Cost of living: How much does it cost to run an Xbox Series X?

gamesradar.com:

The cost of living crisis has us all feeling the pinch. And with energy bills rising across the globe, you might have found yourself wondering how much it costs to run your favorite gaming hardware. In the UK, energy bills are set to rise pretty significantly over the next fews months – once from the beginning of October, and again at the start of January – with countries all over the world facing similar price hikes in the coming weeks and months. So, with money-saving in mind, how much does it cost to run a PS5? Follow that link to answer that question. How much does it cost to run an Xbox Series X? Read on to find out more info. 

Whether arithmetic is your strong suit or not, calculating how much gaming consoles, handhelds, and desktops cost to run per hour is actually quite straightforward. So long as you know your device's output in Wh (watts per hour), Sust-It's 'Electricity Cost Calculator' can keep you right. According to the Xbox website (opens in new tab), the Xbox Series X has a power rating of 315Wh at full speed when running some of its most power-hungry and performance-heavy games, such as Halo: Infinite, Gears 5, and Forza Horizon 5.

Using the UK's previous price cap of 28 pence per kWh (kilowatts per hour; set in April 2022), playing the most visually-demanding games on Xbox Series X would have cost 8.82 pence per hour. However, against the new rate of 34 pence per kWh (as of October 1, 2022), spending 60 minutes with the same games will now set us back 10.71 pence. If we assume a game like Halo: Infinite has our Xbox Series X consoles running at full capacity, then, a five-hour session steering the Master Chief around the year 2560 will cost us 53.55 pence – up from the pre-October cap price of 44.10