Leaving pc on

[MasterFul]

Is it better for the pc to leave it on most of the time or should it be turned off whenever its not in use?

 

[Mik3y]

it'll be fine if you leave it on all the time. wont really matter unless you intend to keep it for 5+ years or more i guess.

 

[Amaroque]

This is a highly debatable topic...

If you leave your computer on 24/7, you will be wearing out things like the fans, and HDD's (any physically moving part). The HDD depends on your power configuration.

If you turn it on, and off all the time. Then the computer goes through thermal shock every time it heats up to temperature, and cools down. Which isn't good for the electronics.

It's 6 of one, and a half dozen of the other.

Personally, I'd rather have fans wear out, then any electronics.

Anyway, I leave my computers on 24/7.

 

[stevty2889]

I leave both of mine on 24/7. I really don't think it matters all that much. Might save a small bit of your electric bill by turning off when not in use. I don't think it really matters much either way, it's all personal preferance, but I am sure some people will have arguments for one way or the other.

 

[ribbon13]

The Raptors can go 136 years at %100 duty cycle.

Modern hard drives are better off being on all the time.

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
The Raptors can go 136 years at %100 duty cycle.

Modern hard drives are better off being on all the time.

I hope my Raptors last that long. It that a MTBF quote?

In any case, they will be pertty much useless to me within 5 years. :roll:

 

[Duvie]

I leave my on 24/7 except when I knwow a thunderstorm is near, or I go on vacation for longer then 3 days....

 

[ribbon13]

Yes the MTBF of a raptor is 1.2 million hours.

 

[SkyBum]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Yes the MTBF of a raptor is 1.2 million hours.

...and they have proven this to be true using what method? Marketing hype sometimes sounds mysteriously like fact.

 

[ribbon13]

MTBF determination is a ratified standard. And that isn't marketing hype. You have to actually go to western digitals page and look at the spec sheet to find that info. It's not something they advertise as a feature.

 

[imported_ArmenG]

I say think of it like this, if there was a truly better choice people would all know. I turn mine off at night and again on the morning, thats just me.

 

[ribbon13]

That causes a lot of undue thermal stress. Unless its not going to be used for more than 24 hours, I'd leave it on doing SETI or in suspend mode.

 

[SkyBum]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
MTBF determination is a ratified standard. And that isn't marketing hype. You have to actually go to western digitals page and look at the spec sheet to find that info. It's not something they advertise as a feature.

Fine. So it's not hype. My point is that since these drives have not been in existence for 1.2 million hours (that's 137 years, mind you) how the hell can anyone make this claim with anything remotely resembling certainty? And if they can not be certain......well doesn't that bring us full circle right back to marketing hype?

EDIT: Sorry for the hijack.

 

[gwag]

Originally posted by: SkyBum

Originally posted by: ribbon13
MTBF determination is a ratified standard. And that isn't marketing hype. You have to actually go to western digitals page and look at the spec sheet to find that info. It's not something they advertise as a feature.

Fine. So it's not hype. My point is that since these drives have not been in existence for 1.2 million hours (that's 137 years, mind you) how the hell can anyone make this claim with anything remotely resembling certainty? And if they can not be certain......well doesn't that bring us full circle right back to marketing hype?

EDIT: Sorry for the hijack.

not really hype,These disk drives have MTBF ratings of about 1,200,000 hours. This means that of all the drives tested, one failure occurred every 1,200,000 hours of testing.
Leaving them on in the long run is better for computers, may waste power especially if you have a new P4. As a consultant i have only one client whom shuts down every night (power concerns) I have replaced 6 power supplies and 3 mother boards in the last year all the computers were working fine when shutdown just wouln't power up the next day. I have reciently just moved a computer and the power supply failed. also be sure if you leave em on to clean the dust out that builds up on certain heatsinks.

 

[ribbon13]

Edit:NM

 

[Sparky Anderson]

leaving on the monitor will cost you more on your electricity bill than leaving the computer on will...

 

[corkyg]

Right - so leave the computer on if you like and turn off the monitor. The computer couldn't care less.

 

[ribbon13]

I thought that went without saying.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: gwag

Originally posted by: SkyBum

Originally posted by: ribbon13
MTBF determination is a ratified standard. And that isn't marketing hype. You have to actually go to western digitals page and look at the spec sheet to find that info. It's not something they advertise as a feature.

Fine. So it's not hype. My point is that since these drives have not been in existence for 1.2 million hours (that's 137 years, mind you) how the hell can anyone make this claim with anything remotely resembling certainty? And if they can not be certain......well doesn't that bring us full circle right back to marketing hype?

EDIT: Sorry for the hijack.

not really hype,These disk drives have MTBF ratings of about 1,200,000 hours. This means that of all the drives tested, one failure occurred every 1,200,000 hours of testing.

Except that they couldn't possibly have tested any of the drives for more than a couple of years at *most* (think about it; you can't DO 1,200,000 hours of testing on an individual drive). What this MTBF figure means is they probably took, say, 250 drives, and tested them for, say, 5,000 hours straight (~6 months), which gives you 1.25 million drive-hours of testing, and they only had one drive fail (out of those 250) in that amount of time.

This does NOT mean the individual drives will last 1.2 million hours each on average -- it means that, for a large enough population of drives, they expect roughly one failure per 1.2M drive-hours of usage, at least for brand-new drives. While this approach is valid, it does not generally take into account aging and wear on the drives (older drives get increasingly likely to fail -- it is unlikely that any current hard drives, no matter how well-made, will last more than 5-10 years under load), and without knowing more about the exact testing that's done (maybe they tested 1,000 drives for 1,250 hours each?, or 10,000 drives for 200 hours each?), it's hard to say how reliable these figures really are.

 

[ribbon13]

I would imagine that would last far longer than to the time when their obsolete. Arguement mooted.

 

[randomlinh]

i used to leave it on... but our electricity bill has been pretty high. so i'm experimenting w/ two of the three comps... since they really only need to be on for maybe 6-7hrs during the day... the rest of the time they sit and do nothing.

 

[S0Y73NTGR33N]

I reboot once a day just to check if it boots ok... am I wearing my hardware out?

-green

 

[WobbleWobble]

Many people used to argue that turning your computer on and off regularly would wear out your computer. But it's been many many years since that has been said, and I have yet to hear or see a computer that has been warn out due to powering on regularly.

I personally turn off to save electricity. I don't leave my lights on, why would I leave my PC on (idle, unused)?

 

[ribbon13]

I also live in a cold region, so my pc keeps my room warmer too. No joke.

 

[MrControversial]

Your computer draws more power booting up than it does just running.