Turn it on&off vs leave it on vs sleep?

[sd]

I have vista home premium on my new system I just built, and was wondering how I should leave my system for the day and overnight. With my previous system, I would just turn off the monitor and leave the system running all the time. With this system, I've putting it into sleep mode when I'm away for extended periods of time.

I thought I heard that its not a good thing to power the system on and off every day.

What do you do or recommend? Thanks.

 

[Pabster]

It's really personal preference. How "Green" are you? :laugh:

I always put my lappies to sleep, but my desktops run 24/7.

 

[Navid]

A PC that is left on keeps circulating air through the case by the intake and or exhaust fans. The components inside the case will act as a filter and dust collector.

If you use the PC 6 hours a day, it will accumulate dust 4 times faster if you leave it on all the time (24/6=4).

Most home PCs become obsolete in about 5 years, if not sooner.
There is never any damage to any component within that kind of time period due to turning it on and off.

 

[Roguestar]

Turn it off, you'll save money on electricity and the life of your hardware.

 

[Aikouka]

Night time is prime downloading time (especially if you're on a cable connection and see heavy daytime use by kiddies). Also, I use my computer as a way to get in contact with me (I'm not a phone person), so leaving me a message is cool. I leave mine on 24/7. Sleep would disable the network connection, so that'd be no good.

 

[Roguestar]

I'm more likely to have mine download overnight, then turn it off during they day when I'm out at work (and when it's hotter!).

 

[seanc85]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Turn it off, you'll save money on electricity and the life of your hardware.

This is debatable and there are arguments both for and against, with no real scientific backing AFAIK

For: basically what you said, running 24 could lessen the life of your hardware b/c it is constantly on, heat issues, dust etc

Against: by turning on/off hardware on a daily basis it could potentially cause imperceptible deformities in the hardware. These deformities would be caused by the heat fluctuations when the computer is turned on/off. Heat cuases expansion, and cooling would cause the hardware to retract.

i have no scientific backing for these arguments but they are technically valid based on common principles of heat/cold.
If anyone can provide something more scientific that refutes/supports either of these arguments, please provide it as i am always interested in expanding my knowledge

 

[Lasthitlarry]

Personal preference
I want my hard drives to last as long as possible and I want to use as little electricity as possible, I work for 8 hours, then sleep for 7, so my pc gets 15 hours of rest a day, roughly

 

[Slugbait]

Originally posted by: seanc85

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Turn it off, you'll save money on electricity and the life of your hardware.

This is debatable and there are arguments both for and against, with no real scientific backing AFAIK

For: basically what you said, running 24 could lessen the life of your hardware b/c it is constantly on, heat issues, dust etc

Against: by turning on/off hardware on a daily basis it could potentially cause imperceptible deformities in the hardware. These deformities would be caused by the heat fluctuations when the computer is turned on/off. Heat cuases expansion, and cooling would cause the hardware to retract.

i have no scientific backing for these arguments but they are technically valid based on common principles of heat/cold.
If anyone can provide something more scientific that refutes/supports either of these arguments, please provide it as i am always interested in expanding my knowledge

If you're using an 8086, then you might want to leave the system on for reasons described in the quote. However, with current hardware this no longer applies.

IMO, the first components that will burn out if you leave your system running 24/7 will be the fans. If left unchecked, one could possibly take out the associated component with it. Of course, this is assuming you don't have a crappy PSU, which will probably die first.

But I digress...my main machine is shut down every night, left off while I'm at work. My MCE machine runs 24/7 for obvious reasons.

It depends on your preference and what you want your machine to do.

 

[frostedflakes]

If you're not using it and don't need the internet connection to be active might as well shut it down. I'd recommend sleep, as the power consumption is negligible (generally 2-3 watts) and start up time is pretty quick. The only time I shut down my PC is if I'm going to be gone for an extended period of time, like a few days.

 

[imported_Stew]

I make my computer Hibernate. Super-fast startup times in Vista, and saves lots of electricity. But you can't download torrents or anything while it's hibernating, since it shuts your PC off.

 

[sd]

Originally posted by: Lasthitlarry
Personal preference
I want my hard drives to last as long as possible and I want to use as little electricity as possible, I work for 8 hours, then sleep for 7, so my pc gets 15 hours of rest a day, roughly

This is my schedule more or less. Thanks guys! Looks like I'll turn it off or do sleep at the very least.

 

[SoCalBoomer]

Part of the old mythology centering around not turning off the computer was the somewhat unreliable power supplies of the mid-90s - during the AT form factor days (before ATX)

Nowadays the power supply doesn't actually turn 100% off when the computer powers down. . .and they're much more reliable when turning on/off.

So either way - save money and turn it off. . .works well.

 

[corkyg]

It's not just the comoputer - but the ambient temperature in the A/C zone the computer lives in. In the winter, I leave on 24/7 - there is about a 3 degree temperature benefit in winter, so that save on natural gas a bit.

However, summer is different - when we are dealing with constant high 90s and low 100s, every degree means about $5 a month. I turn off the system at night in the summer, and that makes a slight difference in room temp and like wise, A/C running.

And, when I am gone on a trip - everything is OFF including the modem and router (disconnected.)

 

[jae]

look... stand by for nights you dont need anything running over night... hibernate when your not going to be using the pc for anything #cfsncte

 

[Thoreau]

My main rig is on 24/7/365 regardless of what I'm doing or where I'm at. Aside from having torrents running most of the time, I also keep GAIM running so people can shoot me messages and I also remote into it from work and while traveling.

That aside, if you don't need it running for any particular reason, might as well stick to the hibernate/sleep/off group of options and save yourself a couple bucks on the power bill.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Pabster
I always put my lappies to sleep, but my desktops run 24/7.

Same.

 

[thegimp03]

I always let my desktop run, unless it's going to be real hot that day.

 

[soydios]

I live my system on 24/7 (it runs Folding@Home GPU client while I'm gone). It collects dust quickly, even with a filter on the intake fan (I dust out the case every 3 months). It's nice to have it always ready for me to quickly check something on the internet, but it comes down to personal preference.

Putting your system to sleep is the best balance, IMHO.

 

[jjsbasmt]

Pabster said it all for me.

 

[GeeFizzleDizzle]

I turn mine off at night because it's in my bedroom and the damn HDD activity/power LEDs on a CM Centurion 5 case are VERY bright.

 

[Canai]

Use it for Rosetta@home

 

[nova2]

turn your freaking high end gamer PCs off at night, they'll use more watts then a cheaper 'server' type PC that doesn't have a huge power sucking monster like the nvidia 8800.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: seanc85

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Turn it off, you'll save money on electricity and the life of your hardware.

i have no scientific backing for these arguments

Guess I'll not bother replying then!

 

[VirtualLarry]

I leave mine on 24x7, I believe that it helps extend the lifetime of HDs, having to not start and stop all the time, which puts wear+tear on them. Same with the thermal issue of power-cycling. Keeping things at a constant temp all of the time is IMHO best for electronic components. As long as you keep your PC well-cooled, I don't see any issues with leaving it on 24x7, other than the slightly increased electric bill.