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Do you leave you computer on 24/7?

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I'm turning off computer every time I'm not using it, everyone argues that less power on cycles are good, it's not true, continuous operation is what shortens lifespan. I'm only using computer few hours per day max, the rest of the time it is off, and I can say that all my machines were very durable.
 
Sheep221 said:
I'm turning off computer every time I'm not using it, everyone argues that less power on cycles are bad, it's not true, continuous operation is what shortens lifespan. I'm only using computer few hours per day max, the rest of the time it is off, and I can say that all my machines were very durable.
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I ditto this.

I might not say yr machines are durable, I would say because of yr practices, they remain healthy.
 
VirtualLarry said:
Back in the days of Ye Olde IBM-PC, they used DIPP RAM (the kind that looks like a caterpillar, a black resin body with metal legs).

Thermal-cycling from power on/off, meant that every six to twelve months, you would have to take the computer apart, and press down on each RAM chip with your thumb, to seat it completely back into its socket.
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Well, did I have any clue about this? NOT EVEN CLOSE. Tho I do like conjuring the caterpillar sticks! :biggrin:

But that reality must have been very long ago.
 
Sheep221 said:
I'm turning off computer every time I'm not using it, everyone argues that less power on cycles are good, it's not true, continuous operation is what shortens lifespan.
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This is variable. I've been on S775 since 2008, same mobo. IMXP clean power makes the biggest difference. Buy good PSU's, careful installations, solid UPS...and you're gear will last for a long time.

Sheep221 said:
I'm only using computer few hours per day max, the rest of the time it is off, and I can say that all my machines were very durable.
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Durability means they can run 24x7 😛
 
Virgorising said:
I do not believe this.

Apparently "hassle" is subjective: for me, plugging in one plug and hitting one button does not qualify at all in any way.

But not only do you still pay, you remain a part, however small, of the already here reality of global warming.
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Physical spinning disks specifically have a shortened lifespan if they are power cycled. I also disable the power saving features for hard disks. I care more about my data than I care about global warming. How about we stop burning crude oil in container ships and then maybe I'll bother saving a few watts of electricity.

As for hassle, yeah it is a hassle to shut down everything I have open on my desktop and waste a few minutes every day multiple times a day re-opening everything I was working on. Pushing a button isn't the issue, it is the time wasted.

Regarding the electricity bit, modern computers don't use up a whole lot of power on idle. I do let my monitors go to sleep but that is because they use more power than the entire desktop.
 
ch33zw1z said:
Oh man, whenever I go to repair and old piece of hardware I cringe. You're almost always bound to lose a disk drive or a fan. They run just fine until you power down.
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Been there done that enough times. Old server running without powering off in years, yup better leave it that way. Old noisey fan doesn't need to be replaced, it can keep creakin'.
 
VirtualLarry said:
Back in the days of Ye Olde IBM-PC, they used DIPP RAM (the kind that looks like a caterpillar, a black resin body with metal legs).
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That was when technically ignorant people used the term 'chip' correctly, rather than to mean an entire RAM module of several chips.

I keep my computer on 24/7, but not continuously.
 
slayernine said:
Been there done that enough times. Old server running without powering off in years, yup better leave it that way. Old noisey fan doesn't need to be replaced, it can keep creakin'.
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yea, you think knocking 10 years of dust off would help....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
I leave it 24/7. In summer I may turn off my workstation since it gets too hot in the office and turning it off and opening the window overnight will let it cool down in there. My servers stay on 24/7 though. In my experience its on/off cycles that tend to kill stuff, mostly hard drives. I even have a UPS that can last 4 hours to ensure I do not get any on/off cycles for my server stuff. During my server room construction I had to turn down everything a few times during power changes on the UPS side and it made me nervous as hell. Only had a few software related issues (stuff not starting up when it should) and hardware was ok though. File storage is really the biggest thing to worry about. A few years back we had a large power outage and my batteries did not quite last so at around 11 volts I started to shut down everything. When the power came back and I started to turn everything back on, I was up and running, then suddenly I lost 2 hard drives. That was a nightmare and a half. Miracle though as I managed to get one to spin up and I was able to recover the raid 5 array. I replaced the dead drive and let it rebuild then immediately replaced the one that was previously dead. There was some corruption but it was not too bad.

What is more harmful is bad shut downs. If you don't have your stuff on a UPS and it all goes down roughly that is very bad on the components, though the hard drive is probably again the most sensitive to it as the head wont have parked properly. It's also bad on the power supply though. I used to work in a hospital that had very unstable power and every time the power went off and back on the L2 guy would get a bunch of tickets to go replace power supplies. We probably went through at least like 10 power supplies per week there.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I used to work in a hospital that had very unstable power and every time the power went off and back on the L2 guy would get a bunch of tickets to go replace power supplies. We probably went through at least like 10 power supplies per week there.
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There's a certain hospital I used to frequent. They would lose power, and the 12 bay external drive enclosure would come up after the RAID card. So the RAID card would mark all the drives bad, and I would have to force them all online. Never lost any data, but they were down until we got there. Only happened a couple times, and only a couple drives lost in all. They were more than willing to get a UPS, just didn't happen fast enough. Big ships turn slow.
 
code65536 said:
My desktop, I leave on 24/7 during the cold winter months because every joule that it consumes means one less joule that my heater has to produce.
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What kind of heat do you have? A PC is a straight up resistive heater, which means its about the most expensive heating device out there.
 
I have been starting to leave my PC on 24/7, but I always turn off the wireless mouse and monitor. I am going to turn my PC off tonight, however.
 
mfenn said:
What kind of heat do you have? A PC is a straight up resistive heater, which means its about the most expensive heating device out there.
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No gas hookup; all heating's electric (not a heat pump), so it doesn't matter what I use.
 
Yes, I leave mine on all the time. Yearly cost is not that much. I suppose it does heat the room a bit but with a well insulated house it doesn't matter much.
 
NewYorksFinest said:
No, for a few reasons.

1. Keeping it on can stress the components.
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Many feel (and I agree) that repeatedly powering a computer on/off causes the components to undergo more stress than simply leaving it on. Think about it -- once a PC is on, the component temperatures will stabilize (outside of heavy load use, which wouldn't generally be happening in the middle of the night) and will remain within a few degrees of that temperature, whereas when you power on a computer, the components can quickly go from room temp to a heated state in a few minutes. That can introduce greater expansion/contraction on the board and components as opposed to just leaving it on.
 
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IndyColtsFan said:
Many feel (and I agree) that repeatedly powering a computer on/off causes the components to undergo more stress than simply leaving it on. Think about it -- once a PC is on, the component temperatures will stabilize (outside of heavy load use, which wouldn't generally be happening in the middle of the night) and will remain within a few degrees of that temperature, whereas when you power on a computer, the components can quickly go from room temp to a heated state in a few minutes. That can introduce greater expansion/contraction on the board and components as opposed to just leaving it on.
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:thumbsup: There is a reason that whenever the power goes out in a data center, there are always some equipment that won't power back on.
 
mfenn said:
Ouch! I would not want to see your electric bills in the winter. 🙁
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Considering that over half of one's utility bill is in "connection" and other fees, the extra usage is still better than having gas AND electric hookups! Electric heat doesn't feel as nice, but it is quite efficient overall. Having a hot computer (or plain old light bulbs) contribute to needed heat is a good tradeoff for those in the cold. 😉
 
I leave it on all day but turn it off before bed. It boots up so ridiculously fast there is no point in leaving it on and my power bill is high enough as it is, although I'm doubtful that really matters.

I used to leave my old single core on all day and night, sometimes for months. It was kind of cool actually.
 
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