35 replies to this topic

[J rags]

usually i shut down my computer every night or any time ill be gone for a few hours but one of my friends recently told me it is better for you computer if you leave it on over night, is this true?

and if any1 does leave it on, what do u have ur power settings on (monitor, hard disks, standby, and hibernate)?

[J rags]

kinda sorta i guess....if you think about it....turning your system on and off everynight makes it work....like starting up the psu and shutting it off....i restart my computer every friday...just for the hell of it...but other than that...its always on

what do u keep ur power settings on?

[wyte mafia]

power settings - go to standby after however many hours you want. thats about it

[kidcapri]

I restarted my computer yesterday. That was the first time in about a month. I only did that because a program made me.

I never use my power settings, because I don't want it to kick in when I am encoding a movie or something. BTW, it is far worse to turn your computer off than to leave it on overnight. Turning it on and off just stresses the parts out.

[ace of spades]

call me paranoid but i allways have the feeling my system is getting hacked or bombarded by addware/spyware when its on so i always shut it off not to mention saving energy on the electric bill.

[$VT-c0brA]

agreed..........................................

[Billy Pumper]

mine is always on no matter what. i usually only restart it when something wants me too

[Defeater]

I shut mine off at night. I dont feel like paying a higher electric bill when I don't have to.

[Ezekiel]

An average PC, with the monitor and speakers off, uses the same amount of electricity as a light bulb.

Leaving it on wont hurt anything at all. Because when you turn it on and off you causing conductors to expand and contract causing wear and tear on the machine. Not much, but it is happening. My grandpa used to work with computers back when they took up whole rooms, and that's what he told me. Of course, technology has changed. So it's possible what I said doesn't apply anymore.

I have to turn mine off because it's so damn loud with the fans, and it's about 4 ft from my bed. So I'd never get to sleep. Plus, it's bright. And I don't really feel like disconecting the case lights every night.

Edited by Ezekiel, 19 June 2006 - 12:13 AM.

[Defeater]

An average PC, with the monitor and speakers off, uses the same amount of electricity as a light bulb.

Leaving it on wont hurt anything at all. Because when you turn it on and off you causing conductors to expand and contract causing wear and tear on the machine. Not much, but it is happening. My grandpa used to work with computers back when they took up whole rooms, and that's what he told me. Of course, technology has changed. So it's possible what I said doesn't apply anymore.

I have to turn mine off because it's so damn loud with the fans, and it's about 4 ft from my bed. So I'd never get to sleep. Plus, it's bright. And I don't really feel like disconecting the case lights every night.

Electricity is electricity so why pay for it when you don't have to?. Plus mine generates so much heat it negates my a/c.

[Billy Pumper]

Electricity is electricity so why pay for it when you don't have to?. Plus mine generates so much heat it negates my a/c.

lol i know how you feel my room is probly 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house and if i am gaming hardcore all day and watching tv then i bet it is around 10 degrees hotter.

i have a mini fridge next to my computer too but i had to unplug that b*tch cause seriously i could have the ac set on 70 and if i was playing games and watching tv you would sweat like you were funning a race

[DarkShadow]

I used to leave mine on, til I woke up in a cloud of smoke with my motherboard having an electrical fire on it, no thankz.

[Chris82]

Ew...yeah. Well, a fire wouldn't be good, but my parts aren't too much of a fire hazard I suppose.

I leave it all unless I have to restart because I usually have sh*t running all night.

[DarkShadow]

thats just it you dumbass, Lol

My comp was awesome at the time, FX-51 with sk8n bored, the SATA controller f*cked up and got surged by itself, thus resulting in a fire, its possible for any system to do that.

[Billy Pumper]

not mine shadow i have a sprinkler system installed inside my computer so im straight

[Novahawk]

No actually you guys got it all wrong that are saying that leaving it on is better for the parts... it is worse to leave your computer on and your parts will last less because the parts are always heated up and spinning and doing work... even if youre not using it, the hard drives are still spinning (unless you sset them to stop while idle, but thats also stupid because then they keep stopping and starting up like every 2 seconds) and everything is hot and stuff, and heat causes parts to die faster... and haven't you guys noticed that a computer feels much better after its restarted after its been on for like ever? i always turn my computer off, unless im downloading a torrent or something

[monsterWorkAccount]

I leave mine on, but I run a webserver and ftp server.


Also, 3-6 am is a great time to run the daily defrags, updates, antivirus sweeps, cleanups, etc.

If you wanna save power, have a quiet computer, or are paranoid of attacks... then go into your bios, turn your power settings to STR. Then enable hibernate &/or suspend in windows.


When your pc hibernates, it writes the data in your ram to the HD, so your computer shuts off, but boots up more quickly than normal.

You can use suspend, it just cuts power to everything except the ram, so your computer boots up even more quickly, while saving power.

[Lost]

I hate waiting for mine to boot up when I want to use it.. I won't use it as much for dumb little things if I know I have to wait even 30 seconds.. I'm impatient like that.. My pc and htpc (needs to be on to record stuff) are both on all the time. Yay power bill..

[Cleric]

No actually you guys got it all wrong that are saying that leaving it on is better for the parts... it is worse to leave your computer on and your parts will last less because the parts are always heated up and spinning and doing work...

The life span which is cut short is negliable becuase, for example a harddrive, will last X amount of hours which the manufactor states. Harddrives tend to last about 10 years depending on which one you buy. Leaving it on will cut it short by 3-6 months. Maybe a year at most.

So 9 years for a harddrive. I'll take that becuase by then something better will be out.


Look at it this way, for the life-span of your computer leaving it on all the time will not hurt it unless you intend to use it 7+ years down the line. I don't intend to use mine that long and will have likely built 2 more within that span. It is really personal choice.

Edited by Cleric, 19 June 2006 - 10:49 AM.

[Sniprwulf]

I used to leave mine on, til I woke up in a cloud of smoke with my motherboard having an electrical fire on it, no thankz.

yeah its a lil diff when you havit oc'ed like im guessing you did.

computers are meant to be ran overnight, for weeks or months on end. its how they're designed.