Is it better to leave PC on all the time?

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: sisooktom

Originally posted by: HardWarrior
There isn't a definite answer considering the nature of the topic, and this thread (not a debate) has not gone one "forever." If your opinion is that the the open exchange of ideas is somehow offensive if the process takes more than two posts I would suggest that you ignore any further entries.

Excuse me, but what's your problem? If you infer any of the above from what I wrote than you need to take an atttitude check before you post. . . I said nothing of the sort.

Ignorant people always react with surprise when they aren't allowed to dictate circumstances. Things were going fine before you decided to put a time-table on the proceddings.

There was no "debate" here and the thread hasn't even made it past the first page, yet you tried to simultaneously take control (Just do what you want!) and end all further discussion (This has gone on FOREVER!). Why did you waste your time even posting if all you were going to do is try to meatball moderate?

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
As far as I know, all mechanical components have a theoretical life span. So your fans and hard drives will only last so long. Yet this "short" period of time usually ranges from 20,000 to 1 million hours. Most likely than not, you'll build a whole new computer before anything gets damaged even if you keep it on 24/7.

Other Pros/Cons

Pros:
-warms up the room when it's winter time
-can use it for distributed computing projects that can be beneficial
-no hassle of turning your computer on and off every time (its a waste of time waiting for a computer to start for 30-60 seconds every time and a waste of energy turning it on physically)

Cons:
-higher electricity bill
-warms up the room when it's summer time and it's hot already (this could make your air conditioner work harder to sustain a preset room temperature for instance and again increase your elec. bill)
-if you have your computer on all the time, there is probably a reason for it as most people tend to turn them off => could become obsessed or let the computer "fun" occupy the rest of your life's time

Not to mention that a PC that is "off" is by default secure against network based attacks/viruses and so forth.

 

[sisooktom]

Originally posted by: HardWarrior
Ignorant people always react with surprise when they aren't allowed to dictate circumstances. Things were going fine before you decided to put a time-table on the proceddings.

There was no "debate" here and the thread hasn't even made it past the first page, yet you tried to simultaneously take control (Just do what you want!) and end all further discussion (This has gone on FOREVER!). Why did you waste your time even posting if all you were going to do is try to meatball moderate?

You don't seem to know the difference between "debate" in the abstract sense, and "thread", as in this particular conversation. Let me spell it out for you: I was referring to people all over who have discussed this subject for years. I never implied that this thread has gone on forever, or had no value. As for why I posted, I did so to add my .02 regarding my own PC power policy, for what it's worth. Your post on the other hand, was devoted entirely to flaming me. So I think it's obvious that your post was the one with no value.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: sisooktom

Originally posted by: HardWarrior
Ignorant people always react with surprise when they aren't allowed to dictate circumstances. Things were going fine before you decided to put a time-table on the proceddings.

There was no "debate" here and the thread hasn't even made it past the first page, yet you tried to simultaneously take control (Just do what you want!) and end all further discussion (This has gone on FOREVER!). Why did you waste your time even posting if all you were going to do is try to meatball moderate?

You don't seem to know the difference between "debate" in the abstract sense, and "thread", as in this particular conversation. Let me spell it out for you: I was referring to people all over who have discussed this subject for years. I never implied that this thread has gone on forever, or had no value. As for why I posted, I did so to add my .02 regarding my own PC power policy, for what it's worth. Your post on the other hand, was devoted entirely to flaming me. So I think it's obvious that your post was the one with no value.

The "Vulcan" routine won't work either. It's painfully obvious that you don't see any value in the open discussion of this topic. If you did you would have either made a positive contribution or simply shut up and ignored it. Just because you claim to have seen "people all over who have discussed this subject for years", in NO covers the experiences of the thread starter. If you're truly SO jaded by the topic, and had ANY intellectual honesty, you'd have simply moved on. Instead of behaving like an adult you treat us to another lame "I'm SOOO tired of this topic!" show. Well surprise again, not everyone wants to hear every thought rattling around in your head, Mr. BSartist.

The only thing that's obvious here is that you should have simple kept your pie-hole shut and found a thread you LIKED and trolled it. Also, it doesn't seem like you even bothered to READ any of the posts. Mine was the third and right on topic.

