Leaving PC on

[LuckyTaxi]

Bad enough we have electric heat in the apt and I would hate to rack up the electric bill by leaving my PC on all day. It's about a year old with a "decent" power supply.

Forgot to mention, the reasoning for leaving it on is to access files from work when i need them. Too often do I find my files scatter over three computers! Yea I could carry a USB key but having a centralize server is much better.

 

[BigJ]

Utilities don't vary by month for me so I just keep it on all the time.

Although it very rarely happens, one time I came back after going to the bathroom and there was smoke coming out of the case. The power supply had caught on fire, burning the wiring and ATA cables in the case. Not something to worry about, but just keep it in mind.

 

[LuckyTaxi]

Originally posted by: BigJ
Utilities don't vary by month for me so I just keep it on all the time.

Although it very rarely happens, one time I came back after going to the bathroom and there was smoke coming out of the case. The power supply had caught on fire, burning the wiring and ATA cables in the case. Not something to worry about, but just keep it in mind.

yea, im paranoid about leaving things on especially ones with moving parts. I dont care for dying hard drives, but I've seen CPUs and power supplies go up in smoke and with me not being there most of the day, this would be bad.

 

[Baked]

I don't know about you, but I would never leave my PC running when I'm out or sleeping. What if the PSU blows up and burns down your house.

 

[sniperruff]

so turn it off. i do that if i know i won't use it for a couple of hours.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: lilcam
Bad enough we have electric heat in the apt and I would hate to rack up the electric bill by leaving my PC on all day. It's about a year old with a "decent" power supply.

it will prolly be a few extra bucks a month...but yea if youre not going to use it...turn it off, better safe than sorry

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Lots of people leave them on.


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[secretanchitman]

unless im downloading, transferring a file over AIM, virus scanning, video editing, encoding, compressing, or one of those tasks that takes up more than a couple of hours, i shut it off during the night.

 

[beemercer]

Originally posted by: Baked
I don't know about you, but I would never leave my PC running when I'm out or sleeping. What if the PSU blows up and burns down your house.

I'm the same way, I saw some pictures of a guy's PC, where the video card lit on fire (not sure how) and destroyed all his equipment (monitor, speakers, PC, etc). After that I decided that waiting an extra 20 - 30 seconds to turn on my computer was not really that bad.

 

[Tiamat]

I keep it on all the time, however if you want to be lean on power usage, switch to an external harddrive and ultra low voltage cpu laptop. At idle, low voltage laptops may consume an order of magnitude less power than the desktop computer.

Typically, the refrigerator in my apt is the main culprit for power usage. In the summer, its my window AC.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
I keep it on all the time, however if you want to be lean on power usage, switch to an external harddrive and ultra low voltage cpu laptop. At idle, low voltage laptops may consume an order of magnitude less power than the desktop computer.

Typically, the refrigerator in my apt is the main culprit for power usage. In the summer, its my window AC.

About being scared of parts getting on fire, i have never had that even cross my mind. Im not worried about it at all. I pay off my worries by getting renter's insurance.

Doh! I could have swore I hit the Edit button rather than the Quote button!!

 

[Spacehead]

I leave my comps on all the time, except when it's really hot in the summer.

 

[paulney]

I have a server running 24x7 in my garage...
I do shut off my workstation though

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: lilcam
Bad enough we have electric heat in the apt and I would hate to rack up the electric bill by leaving my PC on all day. It's about a year old with a "decent" power supply.

Forgot to mention, the reasoning for leaving it on is to access files from work when i need them. Too often do I find my files scatter over three computers! Yea I could carry a USB key but having a centralize server is much better.

nothing to be paraoid. odds of a pc bursting into flames is about the same as a car bursting in flames, while parked, w/o an engine, and no gasoline.

 

[everman]

Mine's been on 24/7 for a long time, since last reboot it's been 12 Days, 8 Hours, 13 Minutes, 29 Seconds.

type systeminfo into the command prompt, look at the top of the list.

 

[SmoochyTX]

I leave mine on all the time. I'm not worried about the power consumption. I'm not a tree hugger nor am I worried about my place burning down because of my PSU.

As of now, it's been running for two weeks straight.

ETA - Yes. I pay my own bills.

 

[drum]

my computer has been off for a total of maybe 20 days in the past 4 years

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: drum
my computer has been off for a total of maybe 20 hours in the past 4 years

fixed it to work for me

 

[Vic]

How many times does this have to come up? A typical computer's power consumption at idle (with the monitor off or on standby) is almost minimal. No more than that of a single standard light bulb (and most people I know leave those on all the time without thinking about it). Leaving your PC on 24/7 will hardly "rack up" your electric bill.

 

[skyking]

The only thing I noted over the years is bad caps. the longer you run them, the faster they crap out on you
Get a good mobo and you are golden. I would not like being unable to remote in whenever I want.

 

[TheSiege]

my server at home for all my xboxs with XMBC has been on for 34 days now, and my work computer has been on for over 3 months straight, same with about 50 other people here.

 

[mercanucaribe]

It contributes to heating. ALL Of the energy it consumes is turned to heat, so if you turn off your PC you will have to turn the heater up to use the same amount of power.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Baked
I don't know about you, but I would never leave my PC running when I'm out or sleeping. What if the PSU blows up and burns down your house.

what if your refrigerator blows up?
what if your pipes burst?
what if your roof caves in?
what if an evil monkey is living in your closet?
what if someone breaks into your house?
what if your TV explodes?
what if your carpet melts?

 

[pulse8]

I've had most of the computers I've owned on 24/7 over the last 10 years or so and I've never had a problem.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
It contributes to heating. ALL Of the energy it consumes is turned to heat, so if you turn off your PC you will have to turn the heater up to use the same amount of power.

QFMFT. During the summer, if anyone makes the unforgivable mistake of shutting off the A/C or setting it at a stupid temperature like 80F, I am the first to notice. Computers put out a lot more heat than you expect.