox_360_Use
its standby power is a mere 2 watts. you let yourself be whipped up into a hysteria by eco fear mongerers.
based on the old xbox360 "Playing Xbox 360 for an average of four hours a day will eat up about 233 kilowatt-hours per year. Depending on where you live, that's an annual bill of $10 to $35 for the Xbox 360 alone." http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6398157.html
i've looked into this stuff plenty enough to know whats what. i HAVE a kill a watt to know what my stuff actually needs. the reality is that unless he keeps it on playing 24/7 he won't reach any significant billing. not buying a second console for electricity reasons is simply ridiculous when considering the total cost of a console. one game easily outstrips the cost of an annual bill even if he played 8 hours a day. never mind the controllers and accessory bills.
i use those lights. you need quite a few to get good lighting in a room unless you want to live in a cave of bad lighting. in any case, your lights are on far more than a console.
and dude...don't blindly follow headlines. the 360 only uses that much if you leave it playing 24/7. its called media hysteria, headlines are created with massaged truths to get your attention, don't be so easily led.
i mean seriously, if you left your stove on all year you'd have a ginormous bill. one 1500watt element x 24hrs x 365 days = $1600! but so what, it has no bearing on reality.
http://www.electricity-usage.com/Electricity-Usage-Calculator.aspx
put in 150watts 24 hours a day, 12cents killwatt hour which is what i googled up as equiv for 7p for uk electricity.(might not be exact, but good enough) and the result is
157 dollars a year. yes, so your headline nonsense is based on absurd conditions.
4 hours a day? 26 bucks a year. aka 15 pounds
oh..my.. god..
that breaks the bank.
the horror.
i don't live in the uk right now so i don't have the exact cost per kwh, but a few percent off 15 pounds either way is basically nothing.
seriously, as far as costs go, electricity is a minor consideration. if you are that poor you shouldn't be buying games for any system.