whats the general feeling on leaving your comptuer on...

[TheOmegaCode]

Originally posted by: bgeh
i've been doing it for 3 months and they still relent. they will always ask "who else does this?"
they want a example from their circle of friends

My friends dad works for So. Cal. Edison and barely lets him (my friend) walk out of the room w/out yelling at him to turn his computer off...

 

[Hardtarget]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
24/7 F@H here, Why not get into a DC project and use your idle cycles to help cure cancer, search for intelligent life in the universe, develope new drugs or encryption technology. Heck you can have your own simulated particle collider I think.

actually i'm doing Grid (stupid cancer) with some buddies from an onlin egaming group i've been in for about 6 years. I prefer cancer to say.. SETI.. seems like a much better cause. espeically since 2 people in my family died of cancer last year and one person got it.

 

[Twilling]

I turn all of my computers every night. I like the freshness of a reboot when I get up and turn my computer on. I have 2 computers, a laptop, and a Server. All of them are shut down when not in use.

One time I tried to leave my Server up and running all the time until I heard an unusual noise coming from the fan. So it was another reason I shut down every night, less wear and tear on the fans and other rotating parts.

I don't agree with the light bulb analogy because you are dealing with a small filament and current that illuminates to give light. It's a very poor comparison.

Another reason I shut down every night is my light bill use to be 120 bucks a month, now it has decreased to about 95 bucks under the same climate conditions. Remember I have 4 computers that trip my 15 amp circuit breaker every time my wife starts to vacuum.

 

[Deuce24]

I turn mine off at night, or if I'm gonna be out of the hosue for more than 4+ hours. With the way computer components are manufactured today, as long as you're not turning your comp on/off more than 3+ times a day, computer components are constructed to handle such "wear and tear." Here is a good article on this subject with reputable sources: Switching off your computer and monitor

 

[MiExStacY]

I leave it on all the time, just for the convienience. The computer uses minimal power compared to other electric devices so electriticy cost isn't an issue

 

[Texun]

I turn mine on once a day, it may be early in the morning or late at night but when it's on it stays on until I hit the sack. The biggest reason I don't leave it on 24/7 is due to the fact that it sucks dust and carpet lint no matter what I do. It's also like leaving a heat lamp on all the time. No reason for me to do that. If it fails, it fails.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I turn mine on around 4 PM and off around 10PM Monday through Thursday. Friday through Sunday really depends what I'm doing, but overall I turn it off whenever I leave my room or come back. Even on my 'old' system, Williamette 1.7 and Diamond Max 8 hard drive, which is at the bottom of ratings at storagereview.com in terms of performance, it doesn't take much time to boot up. Sure, sometimes I want to watch TV and I hate waiting for it to boot up but its relatively fast and doesn't take much time. I don't usually leave mine on a lot just because it sits there idle using electricity.

I too need noise to fall asleep, I turn my room fan all the way up before I sleep. I've actually tried a setting or two lower and I couldn't sleep...

 

[EeyoreX]

You can turn a computer off...?

Both of mine remain on 24/7. Neither have boot times of over 30 seconds, but I only know that from doing upgrades I see no need to turn them off unless I am going to be out of the house for an extended period of time (3-4+ days). I experimented one month with turning them off, to compare my power bills, honestly, the buck or two isn't worth the stress on my system. I'd rather not have to buy a new $100 hard drive, for example, to save ~$24 annually. People say that they want an "instant on" PC, I have one already.

\Dan

 

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Mallow

Originally posted by: pmailloux
Leave all mine on 24/7, I use the analogy of a light bulb doesnt burn out when its on, they always burn out when you turn them on, such is electronics.

tis true

Yes, they do burn out when they are on. They just prefer to do it with the initial surge they get when the switch is hit. They also burn out if the arm light fixture's cheap plastic base snaps, and the lamp falls onto the desk.


As for the PC's - yours actually have power switches? I don't know of any need for them. I do have an "upgrade time" switch.

well, there are original Edison bulbs that have been lit for 100 years. the secret to their longevity is that they never get turned off. my computers never gets turned off. even my laptop just gets put to sleep.

