PS5 Power Consumption: How does the PS5 fare against other devices?

The PlayStation 5 is an impressive piece of technology. With 4K/60 FPS capabilities, super-fast loading times thanks to its SSD, and a much-improved cooling system, it's no wonder Sony's next-gen console is almost consistently out-of-stock.

However, all those features come at a cost, and no, I'm not just talking about its £450 price tag. The new, more powerful console has been named as one of the worst when it comes to power consumption.

Here's everything you need to know about how the PS5 stacks up against other gaming consoles and devices in terms of energy consumption.

READ MORE: PS5 UK restock reportedly delayed: Are consoles really “sitting in cages” in stores?

How much power does the PS5 use?

The power consumption of the PS5 really depends on how you are using it. According to a report by Eurogamer's Digital Foundry, the PS5 consumes around 200W when playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales, 47W while idle, and 1.3W when turned off.

This marks a slight increase in power consumption compared to previous PlayStation consoles, with Sony reporting the latest PS4 Pro can use up to 158.2W when playing games and 0.2W when turned off. However, the PS4 Pro used 64.3W while idle, making the PS5 more energy efficient in this aspect.

The US National Resources Defense Council has, however, praised some aspects of the PS5's power consumption, specifically the small amount of power it uses when in Rest Mode compared to the Xbox Series X's Instant-On setting. It also praised the use of an internal, rechargeable battery in the DualSense controller. However, the organisation did warn against the problems of the default PS5 settings, which would only turn the PS5 off after four hours of inactivity for gaming playback.

READ MORE: How to fix PS5 power issues: Sony’s official advice for when your console switches itself off

PS5 power consumption comparison

In a recent report carried out by NotebookCheck, the site found that the PlayStation 5 consumes more power than the latest gaming laptops that use the GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs.

In comparison to the PS5's idle and gaming power consumption figures taken from Eurogamer, the laptops used less power. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15, complete with a GeForce RTX 3080, for example, used just 10-17W while idle, and 123W while gaming. At the high-end, the Schenker XMG Neo 17 w/ GeForce RTX 3070 used 13-26W while idle and 187 while playing games. It's also worth noting that as gaming laptop also come with a screen, this does not include the approximate 60W used for a TV or monitor, for example.

Of course, the price of these laptops is significantly higher than the £450 it costs to buy a PlayStation 5 - a product that Sony makes a loss on when selling.

When comparing the PS5 to the Xbox Series X, the results are mixed. According to Eurogamer, Gears 5 drew 211W at its peak. It also used 42W when idle, and 0.2W when turned off.

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