As electricity prices have risen dramatically recently, some gamers might be wondering whether they should spend less time on their favorite hobby to save money. Therefore, this article will answer how much power the two consoles of the “Xbox Series” range consume and what they typically cost you.
Due to the energy crisis, electricity prices are still rising sharply. Does this mean that passionate gamers need to reduce their screen time? To answer this question, we will calculate the power consumption of the Xbox Series X and S in this article.
A similar article was recently published about the power consumption of the PS5 and PS4 Pro. You can read it here:
In a recent survey by MeinMMO, about 50% of our readers stated that they play for about 20 hours a week. Therefore, we will use this number as a benchmark for the following calculation.
This is the power consumption of the Xbox Series X and S
How much power does your console consume? Clearly, the hardware of the Xbox Series X and S enables significantly better performance than older Microsoft consoles. Unfortunately, due to the increased power, they also have a quite considerable energy consumption.
At least the manufacturer managed to make their new consoles significantly more energy-efficient than they were with the Xbox One, for example.
However, how much power your Xbox Series X or Series S consumes greatly depends on what you are doing with the console.
| Status | Ø Series X | Ø Series S |
|---|---|---|
| Off | 0.3-2 watts | 0.3-1.5 watts |
| Idle | 6-10 watts | 6-10 watts |
| Menu | 40-50 watts | 29 watts |
| Stream | 50-70 watts | 40 watts |
| Game | max 200 watts | max 88 watts |
Interestingly, the consoles also consume a little power even when they are turned off but still plugged in. For the Series X, the values here are between 0.3 and up to 2 watts. For the smaller model, the consumption in the off state is slightly lower and is between 0.3 – 1.5 watts.
In standby mode, the new Xboxes consume an average of about 6 watts. However, if you have activated the console’s quick start feature, the consumption can jump up to 10 watts. Thus, the power consumption in standby is higher than that of the PS5.
If you are in the menu of the Series X, you consume about 40 to 50 watts, and during streaming, the consumption is between 50 and 70 watts. Here too, the values for the Series S are lower due to the weaker hardware: about 29 watts on the dashboard; an average of 40 watts while streaming.
However, the console has the highest power consumption for what it is mainly used: gaming. Depending on which game you play, the consumption varies.
For graphically demanding and newer games, the peak values for the XSX are around 200 watts, which is slightly lower than that of the PS5. The maximum power requirement during gaming on the Series S is significantly lower: here, a maximum of around 88 watts is reached.
Additionally, you should definitely always turn off the console or at least put it in standby mode when you are not using it actively.
Electricity Cost Calculation: Xbox Series X and Series S
How expensive is electricity currently? In principle, this depends on several factors, such as your location and provider. According to the comparison portal Verifox, the current electricity price is on average about 54 cents per kilowatt-hour. This is higher than ever before in Germany (via verifox.de).
| Year | Electricity price per kWh |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 39.92 ct/kWh |
| 2021 | 30.73 ct/kWh |
| 2020 | 29.36 ct/kWh |
| 2019 | 29.51 ct/kWh |
| 2018 | 27.82 ct/kWh |
So if we assume a “worst-case scenario” and take the maximum measured consumption of a “next-gen” title of 200 watts or 88 watts and calculate it with our readers’ average gaming time of 20 hours a week, this results in a power consumption of:
| Console | Time | kWh | € |
| Series X | Day | 0.57 | 0.31 |
| Week | 3.99 | 2.15 | |
| Month | 15.96 | 8.62 | |
| Year | 207.48 | 112.04 | |
| Series S | Day | 0.25 | 0.14 |
| Week | 1.76 | 0.95 | |
| Month | 7.02 | 3.79 | |
| Year | 91.29 | 49.30 |
To calculate this, Stromverbrauchinfo.de was used.
Compared to the PS5, both consoles of the “Xbox Series” range are currently well available. The Xbox Series S is even currently 12% off on Amazon:
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Xbox Series X - 1 TB* | Zu Amazon |
*Affiliate-Links. Wir erhalten bei einem Kauf eine kleine Provision von Amazon. Vielen Dank für Eure Unterstützung!
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Xbox Series S 512 GB* | Zu Amazon |
*Affiliate-Links. Wir erhalten bei einem Kauf eine kleine Provision von Amazon. Vielen Dank für Eure Unterstützung!
Conclusion
The good news first: Playing with your Xbox console will not drive you into financial ruin in the future. However, it is also quite clear how much the hardware built into the console influences power consumption.
If you want to save money in double measure, you should get an Xbox Series S. But even the Xbox Series X has marginally lower power costs than, for example, the PS5, where you can expect values from our calculation of about 117 € in the year.
