How long do you keep your desktop on??

[chocoruacal]

Bah...so much drama.

I leave all my desktops on 24/7. Period. Have been doing that for...oh...15+ years now so really it's just plain habit at this point. I firmly believe it helps extend the life of my hardware. But lets be realistic...I have yet to see any sort of long term test of this nature. Nor will anyone ever, cause in this day and age most hard core users aren't going to have the same hardware for more than a few years before upgrading. So quit your f'ing arguing and anyone who truly can't decide for themselves can just flip a coin and be done with it.

 

[madogvt]

I do a little of both. Sometimes I leave mine up for days and other times I shut it down when I'm trying to sleep. I think it's true that most computer parts will become obsolete before you can ever wear them out. most

 

[3chordcharlie]

I turn it off when I sell it.

 

[Mem]

I turn mine off at night just before bedtime,been doing it this way for about 10 years now.

You are going to get " Pros and Cons" from both sides of the fence,in the end it`s what you prefer and if you need to leave your PC on 24/7,I don`t need too, so I use the off switch .

 

[Joecheng]

wow . . wasn't expecting so many responses . . .thought it was a pretty straight forward question. I think I'm gonna do what robcy said. I'll leave it on with a lot of power management settings turned on. I tried it and my computer awoke from hibernation in under 10 seconds.

 

[eno]

One thing in my personal experience. My first computer which was a Gateway 600mhz AMD back in 2000 had 20gig Western Digital drives. Now we know they aren't the drives they used to be but I did use to have my system go into stand by after about two hours of non use. Pluss I used GoBack all the time which constantly rewrote the drives. I ended up replacing 3 drives in the 3years it had warrenty. I believe it was due to the excessive on and off of the drives. Thats why I shut down all at night and power on as soon as I get up.

 

[islandtechengineers]

i say if your going to take breaks but constantly come back to it then leave it on, but once you going to leave it for more than 10 hours, then turn it off. leaving it on all the time or turning it off all the time, it doesnt matter wear and tear will happen. my experince with all the pcs i've had, played with and controlled, they all lasted for years. think of it as a car, would you leave it on 24/7, never turning it off at all, ever? you gotta hit the switch sooner or later and if you dont, then i can guarenty it will turn off after the power cuts off in your house because someone slammed into the eletrical pole outside or you dont pay your eletric bill!

 

[wfbberzerker]

i turn mine off at night because its too loud for me to sleep with.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: islandtechengineers
i say if your going to take breaks but constantly come back to it then leave it on, but once you going to leave it for more than 10 hours, then turn it off. leaving it on all the time or turning it off all the time, it doesnt matter wear and tear will happen. my experince with all the pcs i've had, played with and controlled, they all lasted for years. think of it as a car, would you leave it on 24/7, never turning it off at all, ever? you gotta hit the switch sooner or later and if you dont, then i can guarenty it will turn off after the power cuts off in your house because someone slammed into the eletrical pole outside or you dont pay your eletric bill!

Eh?

 

[Corporate Thug]

24/7/360

 

[pennylane]

The room gets hot during summer so I leave it off then.... dunno what I'll do when I'm moving in the apartment and I'll actually see the electricity bill...

 

[Jiggz]

I turn on and off my system about 4-6 times day and have yet experience hardware failures. Although, there is still an ongoing debate on whether to leave it on or off, one thing is for sure. You will save electrical power! Just like the others said, by the time you're components fails due to weat and tear, you'll probably have upgraded them at least two or three times. So go ahead and leave it on to save those $$$.

 

[Giantwasp]

I leave mine on 24/7 mainly because I can't be bothered to wait for it to start up each time I use it. However, I have just moved back with my parents for a few months and have to have it in my bedroom now. So I have to shut it down when my girlfriend stays around, because she complains about the noise. One of the main reasons I am trying to make the new rig I am build very quiet.
Personally I don't think there is much in it between the on/off debate but I am very slightly more in favour of the on side.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
i turn mine off at night because its too loud for me to sleep with.

If you want to sleep with it, you need to "Turn it on"!!!!!

 

[MDE]

I leave mine on for Folding@Home, and it's a pain to wait for the thing to boot.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I just put it into standby (or is it suspend?), where it pretty much shuts itself off (all fans and everything stop running), but all I have to do is click a mouse button and its right back where it was before.

 

[high]

24/7/365 for the last 10+ years with NO dead hardware whatsoever...I'm also a firm believer leaving it on 24/7 really helps it.

 

[Trey22]

My work PC is on 24/7/365, my home PC is on when I get home from work and goes off when I go to sleep... no real need to keep it running all day when I'm not there.

 

[So]

At school where electricty = free, PC = on 24/7

At home where electricity != free, PC = off when I'm at work or asleep.

 

[Macro2]

If you leave it on make sure you have a UPC.

 

[blazerazor]

I turn mine on, only when I need to use it - in the Summer time.
Winter time, it nevers goes off.

 

[GfW]

I have 2 systems ... Windows that must be reboot at least once a week (because it's Windows) and Linux that has been running without a hiccup for 422 days (as of yesterday).

 

[DAPUNISHER]

24/7 F@H

 

[bjc112]

24/7

 

[Regs]

Computers have moving parts and eventually those moving parts will stop moving. The longer you leave it on, the quicker you run the life of those moving parts down.

A Computer's main moving part is the hard drive. And turning it off and on puts enough stress on it to make the point of leaving it off when not used irrelevant.