Can a computer running WinXP (Home) be left on 24/7?

[goot]

I leave my computer running WIN2K PRO on 24/7, and it's still perfect after 2 years.

However, I'm getting a new DELL DIMENSION 4600 with WIN XP (Home), and was wondering whether it could be left on 24/7 ? Will anything happen to it over the long-term?

 

[us3rnotfound]

it might blow up, happened to me before.

 

[sandorski]

It'll be ok.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

No, it'll blow up

Of course you can

 

[nitromullet]

For stability purposes, Widows usuaully does need to be re-booted every now and then but you can leave it on for 24/7 when you're not rebooting. Also, I have always had issues with sleep mode (i.e. it sleeps but doesn't wake up), so I discourage use of that.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

yeah, the sleep thing never seems to work for me.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: goot
I leave my computer running WIN2K PRO on 24/7, and it's still perfect after 2 years.

However, I'm getting a new DELL DIMENSION 4600 with WIN XP (Home), and was wondering whether it could be left on 24/7 ? Will anything happen to it over the long-term?

It should be okay as long as you watch the dust build-up and monitor the fans.

 

[goot]

Is there any difference b/w Win2k PRo and WINXP in this regard?

 

[jme5343]

Nope, they will both work 24/7 w/ no probs. I leave all mine on 24/7 for crunching fad, so the cpu is at 100% 24/7 and it's absolutley no problem

 

[sandorski]

I used to run Win 98 SE 24/7, Win XP is superior to it. No worries.

 

[MedicBob]

Let it run and goto the Distributed Computing section and join Team Anandtech and pick you project. Might as well have the computer doing something instead of just sitting there, alone, at night.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

win2k/winxp should work 24/7 no problems unless your running a program 24/7 that has memory leaks. It's only with the likes of 98 and such that you would have to restart periodicly. I only know that xp pro is like this though I haven't used home edition.

 

[Warthog912]

Originally posted by: goot
I leave my computer running WIN2K PRO on 24/7, and it's still perfect after 2 years.

However, I'm getting a new DELL DIMENSION 4600 with WIN XP (Home), and was wondering whether it could be left on 24/7 ? Will anything happen to it over the long-term?

/Sarcasm

NO don't leave it on for extended periods of time. It wastes energy you know-

/Sarcasm

 

[Oyeve]

I leave my PC on all the time and am running winxp pro on it. I have six HDs and all sorts of stuff and on the rare occasion I will wake up and notice that the PC has either locked up or has rebooted sometime during the night. Most of the time that this happens winxp reports something about the video drivers. I run an ATI 9500 pro and it can get extremely hot. This usually happens about once a week. Nothing major, just reboot and all is fine. I do however notice that PCs at work, which are one 24/7, dont have a problem if its a P4 or P3 but I have had to replace several chips and/or pcs that had AMD chips in them. Could just be that AMD runs way hotter than an intel chip. i don't know but thats what happened.

 

[EeyoreX]

For stability purposes, Widows usuaully does need to be re-booted every now and then

Fortunately, this is not the case. Current versions of Windows are the most stable Windows has ever been. In fact, I'd say that 99.99% of the time if Windows looses stability, it is because of a badly written application, and not Windows itself. As someone said, Windows 9x had this problem. NT based OSes are far better.

You can run your computer 24/7 without issue.

\Dan

 

[stephbu]

Amen EeyoreX - your machine is only as good as the respect you treat it with Make it run flaky bleeding-edge untested drivers and it'll reward you with a BSOD every couple of days. And applications generally don't bring it down anyway. (Explorer may get a little unresponsive - but nothing that can't be killed through cmdline or task manager)

I pretty much only reboot around once a month for security updates now - even the need for rebooting with those gets severe scrutiny to stop unnecessary rebooting. (Many setups reboot to change stuff running in user mode, like explorer, when a simple logoff - logon would do the same)

 

[polloloco]

Windows O/S should be rebooted at least once a month. As stated ealier all power save/ sleep mode option should be turned off.

 

[Bleep]

Windows O/S should be rebooted at least once a month

And where did you pick up this wonderfull piece of information? Do you have any evidence to back up this statement?

Bleep

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Bleep

Windows O/S should be rebooted at least once a month

And where did you pick up this wonderfull piece of information? Do you have any evidence to back up this statement?

Bleep

The Big Book of Linux Zealotry, Torvaldis 2:19 -
Thou needest no basis under which to mock Windows, and all those who oppose ye art in bed with thine enemy Bill Gates.



- M4H

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: sandorski
I used to run Win 98 SE 24/7, Win XP is superior to it. No worries.

ur kiddin! 98 didnt crash on you???

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Abhi

Originally posted by: sandorski
I used to run Win 98 SE 24/7, Win XP is superior to it. No worries.

ur kiddin! 98 didnt crash on you???

Sure, early on it crashed. After awhile I could go 1 month+ without a crash only rebooting due to Installing something new that required it. Even if it did crash, no big woop, just reset when I noticed.

 

[thomsbrain]

whatever you do, DON'T run XP all the time! it based off ME, and it doesn't have special heat-reducing programs! if you don't give you computer time to cool down overnight, your CPU will fry in a couple weeks, trust me this happens all the time with XP machines and also with Maconitsh OS8. also your internet connection will get less stable and allow hsckers into your systems files!!1!. i had been hacked 4th times this way all because of XP on overnight for several day! also sleep mode will make crashes and also it wil not work rite!


/sarcasm

XP is Windows 2000 with a nose job. Like all NT-based systems, you can leave it on all the time and it will remain stable. I pity you fools who can't get sleep mode to work.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Computers are supposed to be left on, as long as you arent setting yourself up to be hacked, then you are fine. You could actually lengthen the longevity of your computer's life, or so some say.

 

[Mark R]

There are a couple of problems with leaving a PC on:

Power consumption: PCs consume quite a lot of power - a mid-range system could use as much as 150W excluding monitor. Leaving that base unit running 24/7 would cost me about £10/month (representing a near 40% increase in my electricity bill).

Wear: PCs contain mechanical parts such as hard-drives and fans. 'Consumer grade' hard drives such as would be found in a typical home PC are only designed for intermittant use (300 power-on hours/month is typical). Usage of such drives in a 24/7 system could shorten their life, which for consumer grade drives is often already short (3 years expected life-time - 1 year warranty). Other parts such as fans also have limited lives - this shouldn't be a problem for a Dell, but for cheaper PCs, with low-cost components, fans are prone to clogging with dust, or simply failing. Even the electronics wear out - certain components (particularly capacitors) are often running under high temperatures and electrical stresses and have a finite lifetime (10k - 20k hours)

In my opinion PCs should be switched off when not in use, or at least put into standby mode, so that the bulk of the components are powered down when not in use. You'll save energy, money and your PC will probably last longer.

 

[CTho9305]

I pretty much agree with Mark R. However, for most people, the difference probably won't be big enough to matter either way. The computer will last long past its obsolescence (except for fans, and maybe hard drives) so it probably doesn't matter too much. I left mine on before the hard drive became too loud at night. I turn it off now b/c I pay for electricity (in the dorms, it was "free" ).