Turn your consoles off when you're not playing

[mugs]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
gotta agree with him here.. isn't this common sense? Given how hot these things run, I'd figure it'd be pricey to leave them running. On the flip side, in the winter are tv area is nice and warm =)

The real question should be "when I turn off my system, am I really turning it off?" A lot of people don't realize their stuff is just going into standby.

It is common sense, but a lot of people leave them on anyway. In particular, I wonder if people realize how much it costs to run folding on their PS3 when it's not in use. Considering how much people complain about the cost of games going up $10 or Microsoft charging for XBL Gold, I wonder if people realize how much power their consoles are consuming.

And also, I was really surprised by how little power the Wii uses, even if it is less advanced technology.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
gotta agree with him here.. isn't this common sense? Given how hot these things run, I'd figure it'd be pricey to leave them running. On the flip side, in the winter are tv area is nice and warm =)

The real question should be "when I turn off my system, am I really turning it off?" A lot of people don't realize their stuff is just going into standby.

True. My space is considerably cooler now that I sold one of my GTX 280s out of my SLI rig to fund the purchase of my 360.

...I assume that anything that you can turn "on" with a remote control is actually in standby when you turn it "off". Which, is pretty much everything these days.

Originally posted by: ducci
I know I should probably be killing power entirely to my TV and such, but I have my DVR/Cable box/etc. So meh.

I have everything, except my DVR/cable box on a switched outlet.

I also have our file/print/media server and printer attached to a SmartStrip. http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Sh...rt-Energy/Smart-Strip/

The box has WOL, and I have a WOL shortcut on the desktop of all the other PCs to wake up the server. We don't use the server like 99.9% of the time, so this is an easy way to make it consume less power. The Smartstrip works great with WOL.

I didn't care for the SmartStrip for the TV/entertainment system because it has a slight delay when turning on, which prevented our Harmony 550 remote from turning everything one with any consistency. Putting everything except the DVR/Cable box on the switched outlet works much better.

...the only thing I leave on 24/7 is the mac mini, although it is in sleep mode most of the time.

Originally posted by: mugs
It is common sense, but a lot of people leave them on anyway. In particular, I wonder if people realize how much it costs to run folding on their PS3 when it's not in use. Considering how much people complain about the cost of games going up $10 or Microsoft charging for XBL Gold, I wonder if people realize how much power their consoles are consuming.

And also, I was really surprised by how little power the Wii uses, even if it is less advanced technology.

Very good point about folding, SETI, etc... Distributed computing also means distributed cost.

Given the cost differences between Xenon and Falcon 360s that are left on, I am assuming that process size/tech have little to do with the power draw. My immediate guess for the big differences between the Wii and PS3/X360 are due to the fact that the Wii doesn't have a hard drive.

 

[teb468]

Originally posted by: ducci
I know I should probably be killing power entirely to my TV and such, but I have my DVR/Cable box/etc. So meh.

I turn off the power strip that has my consoles, tv stuff, and modem every night. I figure since my wife and I are only ever home and awake from 5:00PM to midnight or so, there is no use making my electricity bill any higher then it has to be. If anything, it probably saves $75 bucks a year assuming it accounts for 5% of my bill every month.

 

[imported_Imp]

While we're on the subject of standby-wastage, does anyone know if it's "healthy" to turn the powerbar on and off every day? I remember that my old CRT would make a clicking noise every time I hit the powerbar switch, and my computer's PSU's fan always spins up for a second. The worst thing about my computer PSU is that it gets warm, even when it's on standby. Everytime I had to get into the case, I could feel that the PSU was warm, despite being 'off' for the entire night. Hope it's just my specific model.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: FuryofFive
When they say turn it off...do they mean physically remove plug from outlet, or do they mean just turn off the system so its not actually running, such as pS3 being in the red instead of green and so on

I'm guessing they mean unplugged.

 

[Nohr]

My friend's son would leave his PS2 on constantly. He'd be playing something, pause it, then go to school for 8 hours! I don't know if it ever got turned off honestly.

 

[nycdude]

there is a similar article on yahoo where the ps3 playing a Blu-ray wastes 5x as much electricity than a stand alone player.

Link

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: ducci
Powered up electronics consume power!? Brilliant!

Stop trolling. The point is how much they consume, $10 per year v. $160 per year is a very significant difference.

This is considered trolling now?

Seriously?

Yes, $10 vs $160 is big, I suppose. But how is this not completely obvious?

They are electronics. They consume electricity. Using electricity costs money.

Leaving a light bulb on 24/7 vs. turning it off will save ~$30 in electricity a year.

Turning your computer off when not in use vs. leaving it on 24/7 will save ~$75 a year.

So again:

Powered up electronics consume power!? Brilliant!

gotta agree with him here.. isn't this common sense? Given how hot these things run, I'd figure it'd be pricey to leave them running. On the flip side, in the winter are tv area is nice and warm =)

The real question should be "when I turn off my system, am I really turning it off?" A lot of people don't realize their stuff is just going into standby.

Yeah it does seem like a stupid stat. You mean to tell me that if I leave my TV/Stereo/Oven/dryer/incandescent lights/car running it will use more power? No way!?!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: ducci
Powered up electronics consume power!? Brilliant!

