Do any of you leave your 360 / PS3 running after use?

[Xian042]

This article:

http://gear.ign.com/articles/941/941223p1.html

talks about the energy consumption of game consoles that are left on after use vs. ones that are shut off. I'm surprised at their claim of how many people actually leave their system on all the time. They say at least half of all gamers leave their current gen game systems on after playing a game. I don't know about you guys, but I've never done this, nor do I know anybody that does. Most people I know wouldn't dare keep the unit on all the time out of fear of damage.
So how about you guys, are you a system leave'r on'r ?

[maxlords]

Good lord no...not with the kind of heat those things generate. I turn every system off after use. The only thing in my house (aside from stuff like the fridge and the aquarium) that gets left on 24/7 is my PC.

[TurboGenesis]

My goodness, NO!

I don't leave ANY current generation, or the past generation, console on when not in use! I cannot believe that people do this in abundance… Perhaps thats is why many people are having console failure? I have had my console since launch (all of them) and have not had issue yet…

Now for other consoles, like the NES, SNES, Genesis, Turbo… I have left these on for many days. Growing up, I use to "save game" by pressing pause and returning to that game after school or after bedtime…

[otaku]

I've left and may in the future on occassion my ps3 running so as to run folding@home I feel pretty confident its a reliable machine

[kupomogli]

Never done so with a next gen system, but I always turned my PS2 on to play a game, sat down to do something else and then forgot about the PS2 to upwards of hours. This was late in its lifecycle, where I don't play games nearly as often as I once did.

I blame the internet.

[tomwaits]

Folding@home would be the main reason so many users *might* leave their PS3 running, but I doubt it's half the userbase.

I wonder how much power is used in standby mode with the red light on? Would it reduce my electric bill much if I turned off the power strip instead of standby?

The Wii's energy efficiency is just amazing. If Nintendo ever needed another marketing angle to sell Wiis, they could start running ads as the only "green" game system.

[garagesaleking!!]

i turn my 360 off when im done with it, i will sometimes pause it and go have dinner or something and then come back and play, but i will only leave it running when i know ill be back in an hour or less.

[geneshifter]

my 360 is left on constantly some days.

[skaar]

I generally leave my consoles on if I'm wandering away for a bit, but usually shut them off before bed. If I remember in the middle of the night I forgot to it's not worth a trip to go shut them off.

I used to leave the Xbox (original) running almost all the time, because I'd forget to switch it off after watching something on XBMC.

[titanzguard]

With the current gen I always turn them off when I am done playing unless if I know I will be back in 15-20 min to play - in that case I leave them on. However, I do not turn them off completely. By that, I mean the PS3 has the red light on it and my Wii has the orange light on it at all times.

[Nebagram]

I never leave them running with the exception of when I'm charging up my 360's wireless pad, but then it's not so much 'on' as 'having power passing through it'.

[maxlords]

With the current gen I always turn them off when I am done playing unless if I know I will be back in 15-20 min to play - in that case I leave them on. However, I do not turn them off completely. By that, I mean the PS3 has the red light on it and my Wii has the orange light on it at all times.

That is turned off all the way for the Wii, isn't it? I think the PS3 has a hard switch on the back though.

[slip81]

nope, never did. anyone who does such is just asking for hardware problems.

[AMG]

Every console I own is turned off and unplugged after use.

[VACRMH]

nope, never did. anyone who does such is just asking for hardware problems.

Indeed. Could this be why some people get RROD's so quickly?

[NytroSkull7]

I could never leave any system on. Not only would it kill me inside, they are all in cabinets baking. The longest i ever left any of my systems on was my PS2 for 3 days because i had no memory card.

After i'm done playing every system is powered off and unplugged.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

After I'm done playing any system it gets turned off. I will accidently leave the NES on from time to time, but thats about the worst offense.

The PS3 uses more power than a lot of televisions, so there's no way I'm leaving that one on.

[Retsudo]

When I finish playing my PS3 I put it in standby and then shut it off from the back.

[jcalder8]

I always turn off my systems when I'm done with them. Sometimes I'll leave them on for a couple hours when I know that I'll be coming back to them but that is not the norm.

[exit]

I usually leave my PS3 running for a bit after I'm done playing a game, since I know I'll either start playing another game a short while after, or pop a movie in. I always put it on standby if I know I'm going to leave my house for a few hours tho.

[p_b]

That is turned off all the way for the Wii, isn't it? I think the PS3 has a hard switch on the back though.

No, it isn't. You could press the power button a bit longer and then you'd get a red light. With the former, the Wii is still connecting to the internet and checking for news...

I don't know how big a difference concerning energy consumption this makes though...

[Sudo]

I always turn them off if I'm not planning on playing for longer than a half hour or so.

[vypher]

I turn mine off especially the 360. Don't want to do anything that would contribute to the ring of death.

[sebastiankirchoff]

I always turn off my consoles after use, but if I have to eat or get distracted, I may leave it on for an extra hour but not anymore than that. I think the longest time I ever had a console on was when I left my NES on over-night since I couldn't save in Super Mario Bros 3.

[XYXZYZ]

I never have anything turned on if I'm not using it, save for one computer.

[Rob2600]

No, it isn't. You could press the power button a bit longer and then you'd get a red light. With the former, the Wii is still connecting to the internet and checking for news...

I don't know how big a difference concerning energy consumption this makes though...

Actually, even with the red power light, the Wii is still in standby mode. The only way to truly turn it off is to unplug it or turn off the power strip if it's connected to one.

That goes for all electronic devices that use a wireless remote controller (Wii, TV, DVD player, VCR, etc.). "Off" is never truly off. That's why the power buttons on modern electronics stay lit, even after turning them "off." It's to show that the device is still drawing power:

Wikipedia - standby power (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standby_power)

"Standby power is typically 10 to 15 watts per device, and occasionally more. ... Although the power needed for functions like displays, indicators, and remote control functions is relatively small, the fact that the devices are continuously plugged in, and the number of such devices in the average household means that the energy usage can reach up to 22 percent of all appliance consumption, and around 10 percent of total residential consumption. ...

Alan Meier, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, noted that many household appliances are never fully switched off, but spend most of the time in a standby mode. His 1998 study estimated that standby power consumption accounted for...more than $3 billion in annual energy costs.

According to America's Department of Energy...the wasted energy is equivalent to the output of 18 typical power stations."


Turn off your power strips before you leave for work and before you go to bed.