On 24/7 or Power Off

[TorguL]

Sleep / Hibernate is a non-factor to me, I either keep it off if I'm going away for a week or more, or keep it on for the long term health of my components.

How do components benefit from that? I always power off.

[That Norwegian Guy]

How do components benefit from that? I always power off.

 

Power supplies, fans and hard drives (mechanical HDDs) lose a little bit of "health" (though not EVERY time) you turn a computer on from cold.

[Dudenstein]

I keep my pc on basically all the time. It's just more convenient and let's me continue where I left off. When I starts to chug I just restart it to clear it all out and run it for day's again

[extremescouter]

My desktop and laptop are always on, or sleeping. It's probably bad, but I usually end up not turning them off or restarting them that often. 

[unknowngamerfreak]

Unless I am downloading a huge file or game overnight then I put it into sleep mode because I run Raid 0 SSD so wake up is faster then turning on the monitor. Why waste power and wear your parts down faster.

[Blade of Grass]

If I know I'm not going to use it for an extensive amount of time (1 hours or more) then it goes off (basically, when I'm done, it's off).

[Phillyphries]

Unless I am downloading a huge file or game overnight then I put it into sleep mode because I run Raid 0 SSD so wake up is faster then turning on the monitor. Why waste power and wear your parts down faster.

 

Because you don't waste much power at all (money-wise) when idle.

[Titan]

I just leave it on, unless my brother or parents decide to turn it off, when I'm sleeping.

[Fonil]

Leave it on.

1) I'm not a dick so I seed

2) Usually have some type of media playing all the time, I find it harder for me to sleep in a quite environment if I'm not running through my own head at 1000MPH. instead lost in something else instead. 

[EricX2]

Sleep mode, it uses about the same amount of power as being totally off and the devices inside are technically 'off' except maybe the RAM. I also like to remote into it from my tablet and it's instant on with WOL on my tablet which is really convenient.

 

I never turn it off unless I'm changing parts. :)

[Nicktrance]

I turn it off when I go to sleep or spend several hours without using the PC, spending the day out or at school etc. I put it in sleep when I go to eat or not using my PC for several minutes to an hour or so away from my PC. I don't really get why people worry so much about boot times, I mean it's not like you have to stare at it while it boots or it won't work, plus with SSDs it doesn't take long at all...

[Jammin]

Power off if I'm not relying on it to do something while I'm not in front of it.

 

While the power and cost saving is relatively small compared to something like putting it to sleep, I'm of the opinion that every little helps and if you know your computer isn't actively doing anything for hours then turning it off is the best thing.

 

It's good to be in the habit is what I would argue, considering power isn't an infinite resource (and the way most of it is generated, definitely not). Same as being in the habit of turning off lights when I leave a room or not heating more water than necessary.

[CountChoculitis]

I turn mine on in the morning and off at night. I do not like any extra noise while I sleep and it seems like a waste of power to leave it on all night.

[Fonil]

Distributed computing for LTT is another great reason.

[DudeWazap]

I leave it on all the time mainly because, for some reason when i wake it up from sleep sometimes windows doesn't detect my sound card for some reason then i have to restart my PC in order for it to be detected. I want to just sit down and start gaming right away.

[PsychoClan]

Just curious: How many of you guys leave your PC on 24/7, and why?

 

I leave it on, mostly because I don't want to deal with boot times. (No ssd)

i don't have an ssd (yet) but it boots in 15 secs!

[Lukiose]

I just turn it off, no point putting it in sleep mode really, save power & save the earth!

With an SSD booting up just takes 20 seconds, i'd rather pay that extra 10(10 for sleep startup assuming) seconds than waste several hours of electricity

[Jozi]

Usually I turn my pc off when I go to sleep or work if I'm not downloading some big files.

[horvath93]

I turn it off only if I'm going away, but even then maybe my mom will use it, so it's on almost 24/7.

[tobben]

Most systems idle at less than 100W. 100W is stretching it, especially for sleep mode. Assuming an average load of 100W, thats 72kWh per month (24/7 operation; you can calculate the kWh for only night time sleep power consumption, which is far less). Which, depending on the price of electricity (10cents/kWh, it's cheaper in some other places), is $7.2 per month. Barely noticeable considering all other high-power appliances in a typical household. Most people can definitely afford that, even on min. wage.

 

Only gaming can really skew that towards higher averages, but nobody games for 24/7. 

 

Short version is, turning it off vs. sleep saves very little in the 8 or so hours overnight.

 

e: Just to give you some numbers, a computer in sleep mode consumes 5-10W. That translates to 1.2kWh (8 hours at night over 30 days) per month. You're saving $0.12-0.24 per month by turning it off at night.

im saying it's a waste of power, not money, and im not talking about putting it in sleep mode but simply leaving it on 24/7. Leaving lots of lights on or use to much heating uses alot more power but it's still unnecessary and stupid.

[rashdanml]

im saying it's a waste of power, not money, and im not talking about putting it in sleep mode but simply leaving it on 24/7. Leaving lots of lights on or use to much heating uses alot more power but it's still unnecessary and stupid.

Power, money, no difference. They're the same.

 

I can't speak for others, but my computer is set to go to sleep mode after a certain period of time, so technically, it's in sleep mode at night and not turned on 24/7; the machine is still powered on 24/7, but the average power consumption is low. Even if it were on 24/7 with no sleep, the power consumption by comparison to day-use (computer + other electronics in the house) is not significant. Idle power consumption during the day (when I'm not actively using my computer, and again, it goes to sleep after a period of no use) is also insignificant.

[911^NEmeSis]

Well I've always kept my computers on 24/7  unless I'm going to be away for many days at a time, when in that case I will just down. Of course I still reboot now and then for updates etc, but the computer is mainly on.

[joelthezombie15]

Well my build isnt done so im using my parents computers and they leave it on all the time and when i get my rig i plan on leaving it on at night because i decided that i want fold so ya.

[WR10]

Would like to leave it on 24/7 but then I'll have to clean it more often because of dust issues. 

[mooseblues]

I personally have my pc on 24/7 and set it to sleep mode before going to bed. Like others have mentioned, I only have a mechanical hard drive and am avoiding long boot times.