I have two computer systems that are...

[GremlinHater]

running full time 24/7. Me and a friend were talking about them and were wondering how much electricty is actually wasted when I'm not using them and if it's better to leave them on or shut them down, me being a heavy user almost every single day I'm home. I have them set to turn off the monitor, go into standby mode, and turn off harddisks. We figured you only needed the energy for the fans and the RAM. How much energy would it take in comparison with other everyday electrical appliances that use energy like a lightbulb? more or less?

And is it better that I leave them on with those settings or turn them on and off when I need them, it is nice not having to wait for it to boot but electricity seems to be going the more expensive way.

 

[Jiggz]

Obviously, you are concern about cost. So why not just shut it off. It doesn't make any difference to the system except for the boot time which is about 1-2 mins. Just leave the monitor in sleep mode you do not have to turn it off. Turning monitors on/off everytime is detrimental to the unit due to thermal shocks during start ups. Otherwise the entire system will be OK.

 

[TunaBoo]

I keep mine on (2). I like it to catch all the MSN's I get during the day, and I always leave it doing SOMETHING (encoding, script runnin, etc)