Leave your system on or off?

[generalgman]

Just curious as to what all of you do. Do you A. turn your computer off at night and then turn it on again after work? Or B. leave the computer on for days on end? I guess this is a survey more or less. Just post if you leave it on 24/7 or not. I personally leave mine on 24/7 and it is even overclocked.......not sure if this is the best thing or not.

Thanks for your time

 

[HD2GO]

Turn it on only when you need to use it IF you are in California!!!

 

[Deceiver]

luckily i'm not in california...i leave mine on all the time, tho the monitor goes to power save after 10 minutes

 

[airfoil]

Hiya General,
I dont leave my system powered on 24/7, coz I'm at work most of the time and find less than 2 hours a day weekdays. Weekends, its always on!

 

[Heifetz]

I leave it on to heat my dorm room. It works remarkably well!


Heifetz

 

[generalgman]

Wow some quick responses already..... I'm trying to figure out for myself, well my for my computers sake if it causes more harm to turn it on and off repeadily or just leave it on...... I can see that this thread is going to be very interesting!

Keep em' comming!

 

[Biggs]

It does stress the peripherals if you constantly turn it on and off but think of the money you can save on your electricity bills.

 

[JokerF15]

i leave it on if im home or going to use it withing a while. at nite, i turn it off, becuz that's a wast of power, im in cali =). but still..ur not going to use it at nite and it wont hard the computer if it sits ther for 5-8 hours and then u turn it on again so no point in having it on at nite

 

[AmazonRasta]

I leave mine on all the time. I'm a speed freak, hate waiting for things to reload all over again . Sometimes the noise from my FOP-38 ticks me off and I've no other choice but to turn it off when I'm trying to sleep.

But there is something serene in knowing that my CPU is staying cold.....

 

[Biggs]

Erm, so what's the deal with California? Please enlighten me.

 

[BatmanNate]

It's sick I know, but I can't sleep without the soothing hum of all my computers cooling equipment. It heats my room too...

 

[Deceiver]

they are having a huge power crunch. basically there isn't enough power being sent to calf. power prices are extremely high. i think the state is considering buying power from other states and charging utilities a discounted rate to keep them runnin. there having been rolling blackouts in parts of the state too.

 

[generalgman]

BatmanNate I HEAR YOU!!!!! I fell the same way..... I bet my 4 ADDA 80mm fans are just as loud as the FOP38 with the delta fan...LOL..

 

[ZapZilla]

24/7 running distributed clients for Team Anandtech.

If you do leave your system on 24/7 visit the distributed forum.

 

[Unsickle]

Stuff that makes noise:

HDD - barely noticeable from my IBM 75GXP
Super orb HSF, outer fan is very loud, inner fan is quiet.
PSU - very quiet
2 antec case fans - very quiet

I installed a switch that turns off the superorb outer fan and the two antec case fans. I turn those fans off when I go to bed... it cuts the noise by a factor of ten!

 

[Bluga]

I leave my on all the time.

Don't shut down and restart too often since it will reduce the life of components.

 

[MinniePin]

we(no CA) have been hit by rolling blackouts... time for me to go and get a UPS. i think utility companies hold a large share of APC stocks...

 

[Zoltarc]

I turn mine on when I need it which is everyday

I turn it off at night unless I'm downloading some huge file

 

[Sunny129]

yes, i also heard that turning your system on and off wears out the CPU and other components significantly faster than if you were to leave it running all the time. then again, i suppose having electricity flowing throughout the system constantly also adds to the effect of wear and tear. i've been shutting mine off at night since i've been back at school. the apartment temp is a bit warmer than it was at home. and the fans in my new system are pretty loud, well loud enough for me anyway. but hopefully i can get some efficient, yet quiet fans so i can leave it on at night.

 

[PieDerro]

Have mine on only when I'm AWAKE and AT HOME. Otherwise, I turn it off. It ends up being on an average of 10-12 hours a day.

 

[Adrian Tung]

I leave mine on Stand By for the night, on during the day.


atwl

 

[Insane3D]

24/7 and overclocked. I have like 9 fans total in my case and my room sounds like a computer lab, but I can still sleep with it on just fine...it's a talent I learned since I work the graveyard shift..I can sleep through a mild nulear holocaust..

 

[730]

Unless you have to pay an electic bill I would leave it on, especially if your running windows 2000. The reason being constantly turning on and off your computer is a shock to your system since the hard drive needs to get to speed everytime you turn it on. You probably wont see the affects of this till long in the future when your using a completly new computer, but leaving your computer on is better for your computer.

 

[MCS]

I leave mine on. I reboot it when it needs it and thats it. I don't sleep in the same room as the PCs so noise isn't a problem at night. I often leave files downloading when I am at work/in bed too.

 

[Mem]

I turn mine off night time,& yes I pay the electric.It normally stays on all day so turning on/off only once a day is no big deal.