 

[piasabird]

Windows XP if that is what you have will constantly look for updates and can be set to automatically download updates and even install them for you, but you need to leave it on at night. This helps to protect you against known vulnerabilities. If you leave it on 24 hours continually, you may actually be safer.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: justin1466
Personally im always turned on, but my computer is another story

If your name was Justine, that would be news.

 

[sisooktom]

Originally posted by: HardWarrior
The "Vulcan" routine won't work either. It's painfully obvious that you don't see any value in the open discussion of this topic. If you did you would have either made a positive contribution or simply shut up and ignored it. Just because you claim to have seen "people all over who have discussed this subject for years", in NO covers the experiences of the thread starter. If you're truly SO jaded by the topic, and had ANY intellectual honesty, you'd have simply moved on. Instead of behaving like an adult you treat us to another lame "I'm SOOO tired of this topic!" show. Well surprise again, not everyone wants to hear every thought rattling around in your head, Mr. BSartist.

The only thing that's obvious here is that you should have simple kept your pie-hole shut and found a thread you LIKED and trolled it. Also, it doesn't seem like you even bothered to READ any of the posts. Mine was the third and right on topic.

Sent you a PM both to take this offline and so I can let you know what I think of that response.

 

[Macro2]

I shut it down because if the power goes out while I'm gone the battery backup wouldn't hold it long enough...

 

[sisooktom]

Originally posted by: Macro2
I shut it down because if the power goes out while I'm gone the battery backup wouldn't hold it long enough...

Don't most new UPS have the ability to connect to your PC and tell it when power's been lost so they can shutdown cleanly?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Other Pros/Cons
Cons:
-if you have your computer on all the time, there is probably a reason for it as most people tend to turn them off => could become obsessed or let the computer "fun" occupy the rest of your life's time

You know, that's remarkably insightful for you to mention that, in the context of running a computer 24/7 or not. I think that I would have to heartily agree.

I generally leave my compute on and running, with HDs spun up, 24/7. I'm also a bit of an internet addict, and if I'm in the same room, chances are, I'm in front of the computer. Almost like I'm entertaining *it*, not the other way around.

It all started so innocently... I had heard that it was better for HD lifetime to spin them up and down as little as possible, so I started to leave my computer on most of the time. Then I got involved with distributed.net, so then I found a useful reason to leave it on as well, and a psuedo-useful reason to be on the internet most of the time.

My take on it is this - if you are going to be using te computer relatively often, then leave it on. Turn off the monitor though, if you are going to leave it for more than an hour. The monitor may undergo stress due to power on/off, but a CRT tube also has a finite power-on lifetime, and loses brightness over its lifetime. It also can tend to take as much or more power than the computer itself when running.

If I'm going to be gone for an extended period of time, say over a weekend, or on a long vacation, I turn the machine completely off and unplug it. I've had times in the past, where some component failed (usually while overclocked, during the summer), and come back after the weekend to find my computer frozen up, and occasionally a fried component like a PSU or mobo. I don't want that to ever happen again, and I don't want to have any risk of fire if something catastrophically fails.

 

[Macro2]

RE"Don't most new UPS have the ability to connect to your PC and tell it when power's been lost so they can shutdown cleanly?"

You know, you're right but I've never installed the software and set it up...Lazy I guess.

 

[CletusTheDwarf]

when i'm at school, i leave it online solely so that a friend can leave me an im on aim whenever if they need to. i've found this very useful many times. when i'm home for the summer it goes off at night.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: White Widow
1. STANDBY mode is not the same a Hibernate or Sleep. In Stanby, the PC consumes almost as much as during normal operation.

That much is true.. but if you are going to use Sleep or Hibernate, which spins down the HDs and powers off the monitor, then why not just Shutdown instead? You aren't saving *any* wear and tear on your system that way, and in fact might slightly increase it, because the power-saving mode could be triggered automatically, unnecessarily, during periods of light use.

Much better, IMHO, to just disable all of that power-management stuff (except monitor Sleep mode), and power-down the system yourself.

I also don't suggest ever using Hibernate mode, it still has some major design bugs with its implementation in MS Windows.

 

[ShawnD1]

Leave it on and run DC programs.
If you leave it on all the time, you can get used to the noise and it won't bother you as much. I have my computer on 24/7 and I don't even notice it when I'm trying to sleep. When the computer is off, my room has an eerie quietness to it, and it freaks me out.

