24/7 or Off and ON? (Poll)

[Locut0s]

The Anandtech community represents a good view of the more serious computer users out there, and I have been wondering how most people keep their computers in their off time. So do you keep your computer(s) running 24/7 or do you tend to only keep your running when your actually at the computer.

 

[vicdoc]

Our home network is on 24/7, just as a matter of convenience.
I have had cooling fans, hard drives and a monitor fail. Could be from all the time they are on. Who knows?

 

[Mitzi]

I usually turn my PC off when its not going to be used for a fair while. If I know I will be using the PC on and off all day I will usually leave it turned on but with the monitor switched off.

 

[Bovinicus]

I'm like Mitzi. I will turn it off before I goto sleep if I know I won't see it until way later that day. If I plan on using it as soon as I come home from school I will just leave it on.

 

[Alex]

ususally its on all the time

if i know im gonna be away for ages i put in sleep mode

overnite, unless im downloading its off.

 

[Idoxash]

My pc stays on all the time but the pc does go to sleep and the mon goes off or standby whatever but the power stays too the pc 23.56/7
hahaha

 

[teddymines]

I shut mine off, but leave all the peripherals and monitor on. That way I can just press spacebar and go.

 

[HansXP]

I used to turn mine off every night but lately I've been keeping it on more and more. It's much convenient.

 

[Jerboy]

<< I used to turn mine off every night but lately I've been keeping it on more and more. It's much convenient. >>



Since I'm running Windows Me, it becomes unstable after having it on for a while. I will have to reboot in the morning anyway if I leave it on all night so I just turn it off. I don't have a lame QuakeIII or other pointless gaming server running either.
The other reasons I don't leave my computer running all night are it slows down the accumulation of dust in the rig and saves electricity.

 

[tomstevens26]

24/7 with the monitor shutting off after 30 minutes. Hey, I'm addicted. Never know when I need to check my email at 2am while waking up for a bathroom break and I hate waiting for it to boot.

Might not have to worry about checking that email if my @home dies Friday :|

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Uptime: 56.5 days.

From what I've read it's best to leave it on all the time, saves wear and tear.
Have my monitor set to turn off after 20 mins of inactivity.

 

[anime]

energy saving time--we got energy crisis on our hand--so my pcs are off when not in use. Especially with increase in electricity rate recently....

 

[Sir Fredrick]

If you turn your computer on more than a couple times a day, you may be using more electricity, assuming your monitor would be off when not in use either way.

 

[Jerboy]

<< If you turn your computer on more than a couple times a day, you may be using more electricity, assuming your monitor would be off when not in use either way. >>



Thats completely wrong. PC uses almost identical power immediately after turn on or after its been on for hours. Wear and tear? The only thing in PC that could suffer from wear and tear is hard drive and fans. Since default energy saver shuts off the hard drive after one hour, it doesn't make much difference in component life if you shut it off. Mine gets shut down three or four times a day.

It almost always gets shut down when I sleep. Its nice to sleep without the constant whirring sound.



Assuming your PC use 150W of power, lets how much energy it use and how much that equates to in power cost.

.15kW x 24hr x 30=108kWh

108kWh x ($0.1 per kilowatt hour)=$10.80 per month in power bill just for the rig itself. In many European nations, it can be over $.25/kWh and that means over $27.00 in power used by the computer.

 

[Fallenjedi]

Morning -

Well...I used to leave mine on 24/7 .. becaue it seemed every time I'd turn it off then back on something would die (like my hard drive). But ...then once the "energy crisis" started here in Ca, I started turning it off...because who likes there computer getting slapped off by rolling blackouts? Since then .. I turn it off when I'm going to work but if I'm home ... usually its on all the time

- Dravin

 

[stingbandel]

I turn it off when I don't use it.






Darno

 

[Sir Fredrick]

<< Wear and tear? The only thing in PC that could suffer from wear and tear is hard drive and fans. >>



Actually, temperature changes cause wear and tear on just about all parts, including the motherboard circuits. Turning off your computer allows it to cool and contract, turning it back on heats it back up and causes it to expand.
And it is better for the hard drives to spin continuously too; turning them on and off causes far more wear and tear on the motors.

 

[Jerboy]

<<

<< Wear and tear? The only thing in PC that could suffer from wear and tear is hard drive and fans. >>



Actually, temperature changes cause wear and tear on just about all parts, including the motherboard circuits. Turning off your computer allows it to cool and contract, turning it back on heats it back up and causes it to expand.
And it is better for the hard drives to spin continuously too; turning them on and off causes far more wear and tear on the motors. >>



It is actually very insignificant. Much less significant than power cost you're wasting. If my rig cost $100K and holds the value for more than a few years I'd be concerned. By the time you leave the computer on for a year and guzzle $300 worth of electricity, the whole computer's value is down to about $300.

 

[wluk]

8 hrs sleep
8 hrs at work
3-5 hrs on the computer

no sense to have it on 24/7.

 

[Splork]

Don't we do one of these polls like bi-weekly?

Anyways, I turn my computer off when I feel the need for it...

 

[Sir Fredrick]

<< It is actually very insignificant. Much less significant than power cost you're wasting. If my rig cost $100K and holds the value for more than a few years I'd be concerned. By the time you leave the computer on for a year and guzzle $300 worth of electricity, the whole computer's value is down to about $300. >>



I keep my computers forever...still have a 486 66DX, a couple P133s, and a P200 which are used daily. They may not have any resale value, but replacing them would actually be somewhat expensive.

I doubt my computer uses much energy at all when it's sitting idle. My energy bills are always pretty low, despite the fact that I use an electric stove, and an old, not very efficient fridge that cycles on and off every few minutes.

Anyway, my computer also crunches RC5 when it's idle.

 

[limsandy]

It's usually on all the time, unless I plan on a vacation where I'll be away for a week or more.

 

[Mem]

Stays on all day and then I turn mine off at night reason being it`s in the bedroom so for peace & quiet when I sleep also less dust builds up in the PC,saves electricity as well.

 

[AMDPwred]

My server stays on 24 hours a day (very quiet) but my main workstation is turned off over night due to noise. The server monitor is normally off 24 hours a day unless I need to get into the system.

 

[Gunbuster]

Server is on 24/7 it has no monitor