Turn the PC off or leave it on?

[mygorillanet]

While kickin it with a few of my pc freaks over the weekend, we had a quite heated debate about this issue.There were many views on this subject and most of them had valid points. Some believed that leaving a computer on will wear out components much faster while others believed that shutting a computer down each day does more harm.

I personally believe leaving a computer on 24 hrs is better than shutting it down everytime you leave your desk.

ps: I am also aware of the energy conservation issue but I'd like to limit this discussion to the longevity of your pc.

Shut it down or leave it on? What say you?

 

[Livewire]

Depends - is the box on the floor where it'll get more dust, or airborne?


Cause if it's on the floor, SHUT IT OFF AND SHUT IT OFF NOOOOOWWWW! Dust = Bad. Lotsa dust = REEEEEELY bad. Dust'll help the pc heat up faster which WILL kill the components faster, so your buddies may have had a point there.


Now if it's airborne, I'd keep it on cause theres a lot less dust to help heat it up. Then it becomes a matter of whether you believe the theory that each time you turn the system on it's like a power surge to all the components, similar to a light-bulb - flick it on and off too many times'll shorten its life too.



Theres always a bit more to it isn't there? I mean I'm gunna keep my pc's on as long as possible, but none of them in the house are any lower than 3 feet off the ground (and most are higher than that), so they don't get nearly as filled with dust as some of them I've seen (some look like theres enough dust to make a sofa cushion out of it). Any of them on the ground should ideally be shut off even though it IS like a lightbulb (turning it on/off too many times would kill it), simply because turning it off is the lesser of the two evils. I'd rather have a component die than melt

 

[Smith6612]

Well, two of my PCs are always on, the Linux box in my basement acting as an Internet monitor (catch my friends running torrents so I can stop them ) and web server, along with my file server. The rest of the PCs in my house are usually always on as well.

 

[diabolo]

I usually keep my on for the day, and when I go to sleep I turn it off, so it stays on for approx. 7 hrs a day. I put it into Hibernation mode, so I don't lose my content I am working on.

 

[Loneua Technologies]

If im not using it,

Standby,

its never on unused.

Energy Savings = $ in my pocket

 

[GamingX]

I would sure like to keep the PC in my house switched on the whole time, but my family doesn't allow me. I don't think a PC will wear down faster if you keep the PC on for 24 hours. But yes you need to periodically clean the PC and get rid of dust etc.

 

[Rufio1]

depends if i need my pc on for awhile or not. when its just sitting there, not having anything running, then there's no reason for it to be on. When im download stuff, its always on or rather, its on until my dad yells at me to turn it off. If i had a laptop, then it would never turn off....

 

[Tjbond]

Interesting Subject,

My computer has been on for the past 2 and a half weeks, sitting on my floor under my desk, untouched, Has been running perfectly fine, no problems, did not melt, etc.

So, I would have to say, It's a matter of choice if you wish to turn it off or not. But will it wear out the components faster if left on or off? Doubt it, Honestly don't think it would matter either way.

Just think of data centers which run huge servers, do they turn them off? No...
Do they last a very long time before needing replaced, yes. of course, just like our computers.

 

[BentFX]

I live with three computers in a small two bedroom apt. This winter I noticed that as long as I leave the gateway machine running, the thermostat doesn't kick the heater on near as often. My electric bill is about $3 lower compared to this time last year(I don't recall how the temperature was last winter).

The gateway is a 2.2ghz machine running Win2k pro. It normally goes about 4 or 5 days between reboots. As long as I'm going to be running a heater anyway, I'll let the computer stay on.

BentFX

 

[sunils]

Its better to turn off your pc to remove all unwanted content in the ram. by doing this your computer will gain speed. when you keep your pc on always, there is no problem. but you have to clean it periodically so that dust is not accumulated. you can also use the hibernation mode if you are in middle of you work.

periodically clear you dump in the home directory to have a good speed.

 

[mattura]

Give it a rest!
Turn it off when not using it - it should improve the longevity, if not by much.
Let's things cool down, gets rid of static electricity (which damages RAM), and stops circulating dust.
However, there is little point in simply rebooting, unless your OS has gone dicky and leaks memory or something. If you're only going to be away for less than an hour, just flick the screen off (better than screen saver), which should keep your monitor happy.

 

[chisaku]

I have it on during the day, at night I shut it down to keep it in tip-top shape. I don't want my computer to overheat because of my forgetfulness.

 

[Xemnas]

I prefer to have my computer on all day, and then hibernate it when I go to bed to save power and avoid long start-ups. I may experiment with leaving it on 24/7 to see how much power it uses, it might come in handy if I decide I want to run my own server

 

[Doc Photoshop]

I've just pitched this to a couple of guys I work with, and the differences are startling. One says, leave it on all the time, it won't wear out as long as you keep the insides clean, because starting it puts strain on the PSU and electrical equipment.

The other said turn it off, due to the machine not being designed to be 24 hours drawing power.

I, personally, say have a look at what your electricity consumption is and the reason you need to leave it on in the first place. If it is just for fast boot up, then hit hibernate before you go to bed.

 

[Sohail]

I used to leave my computer on all the time but after a while it started running really slow permanently and i never did it again... So now i know that everyone and everything needs a rest; even computers. So i suggest you should it down after using it.

 

[Sharky]

I used to either use sleep or hibernate, but the power has been a bit dodgy round here lately, so now with the UPS, I usually hibernate when not using my PC.

 

[Ultras RBA]

I personally leave mine on throughtout the week whilst I'm here but switch it off at weekends when I'm not here as I'll be away.

I don't actually have any knowledge of whether it will components out much faster like some of you have said (and I don't doubt what you say either as it seems valid points) but I do use the excuse to my mum that "turning it on and off means it uses more electricity" - as if she's going to know!!

 

[bigjoe4]

Turn it off otherwize it destroys the planet + gets really slow

 

[otherside]

I generally turn it on in the morning, and use it as needed through the day, and turn it off when I go to bed. I personally love sleeping in complete darkness, so having it on would kind of ruin that with all of the LED's .
-Otherside

 

[Spartan Erik]

Well seeing as how I live in an apartment where my utilities are free for me, I leave my computer on most of the time for overnight downloads. Dust problem is solved with a compressed air duster. However, I would suggest turning it off every now and then to clear out your RAM the moment it powers off.