 

[konakona]

Overnet cannot be ran with the comptuer turned off

the only time i get to turn my computer off is when i change peripherals, take out the hdd and etc...

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: VanillaH
Overnet cannot be ran with the comptuer turned off

Good point. It's dedicated file sharing people like me and Vanilla that make P2P work. Certain P2P programs also have incredibly long waiting lines to get files (eD2k), so if you want to get any files, you have to leave the computer on.

 

[rade]

I leave it on 24/7 with very few strictly maintenance related shutdowns.
No hibernation mode or other mumbo-jumbo, I simply leave it on fully operational.
However I usually do turn the monitor off...
Have had it this way 4 years now, no problems whatsoever...


PRO:s

I can and do use it as a 24/7 web, ftp, mail and DNS server
I can listen to music on my wireless headphones while falling to sleep
I often DL things on P2P networks, so leaving it on 24/7 helps
I don't have to turn it on, so I get everything on screen instantly whenever I need it


CON:s

Noisy PSU in my case, easily fixed though by replacing it, but I've gotten used to it
Somewhat higher electricity bill, but not really that much higher


Pros easily outweigh the cons in my case...

 

[EeyoreX]

You can turn your PC off?

I never do unless I am working on it or I am not going to be there for several days. In my less-than-scientific tests of monthly power usage, the difference between leaving my PC on 24/7 vs turning it off when not in use was minimal, like less than $1. I do use power managment to power down my monitors after 20 minutes.

\Dan

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

I shut mine off *usually* when I go to sleep unless I have big stuff downloading on Azureus.

If you download a lot you already leave it on all the time I suppose... if not it's up for debate I guess.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

i think the initial hard drive stress when turning on a computer is enough to justify leaving it on. the fact that it has to spin up, then have 100% activity for a few moments to get the OS to boot up.i always leave my computers on 24/7.

 

[vegetation]

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
i think the initial hard drive stress when turning on a computer is enough to justify leaving it on. the fact that it has to spin up, then have 100% activity for a few moments to get the OS to boot up.i always leave my computers on 24/7.

An old myth that may have been true long ago but not anymore. What kills hard drives, aside from obvious design flaws, is heat and just the drive spinning around. That's why it's best to have the drive power down when inactive but windows has a long way to go to get this working better -- for instance, i often want to just power down one out of two drives, not both. No can do.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

Originally posted by: vegetation

An old myth that may have been true long ago but not anymore. What kills hard drives, aside from obvious design flaws, is heat and just the drive spinning around. That's why it's best to have the drive power down when inactive but windows has a long way to go to get this working better -- for instance, i often want to just power down one out of two drives, not both. No can do.

windows power management f*cking SUCKS. it never even holds the settings to turn my LCDs off,much less hard drives.

 

[sharkeeper]

The thermal stresses from turning it on and off the most stressful.

There is very little inrush current from starting a modern PC. The design of the ATX power supply is that it's always in a charged state. Now if you turn off the switch on the power supply, that is another matter.

This why you hear an inital "crack" when you insert the power cord into a PS or may see lights briefly flicker. Large value electrolytic capacitors have a rather low resistance (similar to a cold tungsten filament) and account for this brief surge.

Dust can certainly be a factor when your fans are running continuously. You want to keep this under control. If you cannot identify parts on your peripherals you have waited too long! :Q

Cheers!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: vegetation
An old myth that may have been true long ago but not anymore. What kills hard drives, aside from obvious design flaws, is heat and just the drive spinning around. That's why it's best to have the drive power down when inactive but windows has a long way to go to get this working better -- for instance, i often want to just power down one out of two drives, not both. No can do.

Actually, the majority of the wear of modern FDB-based drives is on startup, at least as far as main-motor bearing-wear is concerned. Spinning HDs down/up often is probably the worst thing in the world that you can do to them, save throwing them in a freezer/fire or tossing them off of a building.

 

[3LEMENT0]

I leave mine on most of the time, just turn off the monitor when sleeping.....due to the thought that powering up and powering down produces much more wear and tear. I turn it off once in a while though, the only thing that died on me with this machine (had this since 2000) is the IBM deathstar, it died after 3 years and a couple of months, when warranty just barely over. I'd be interested to know actually which is better for the hardware? I might start turning it off everynight if it's better to shut it down when it won't be used for some hours.