What Happens If You Leave Your PlayStation 5 On All The Time?

As with other pieces of technology like PCs, there’s some debate over whether you should leave your PlayStation 5 on all of the time, or turn it off when it’s not in use. “Off” can also mean two different things when it comes to the PS5, as the console has three power states: On, Off, and Rest Mode. The latter serves as an in-between, putting the console into a low power state where the display and DualSense controller turn off without fully closing any open games or disconnecting from the internet.

There are pros and cons to all of these power states. Leaving your PS5 on means you can hop back into your games faster and don’t have to wait until after starting up the console to download updates, but you’re also using more power and hardware damage. That makes rest mode, which the console is set to put itself into after being inactive for a certain amount of time by default, a good compromise. To understand why turning off your PS5 or putting it into rest mode is a good idea, it’s important to know the risks involved with leaving it on all of the time.

The greatest risk of leaving your PlayStation 5 on constantly could be overheating. The PS5 is designed to shut itself down if it gets too hot, but leaving your console on (especially with a game running in the background) can cause problems in the long term. Turning your console off gives the fan a break, which is important for keeping the console clean. 

The PS5’s fan sucks up air to cool the console, trapping dust and debris that builds up and leads to overheating. You should still clean your console regularly to prevent long term damage, but turning it off when it’s not in use means you won’t necessarily have to do that as often.

Not only does an overheating PS5 not run as well, but you’re also causing unnecessary wear on the components, which could eventually break the console. In addition to the fans, the disc drive can wear out over time, and leaving a disc in it when it’s not being used damages both the drive and the disc.

There’s one more major reason for turning off your PS5 or putting it into rest mode, and it’s a pretty obvious one: power consumption. While in use, the console uses about 200-220 watts for intensive gaming sessions and 55-80 watts streaming video content. Having the home screen open uses around 45-50 watts, though it does decrease a little after a period of inactivity. A PS5 in rest mode uses only 0.3 to 4.2 watts depending on your settings when it’s not downloading anything. That difference adds up.

Setting your PS5 to rest mode is far better for the hardware and your power bill than leaving it on 24/7. It’s also best to turn your PlayStation 5 off completely (and even unplug it from the wall) if you know you’re not going to use it for a while or anticipate a power outage. That way, you can avoid the PS5’s data corruption problems that can occur if the console abruptly loses power.