Turn the PC off or leave it on?

[componentwarehouse]

Components are pretty good now days - my HDD (for example) has a 5 year warranty, and by that time Ill probably be upgrading anyway, so it doesnt really matter to me. RAM is fairly cheap as well, so it comes down to noise and needing to use it. Although to be honest, if you use the sleep in Vista it takes seconds to startup, so theres really no point leaving it on at all.

Generally I leave it on in the day (downloading and things), and shut it down at night, cos its in the room I sleep in.

 

[wolf693]

Good question.

My desktop computer is actively used for about 6-7 hours a day, and when it's not, it's in hibernate. I usually never have to clean the dust out of it because of some home-made filters installed in it and the computer isn't down on the ground, it's on my desk. When I'm gone on a vacation, then it is turned off, but when I'm home or going to be gone for a few hours, it's only in hibernate.

With my server, that's a different question. It's on 24/7, even when I'm on vacation. But it has a heat sink installed and is cleaned thoroughly at least once a month, sometimes more.

My laptop is usually turned off when it is not in use.

 

[dWhite]

A cold boot does alot more damage to your computer [mainly the hard drive] than leaving it on would.

 

[tcmstr134]

i have a laptop... so i can leave it on withount much noise... it keeps me on IRC without the need for a BNC (though i do ping often)

id rather keep it on, as im a believer in the theory that off and on has more damage than just on, but i do take my battery out when its sitting on my desk just to help the battery life(thats a different story for another thread)

 

[midmar]

As Livewire says, heat and dust are the enemy, dust causes bearing failures in the cooling fans on the CPU, graphics card and PSU and causes overheating when it blocks intake filters, it also builds up on the fan blades knocking them off balance and making them noisier. I usually blow it out with a an air line or a can of compressed air every few months. Most electronic components will either fail early on in their life or last for years. I've seen servers and workstations on a small network run happily for 5+ years with just the occasional reset to clear the memory out and good dust blow out. If anything will fail first it is usually the hard drive followed by fans. Anything mechanical really.
At home I standby my machine if it will not be used for a couple of hours. If you are going to leave it on all the time
and you are using a CRT monitor then switching the monitor off
when not actually at the computer will save a good amount of energy and cut down on heat output.
Ken

 

[cdkilken]

Technically, the mechanical parts wear the same either way: the total time in use will determine the overall wear to the component(s). That's why there are specially rated components for systems intended to be left on for long periods of time, i.e. servers. You will spend more money for such an item, though.

With non-mechanical components, whether powering down or letting them idle wears away at them more I would think depends on the power supply and motherboard connection.

 

[USER.1]

The worst thing for circuit boards is temperature variations, especially if the physical environment is cold. Switching on and off is not good for soldered contact points. And I've heard of hard drive platters breaking due to a cold start.
My PCs are generally on all the time, if not in use I just switch off monitors.
If hard drive life is an issue, set them to spin down after a few hours of inactivity. The bearings will get louder after a long time spinning.
I also keep any rarely used drives unplugged until I need them.
The only disadvantage I can see with constant power on is a greater risk of collecting a power surge or spike if a UPS or surge arrester is not used.
Don't worry about the power bill, it's peanuts.

JoN.

 

[cursedpsp]

if you own a website and it rely's on your pc that it is on becuase you dont have server - i would suggest getting a pc that has a fairly biggish box. I got a dell pc (dunno what make maybe a dimension 1720) and it has a biggish box. Its quiet (barely hearable), low energy (£$€£$€), stays at a contant temperature. And every now and then blow the fan out to remove dust (and on the inside). Pretty much perfect to leave on all the time, just switch the monitor off

 

[taekwondokid42]

I leave mine off, to save power. Ecosystem and all that.

I only use mine once a day or so, and it takes <2 minutes to turn on and log in and get firefox running.

 

[battousai992]

In my opinion I would leave the PC on. Turning it On and Off every time will burn your power supply more than just leaving it on. But of course you can turn the monitor off. =D

 

[allinone]

turn it off, coz semiconductor chips are heated while they are on power mode and their life goes on decreasing when they are not in use hence always switch it off when no use.

 

[Perfect7]

I turn it off... Even people need sleep. Why not PCs?

 

[kkenny]

I turn it off... Even people need sleep. Why not PCs?

PCs make better insomniacs then we do though.

 

[Perfect7]

LOL! That's true though...

 

[iholla]

I used to think leaving it on was better but actually that is not so...at least in my case.

The cooling system in my pc is quite good but I recently lost a hard disk coz of over-heating.

It was due to a scheduled defrag task that was immediately followed by back-up...thats my guess.

Something must've happened to cause an interruption in the process. Now not even Hiren's boot tools can fix the partition errors coz the disk is basically not detected by the system.

Now, I prefer to switch it off and be present even for unattended scheduled TASKS.

 

[skracing]

I leave my rig on 24/5 (monday-friday) and I leave it on for 18 hours and turn it off for 6 hours each on saturday and sunday (to refresh ram, and im basically not in the house on sundays).

 

[whitebus]

On, with advance power options to turn off devices after 15 mins.

 

[hopper]

the answer in my book depends on how often you USE it and what you use it for
keep in mind that when a computer is off the lubrication in the bearings for the hard drive motor and fans cools off and starts to gel, combine that with tiny fragments of metal from normal wear and tear and eventually you can have a hard drive or fan that doesnt want to spin properly if at all
edit: computers are like cars, starting them puts more wear on them then continuous use to a degree

 

[bookworm99]

I have a laptop (a MAC at that!) and while it runs quite hot a lot of the time when in use, after you close the case while in any OS it goes to sleep with no noise or anything... just that pleasant Mac light that "breaths" (in... out... in... out... you can fall asleep to that). So, I usually leave it on, just in hibernation. Seems the best way for me, since it allows me a quicker startup when I go to use it each day (and I'm not actually on it now, it's asleep in my house ).

 

[magaly]

I've been told that shutting down your PC a lot does wear the components out over time. I am no PC expert, but that's just what I've been told. My laptop seems like it's running a marathon when I push the "Shut Down" option.

I have a laptop and I tend to leave it on once in a while with Utorrent open. Eventually, it hibernates which is fine with me because the start up time is a lot speedier than if I were to turn it off completely. I used to have a regular PC and I would leave it on with days on end. I did this for about 2 years before selling it and never ran across any problems myself.