Advanced options
Excluding the TV (add its running cost separately). Power draw varies by game: a demanding AAA title pushes a PS5 toward its peak while indie games and media apps draw far less. The Xbox instant-on vs energy-saver choice is the single biggest hidden setting.
What The Games Console Cost Calculator Works Out
- Per hour of gaming: the console's wattage times the unit rate (the current Ofgem price cap rate by default) divided by 1,000. A current-generation console gaming at full tilt draws 160 to 200 watts, about 5p an hour, the Switch's 20 watts barely registers, and a 400 watt gaming PC plus a hungry monitor is the only real bill-mover. An evening's gaming costs about the same electricity as one round of toast.
- Per year: gaming kWh plus standby kWh for the other hours of every day, times the unit rate. A two-hour daily habit on a PS5 runs around GBP 40 a year, less than most subscriptions attached to it. Draw tracks the game, not the peak: ray-traced AAA scenes work the silicon toward its rating while indie titles and streaming apps idle far below, so the same machine's hourly cost can vary three-fold.
- Standby share: the part of the yearly total spent while not playing. Proper rest mode at a watt or two is a rounding error, but always-ready modes at 10 to 15 watts around the clock quietly cost more per year than the actual gaming for lighter players, which is why Microsoft made shutdown (energy saver) the default and kept overnight updates working from it.
- Electricity unit rate (advanced): defaults to the current Ofgem price cap unit rate; override it with your own tariff. The cap rate for electricity has sat between about 24p and 28p per kWh recently; Economy 7 night rates and some EV tariffs are far lower overnight, when downloads could run.
- Custom console power draw (advanced): enter a measured or game-specific figure (a smart plug settles it): a PS5 playing an indie title may draw 100 to 120 watts, a PS5 Pro up to 220, a high-end gaming PC 500 or more.
- TV, monitor and extras (advanced): the TV usually out-draws the console (a 55 inch LED set 80 to 120 watts, OLED more at high brightness), and powered speakers, routers and charging docks stack a few watts each around the clock. The "Whole setup" card adds them to give the real cost of the media corner.
- Days per week you play (advanced): fewer gaming days cut the gaming kWh while standby still runs every day, which shifts the standby share upward and makes the setting matter more.
- Instant-on vs energy saver (advanced): the yearly difference between a 15 watt always-ready mode and a 1.5 watt rest mode for your hours, plus what switching off at the wall saves on top. Set auto-suspend timers, download overnight in energy saver, and switch off at the wall for the holiday fortnight.
- Carbon footprint (advanced): the whole setup's kWh times the UK grid's average intensity of about 0.207 kg CO2 per kWh, shown alongside the equivalent miles in an average petrol car. Performance modes measurably draw less than fidelity modes on the same title, and 60Hz caps help where 120 adds nothing.
- Game subscriptions and hobby total (advanced): add Game Pass, PS Plus or Nintendo Switch Online fees to compare the electricity with the subscriptions. For most players the household energy conversation belongs with the tumble dryer, not the controller.
- Console comparison table (advanced): hourly cost, yearly kWh, yearly cost and standby share for every console in the list at your hours, standby setting and unit rate.