Stop trolling. The point is how much they consume, $10 per year v. $160 per year is a very significant difference.

This is considered trolling now?

Seriously?

Yes, $10 vs $160 is big, I suppose. But how is this not completely obvious?

They are electronics. They consume electricity. Using electricity costs money.

Leaving a light bulb on 24/7 vs. turning it off will save ~$30 in electricity a year.

Turning your computer off when not in use vs. leaving it on 24/7 will save ~$75 a year.

No, not seriously, I was pushing a lot of aggression out physically at the time, and it makes me confrontational. My apologies. I think the OP has elaborated upon their PSA very well, so I won't attempt to further expound upon that point other than to address the remark of- "So againowered up electronics consume power!? Brilliant!" It does not address the rather significant power usage differences between one platform and another, in any way, shape, or form, which was specifically the topic here.

What seems obvious to you, can seem very esoteric to others. You also throw out numbers that are too generalized. What type of light bulb, incandescent or florescent? What wattage rating? What PC config? The power cost vary significantly based upon config and location, as the recent Anandtech article illustrated.

 

[coldmeat]

Only $160/year? Considering how much heat they produce I would have thought it would be a lot more.

 

[ChaoZ]

Originally posted by: teb468

Originally posted by: ducci
I know I should probably be killing power entirely to my TV and such, but I have my DVR/Cable box/etc. So meh.

I turn off the power strip that has my consoles, tv stuff, and modem every night. I figure since my wife and I are only ever home and awake from 5:00PM to midnight or so, there is no use making my electricity bill any higher then it has to be. If anything, it probably saves $75 bucks a year assuming it accounts for 5% of my bill every month.

I'll gladly pay the $75 just so I don't have to do that every night.

 

[pennylane]

This study didn't say which version of 360 and PS3 it used right? The newer ones have to use less energy than the launch ones right? With the move to smaller dies and everything...

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: fanerman91
This study didn't say which version of 360 and PS3 it used right? The newer ones have to use less energy than the launch ones right? With the move to smaller dies and everything...

It showed the costs for each, and you're right that there is a reduction in energy consumption.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: fanerman91

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: FuryofFive
sooo is leaving my ps3 in standby mode bad?(red light)

The department of energy estimates that 11% of our nation's electricity use comes from electronics that are in standby mode. :Q

Do you have a link for that? I'm interested in these numbers.

NBC has been doing their "green week," and it was on one of their PSAs.

There's some info in here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standby_power

According to America's Department of Energy, national residential electricity consumption in 2004 was 1.29 billion megawatt hours (MWh)?5% of which is 64m MWh. The wasted energy, in other words, is equivalent to the output of 18 typical power stations. His 2000 study showed that standby power accounted for around 10% of household power-consumption.

I gotta dig up my Kill-a-Watt and do some investigating.

Maybe this dude has done it for us?

http://www.aeropause.com/2007/...r-the-ps3-360-and-wii/

Since I can power on my ps3 by hitting the ps button on my controller, I'm assuming I have remote start enabled. Hmm...

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: torpid

Maybe this dude has done it for us?

http://www.aeropause.com/2007/...r-the-ps3-360-and-wii/

Since I can power on my ps3 by hitting the ps button on my controller, I'm assuming I have remote start enabled. Hmm...

The way he describes it, Remote Start is a feature they added to Remote Play (which I think is the integration between the PSP and PS3). Regular standby (1 watt according to him) existed previously, and allows you to turn on your PS3 with the controller.

 

[Ackmed]

Its pretty much common sense to turn something off it not using it. Why would you leave a console on for days if you arent going to use it? No reason I can think of, except for maybe folding. The 360 is so loud, it would be crazy to leave it on to me. And if you're really worried about $103 (not that these numbers are exact by any means) you have other issues. Such as slow cash flow.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Excuse my noobiness but what exactly is folding?

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Wardawg1001
Excuse my noobiness but what exactly is folding?

distributed computing. in this case, folding is in reference to folding@home, an effort to understand how proteins work and misbehave and whatnot. We have a forum for all types of distributed computing stuff here

 

[coldmeat]

Originally posted by: Wardawg1001
Excuse my noobiness but what exactly is folding?

Link

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Wardawg1001
Excuse my noobiness but what exactly is folding?

Folding at home, distributed computing. You can run on the PS3, and of course PC's

Folding


As for the consoles, I have never heard of people leaving them on, I didn't realize this was a phenomenon.

I haven't purposely left any of mine on since the pre-NES days before you could save your games.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
Its pretty much common sense to turn something off it not using it. Why would you leave a console on for days if you arent going to use it? No reason I can think of, except for maybe folding. The 360 is so loud, it would be crazy to leave it on to me. And if you're really worried about $103 (not that these numbers are exact by any means) you have other issues. Such as slow cash flow.

The 360 is not loud when it's idling. Nice try though.

$103 is $103. All of the millionaires I know would think you're an idiot for thinking $103 is an amount that isn't worth caring about.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
Only $160/year? Considering how much heat they produce I would have thought it would be a lot more.

Think of the energy SAVINGS on your home heating bill though!