This question is inspired by a simialr question about monitors:


If I turn on the pc in the morning, get on the net, and then log off the net some time later-- should I shut down, or leave it on (with the monitor off of course) ?

So, is it more wear 'n' tear to leave it on all day, or is it more wearing to be turning it on and off ? Does it matter one way or the other ? :rolleyes:

Some say it is better on all the time... Some say it is better to turn it off when you don't use it... It works out about the same either way...

If you leave it on all the time there is less wear from the rapid heating and cooling associated with turning it off, but fans run all the time and there is constant heat wearing things down... not to mention electric consumption...

If you turn it off you get wear from the rapid cooling and heating... With hibernate and such, you can get by on less power and less wear, but then you have to heat everything up again to get going...

I figure I won't have my computer long enough for it to make a huge difference either way, so I turn my system off during the week to save energy and leave it on all weekend for convenience...

ALL your hardware is approaching MTBF !
ALL your software is undergoing VERSION ROT !

Onward 2the APOCALYPSE

B-CERT:

That doesn't answer the question. If you have nothing helpful to add to the thread, move on and don't post nonsense.

I tend to look at this issue from a more unusual angle - flourescent lights. Flourescent lights use less electricity than incandescent, but are subsequently ruled by the number of times they are turned off and on. Contrarywise, incandescent are ruled by the number of hours that they are on. Which is why the experts say to leave flourescent lights on if you're just leaving the room for a few minutes, but to turn off incandescent lights whenever possible.

If you're just going out to lunch for an hour, leave your computer on. If you're going out for a day, turn it off. I use these basic rules to determine how much on-time my system gets.

You can also crunch the numbers if you want. For performance sake, I set my power saving settings to virtually off. My monitor stays on all the time (I switch it off if I leave for an hour but my computer stays on), my hard drive never spins down, and in my experience, Windows' so-called stand-by mode just doesn't work, so I leave that off, too. Keeping all that in mind, my computer's power consumption at idle can be pretty high, but then again, the electric bill doesn't break my back, either. Plenty of other appliances guzzle much more power (like the fridge or AC or microwave).

So do what I did. I tried both ways, each for a month. One month I left my computer on constantly (almost 27/7), then the next month I turned it off every chance I left it. Now, compare your electric bills. Is it worth the price of a new PSU and fans to be constantly turning it off and on? Or leaving it on all the time? In my case, it wasn't worth the trouble of turning it off and on all the time, nor was it very convenient to leave it on all the time. So I stopped worrying and learned to love using my computer. :D

One month I left my computer on constantly (almost 27/7),

Those extra few hours every day must come in handy! :p:D

LOL :D :p

Haha, why yes they do! :p And you should have been at my place for daylight savings time! 28 hours - woohoo! :D

I used to turn my machine of if stepping away for half an hour. Thinking more about it one time, I realized that I don't unplug my fridge, or my alarm clock. Since then I pretty much have only turned it off when I went away for a holiday. The amount of time away that justifies turning it off is up to the individual, but I've not had a problem with it running non-stop.