Racketboy

Hey guys,

So i've always wondered if completely turning off your console or leaving it in "standby" mode was better for longevity sake, ie consoles like ps2 and ps3. I was always under the impression that fully turning the system off would increase the lifespan of my consoles. Well tonight I finally started to read up on the subject and was actually quite shocked, i learned that standby mode is the safer of the two and constantly turning your consoles fully off and on, on a daily basis can be quite harmful to the internal components. Basically by flicking the switch on the back of your ps2 and ps3 on causes high electric spikes to wake your console up which actually damage it over time. Leaving it on standby is pretty much feeding it a steady source of power giving it a longer life. Now of course if you don't play on playing your console for a month or longer, or if there is a thunderstorm nearby you should turn it off/unplug the console from the wall, but other than that standby is apparently the way to go.

Also, another point I thought of is in standby mode its just an unnecessary waste of power and money but in reading this article: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10257956-1.html it shows just how little power it wastes per year. It would cost you about $1.53/year depending on the cost of your electricity. Cheap!

What do you guys think? Is this true? How many of you leave your consoles in standby mode or completely shut them off?

I leave them in standby. As far as PS2 and PS3, my feelings are that if you were supposed to switch them all the way off, the power switch wouldnt be on the back

I switch them off because I dont play my systems for a consistent basis.

I always leave them on standby. Just as someone said above, I figured if you were supposed to be shutting the console on and off all the time then the on/off switch would be on the front of the console.

This might not be the best comparison, but they've done tests on light bulbs to see how much turning them on and off effects their life span, and in order for a significant impact to be made they need to be turned on and off almost constantly. I highly doubt that turning a console on once a day would have a high impact. If it does have an impact from a totally unprofessional standpoint I'd attribute that to bad design, there's no good reason that you shouldn't be able to just turn the thing off. It's not a big deal with the ps3, but it does bug me with the slim ps2 because you can't turn it totally off and they do have decent power use on standby.

I usually leave them on standby. Just like any computer system, it's usually better to leave it running as long as the cooling is sufficient, and having any electronics heat and cool will wear them out more than keeping a constant temperature.
About the lights, a friend of mine (actually roommate for a couple years) used to rapidly turn the lights in a room on and off and it would often burn the incandescent ones out. My mom finally got mad at him because we had to change out so many lightbulbs while he lived at our house.

I totally agree! An electronic device should not be designed in such a fashion. My Genesis, NES, SMS, Satur, PS1, etc etc all didn't have a problem with this.

But now the PS2, PS3 and Wii all have this asinine standby mode, trying to be like a computer or some crap. Which I also don't use. Off or on.

$1.53 isn't that much. That's kind of cheap, you'd think...

let's say 10% of the US population own a PS2, PS3 or Wii. And let's say that 1% of them leave it on standay by. That's 300,000 people a year leaving their console on standyby. That's a half a million dollars just wasted... to increase a hypothetical longevity of a console?

My other issue with it, is the Wii, who makes it SO damn annoying to turn completely off. My roommates can't figure the thing out, I have to make sure it's off when they're done with it or it sits on standby because it looks like it turned off, but then either starts back up, or goes into standby, or whatever... the button just is wonky! And yeah it's only a couple cents... but I live in Florida where AC is a very important thing, try living here with out AC and still be someone who works from home on the PC, I dare you. So my bill is 250+ dollars a month, every penny counts in my opinion.

My point is that, saying it doesn't use that much just so one can be lazy (as the article points out) is just that, being fucking lazy. And then trying to validate said laziness a second time with a hypothetical longevity debate, is just that, really fucking lazy.

I read somewhere that leaving certain Wii models on standby can sometimes lead to it overheating. Can anyone confirm this? I always shut it down completely (red light) that orange one just makes me worried it's going to burn while I'm gone or something. Paranoia.

I keep all my consoles plugged into a power strip which I turn on only when needed. If you add up the standby power draw of all the electronics in the country, it's really quite a lot of power. No point in doing that. I do turn my PS2 to standby before cutting the power. I just don't believe that going from standby to off, or from off to standby is going to damage electronics. I think the risk of a power surge while being plugged into an open circuit is going to be worse really.

Edit:


When you're using A/C you don't just have to count the watts the unit is drawing. Watts convert directly to heat, so you also have to count the watts the A/C is going to draw getting rid of the extra heat. So you're at least doubling the power you use.

Of course in the winter those watts help heat your house and offset your heating bill. But heat from gas is cheaper, so it's still a small loss. Either way, it's not going to matter that much if you only have the one console. If you have a dozen of them hooked up, it's worth shutting them down. Those wall warts on your retro consoles draw power when they're not turned on too.

That is good to know. Usually I turn my PS2 completely off, but I leave my PS3 on standby only because I use the PSP remote play feature often.