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For longevity, is it better to leave retro consoles plugged in or unplugged? (self.retrogaming)

submitted 1 year ago by MrKilroy to c/retrogaming

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So this is a thought I had the other day. Do you think for longevity / preservation it is best to leave consoles connected to power or leave them unplugged, ignoring something like a power surge?

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[–] yokonzo 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Let's be honest, old consoles were BEASTS.

I remember my old PS2 used to be perpetually on, I would come home and just flip on the tvand there was my game, sometimes it was a neccesity if I was playing a ps1 game because I didn't have a ps1 memory card, I swear that thing had to be on for months at a time and it was just fine.

It gets a little harder the newer the console is though, take the 360, if I had done that with that console it would be red ringed before a week Take this with a grain of salt of course, if you wanna be safe, then yeah go ahead and keep it unplugged, or better yet, get a power switch so all you have to do is hit a button, but that was my experience

[–] MrKilroy 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I used to be so afraid to leave my consoles on as a kid. I remember that there was something in super smash brothers melee that you could unlock I guess through play time and this one kid was like "just start a match with max lives and let it run over night." And I was so nervous the whole time.

Thanks for your response! I just hooked up all my consoles again for the first time in a couple years and just had the thought that maybe it's better for them to be disconnected but then also maybe they're like cars and where sitting really isn't good for them.

Oh and speaking of old consoles being beasts, I have an Atari 400 that survived a house fire!

[–] yokonzo 1 points 1 year ago

If its worth anything, idk how this translates for consoles, but in the PC world, turning the system on is technically the hardest thing on the PSU, because it has to boost every component at once, but then again, you'll still be many years in before you experience any sort of failure