PS5 PlayStation 5 Energy 1

Good news for the environment and your electricity bill: the PlayStation 5 is much more energy efficient than its immediate predecessor, the PlayStation 4 Pro. According to analysis published by Eurogamer.net, the next-gen system uses as little as 1.3W when in Rest Mode with all of its features enabled, compared to 5W of the PS4 Pro.

That rises up to 36W when you’re downloading a game in the background, but Sony’s mid-gen refresh gobbled up 50W under the same circumstance. This is a consistent theme: at its main menu the PS5 uses 47W compared to 63W on PS4 Pro, and when playing a backwards compatible title like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, it posts 107W compared to 147W.

In fact, the only time the new console appears to use more power than its last-gen counterpart is, as you’d expect, when running next-gen games. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales peaks at 203W during its most intense moments, for example, where God of War registers about 177W on PS4 Pro under similar load. It’s not a like-for-like comparison, but it gives you a rough idea.

Overall, we’re pretty happy with the efficiency of the PS5. Sony’s definitely cut down operational overheads in all the right areas, and while you will ultimately end up eating a little more power while you’re playing your next-gen games, it’s good to know that idle features like Rest Mode are now much more conservative with their power draw.

[source eurogamer.net]