 

[neilm]

I turn mine off, this computer is 6yrs old and sounds like a jumbo taking off. Until I build my new system, who knows, see how stable it is, also if you have a dualboot system, you are always going to reboot the computer arent ya?

 

[Jen]

my computer is on 24/7 even with the watercooling that i am useing. i have only had one pump go bad in 2 yrs and a hard drive that failed me

 

[osage]

I leave all mine on 24/7..turn them off only for hardware or software install/upgrade. Been that way for the last year or 2.
I did have 1 mobo die on me about 6 months ago, burnt a voltage regulator, no idea if it had anything to do with the uptime or not.

 

[giocopiano]

I always leave it on since it is an extension of my manhood. Always ready for aXion
Peace.

duh.

 

[blackhawk]

My son left his on in residance all the time(and at home now) but very noisy and the dust packed into it was incredible.

I turn mine off at night and on when I need them, otw its a noisy air filter. Never had anything fail on me attributed to startup etc. Thats like the old monitor problems with burnin that was being quoted for years after it was a factor.

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

I've had mine on for virtually three years now. I've upgraded within the past month or so...but I've noticed absolutely no ill effects aside from a lot of dust.

 

[chocoruacal]

My present computers, and every computer going back 10 years....has run 24/7. I never use any of Windows' power management....drives stay running 24/7 as well. I turn the monitors off when I'm not using them, of course

In fact....I don't think I know ANYONE who turns their comp off anymore

 

[mrzed]

Originally posted by: EdipisReks<brwell, there are original Edison bulbs that have been lit for 100 years. the secret to their longevity is that they never get turned off. my computers never gets turned off. even my laptop just gets put to sleep.

Actually, the reason those bulbs are still running is because of the thickness of the filament and the output of the bulb. Regular light bulbs run hotter, are more efficient, but burn out over time. Those original bulbs may last forever, but they are not putting out a lot of light.

I turn my computer off. I have had very few failures in all my years of computing, and I expect to have had a similar number if i had left them on all the time. Like others have said, by the time it breaks down, chances are you will have moved on to something new. If I was running some program 24/7, that would be another story.

 

[Ardan]

Well, now you know someone that does. I usually turn my computers off at night and it DOESN'T harm my computers. Why? I usually never go on my PC in the morning, so I turn it off maybe at midnight or 1am, or whenever I go to bed and then it is off for maybe 12 hours before I turn it on again. It isn't like i'm turning it off and on in a 5 hour or less period. I would say the only stupid thing is turning it off when it isn't in use (unless you live in Cali, of course), because I leave it on during the day and shut it off at night. Its not because I think my components will wear down, because they are quality components and I have left it on at times when I need to. For a while I was using Suspend-to-RAM and it worked great but my boot-time is VERY fast and i'm not a lazy bastard, so I don't bother leaving it on. It takes only 4 or 5 seconds to load Windows XP Pro and probably only 8 seconds to reach that point (I haven't timed it, thats just a rough guess). For me, life won't fall to peices if I wait a measly 15-25 seconds of my life for a computer to start up .

Oh yea, I've done this with all of my computers and they never wore out. My old Athlon 700 (Thunderbird) runs like new (though it isn't used anymore) and the 233Mhz Pentium from Gateway 2000 worked flawlessly (and still could).

 

[GnomeCop]

I leave mine off... ...24/7.

 

[xboxist]

Wow... all of these responses and I still don't know what's best for my computer (I'm not the thread-starter, but became interested). Maybe I can get a better answer if I present this question:

If I don't care at ALL about waiting for the computer to boot, then what would you suggest? Because it seems that quite a few people on here leave it on because they don't want to wait for it to boot. I could care less. I just want what's best for my rig. I read that a turn-on, and a turn-off once a day will not harm your system... and then I read that it will to some extent. Damn this confusion!

 

[OverVolt]

I don't think it really matters, i shut mine down when i'm not usin it to save power.

 

[Cadaver]

Computers have an "off" switch?? News to me