Originally posted by: krackato
24/7. I've got a 300w powersupply. I've always wondered how much money I'm spending on electricity to help the Seti@home project.
Actually, I'm concerned with power usage. I shut down the computer at night simply because it's in my bedroom and the noise would bug me. When I get around to it I'm installing components I've already got to quieten it down but it still won't be what I want in my bedroom. If I have stuff open I want to see when I next turn it on, I hibernate. Never had a problem with it, but you have to remember NOT to change your hardware when hibernating or you might have some rude surprises (I'm told). Sometimes I hibernate during the day. If I'm returning to the box in an hour or two, I might just turn off the monitor. In any case, when I walk alway from the box for what I think will be more than 5 minutes, I turn down the brightness with my neato thumbwheel. I figure that extends the life of my FAB monitor. Ya gotta love your monitor.
I have a gizmo I made that measures the power used by whatever. I've tested everything I care about and I figured out that my computer uses around 80 watts when on exclusive of the monitor. The monitor doubles the power usage. If I leave the monitor switch on, but the computer is off, it draws maybe 2-5 watts. I used to leave it on ALL the time, but now I shut it off. I know people say my HDs will last longer if I don't turn them on and off, but I've never lost a HD. I've always replaced them with bigger ones before failure... so far. If you leave your HDs on 24/7 I think you should affirm with your HD manufacturer that they were designed to be used 24/7. I heard that the IBM 120 GXPs aren't really designed for 24/7.