Does PS5 rest mode use a lot of electricity?

No, absolutely not. The PlayStation 5 uses an incredibly small amount of power when sitting in rest mode – just about 0.5 Watts on average. That‘s less electricity than is used by most LED light bulbs. Rest assured your PS5 isn‘t racking up your energy bill.

To put this miniscule power draw into perspective, here‘s what that translates into in terms of actual energy costs for PS5 owners:

• Based on the average cost per kWh of electricity in the US of $0.14, leaving your PS5 in rest mode for an entire year would add only $0.25 to your annual energy spending.

• Average costs are similarly low elsewhere. In the UK where electricity averages $0.24 per kWh, you‘d pay around $0.43 if you never fully powered down for 365 days straight.

So while shutting down fully saves a tiny bit versus rest mode, the convenience benefits often make it worthwhile for PlayStation gamers.

Just how little energy does the PS5 use in rest mode?

To really demonstrate that PS5 rest mode barely sips power, have a look at this breakdown:

As you can see when sitting idle in rest mode, the PlayStation 5 uses less than 1% of the juice needed for high intensity gaming sessions. Keeping background tasks running like system updates, game installs, controller charging and upload/downloads prepared for your next session is not at all taxing in energy requirements.

And this ~0.5W draw is even over 6X more efficient than the PlayStation 4 and PS4 Pro were when sitting in rest mode. So Sony‘s engineers have done great work minimizing energy waste.

Why rest mode‘s low power draw makes sense

When in rest mode, the PS5 isn‘t completely inactive even if you aren‘t directly interacting with it. Some key background operations that maintain the console‘s core functionality include:

• Downloading system software updates and game patches
• Installing any newly downloaded games and add-ons
• Charging DualSense wireless controllers
• Uploading save files to cloud storage
• Processing uploads and screenshots to social media
• Streaming PS5 games to mobile devices

All this extra utility does require that the main processor, RAM, internal storage and network systems remain powered on at a minimal level. The custom AMD SoC chip at the heart of the PS5 likely enters a very low voltage state that consumes little energy.

So while going into full shutdown mode turns everything off to stop using power completely, rest mode provides plenty of welcome functionality. At a cost of pennies per year it‘s absolutely not "a lot" of electricity by any measure.

Should you use rest mode or fully shut down?

For most PlayStation 5 gamers sticking with rest mode whenever they aren‘t actively gaming provides the best overall experience. The time savings from quick resumes, auto-updates and charged controllers generally outweigh the tiny power savings from fully shutting down. Avoiding extra wear from thermal cycling components on/off is nice too.

However, if you plan to go several days without using your console then shutting down fully makes sense. Dropping to 0 Watts guarantees no wasted electricity. Just be prepared for Things like game updates and data transfers to be interrupted until it boots back up.

Using rest mode properly by keeping your PS5 in well ventilated spaces and avoiding unexpected power interruptions will also minimize any small risk of issues arising. Following Sony‘s guidance will keep your new console happily humming along in standby whenever you need it.

So in summary – no, the PS5 absolutely does NOT consume "a lot" of energy while in rest mode. It uses less power than most light bulbs! But the array of benefits it brings make that tiny power draw incredibly worthwhile for most gamers.