Is 'never sleep' bad for the computer?

[Xolin]

Is leaving the computer in this 'Never Sleep' mode bad for the computer? Will this be a problem when I download games?

[Skiiwee29]

I never put mine to sleep. It stays on 99% of the time. I only have it set to turn off my displays after 30 minutes to prevent burn in. 

[VectorTech]

1 minute ago, Xolin said:

Is leaving the computer in this 'Never Sleep' mode bad for the computer? Will this be a problem when I download games?

Not putting your computer to sleep isn't necessarily bad, however giving it a proper restart every now and then can help improve performance.

[sof006]

Hardware? Maybe, possible, not really. PC components tend to have a pretty good life span.

 

Windows on the other hand, probably would start to slow down and bugs could start to occur since Windows isn't designed with being on for prolonged periods of time.

 

I work on a Service Desk and I have come across PC's that have been running for 30 days + and basically cease to function because of memory leaks.

 

if you're planning on running a PC non stop i'd recommend using either Linux or Windows Server. 

[Xolin]

Thank you guys. 

 

Should I set power to balanced, Power Saver, or high performance?

 

[airborne spoon]

I never turn off my computer unless there is one of those windows update restart notifications, It runs 24/7 otherwise. I have it hooked up to a projector so i don't even bother with the turn off monitor crap since i turn on/off the projector when I'm using it.

[Roswell]

You’ll get a lot more dust buildup which will require you to take it apart for cleaning much more frequently. You’ll also have to pay for the electrical use.

 

I don’t know, all it takes is hitting a random key on your keyboard to wake it up so why not have it sleep? 

[Wh0_Am_1]

It will wear out fans, HDDs, and possibly other components faster if you don't put it to sleep. Because rather than having the opportunity to spin down they are constantly active. Besides those most other components are rated for long enough that you will likely replace them before they could ever fail.

[NineEyeRon]

Mine boots to desktop in like 6 seconds so I just shut it down. Sleep seems pointless.

[Moonzy]

if you have things to do on it, it's fine to leave it on

 

otherwise, you're just burning electricity and making the room warmer for no good reason

[CerealExperimentsLain]

Despite all anecdotes that 'Sleeping and waking is the worst, most stressful thing you can do for a computer!', by default Windows 10 will sleep after 2hrs of not being used.  Despite this, there are no harrowing stories of how the Windows defaults have ruined millions of dollars of computer hardware.

[wasab]

I do this on my computer. I dont think there is anything wrong with it except the higher eletric usuage 

[SansVarnic]

On 7/16/2021 at 1:12 PM, Xolin said:

Is leaving the computer in this 'Never Sleep' mode bad for the computer? Will this be a problem when I download games?

I left my personal rig on 24/7 for 18 months, it still works like new.

No issues resulted from that time period. I was running F@H if that helps give an idea of how it performed.

[PianoPlayer88Key]

On 7/17/2021 at 3:11 PM, NineEyeRon said:

Mine boots to desktop in like 6 seconds so I just shut it down. Sleep seems pointless.

My current main PC (a 2015 Clevo laptop with 64GB RAM, i7-6700K, booting from 1TB 2.5" WD Blue 3D SATA SSD) often can take about 45 seconds or so to POST!  My dad's old 2008 Dell laptop (Core 2 Duo T7250, 2GB RAM, booting from 240GB 2.5" Crucial BX300 SSD) will post, boot, and get to the Windows 10 desktop (having just entered the login info, if I'm quick enough) about the time my laptop is just showing the FIRST screen after hitting the power button.

Spoiler

 

The Dell laptop would have easily gotten all the way to the WIndows desktop before the American Megatrends logo appeared on the Clevo, if there wasn't a several seconds dual-boot delay (giving me the opportunity to select between Linux & Windows on startup).
The third PC, using the monitor on the piano, is a desktop with an i7-4790K, 32GB RAM and I think at the time booting from a 256GB 2.5" Crucial M550 SSD.

Also getting INTO windows takes a while, and opening up programs, apps I had running from the previous time, etc.  Just loading Chrome or FireFox can take a good 10-30 minutes or so, I think (I haven't precisely timed it though), part of that is because I have it set to remember my previous session, and I have a probably-not-the-best habit of getting burned out on working on some things, and starting other projects before finishing the first, not closing things, forgetting where tabs were, opening new ones, etc.
This is more a topic for a different post / forum, but... I'm probably due for a PC upgrade.  (I wanted to hold off until late 2022 or 2024, for multiple reasons, some related to longevity of my next system.)   To summarize the upgrade I'll looking for -- there are things that have taken me several months to do (and I got burned out from) that I'd like to be able to have done in maybe a week, encoding 4 minutes of max-quality HEVC 4K video can take 4 days on my 4790K (I'd like the new one to be as fast as encoding 320kbps mp3 is on the 4790K - 2 minutes to encode 2 hours of audio), and for smaller tasks, I'd like to be able to take tasks that take several hours or so, and get a couple of those done every minute or something like that.  (Of course how quick the computer user is with doing things would be a factor, too, and would probably drag the speed down a bit... but if I could have several dozen or hundred things going simultaneously, at least as much as my brain could handle which may not be that much....)

[xXDuckzXx]

I normally keep mine on for a few days before I start noticing FPS drops and small issues after about 10 days it will crash if I try to play some thing high performance.
 

[sub68]

On 7/16/2021 at 2:13 PM, Skiiwee29 said:

I only have it set to turn off my displays after 30 minutes to prevent burn in. 

I run LCD panels so they don't burn in

[sub68]

I usally turn off my main machine.

But my secound machine never turns off

[dizmo]

Nope. I haven't turned my PC off in years, aside from the random reboots MS Update decides to do. No issues.

 

On 7/16/2021 at 1:54 PM, Roswell said:

You’ll get a lot more dust buildup which will require you to take it apart for cleaning much more frequently. You’ll also have to pay for the electrical use.

 

I don’t know, all it takes is hitting a random key on your keyboard to wake it up so why not have it sleep? 

Depends on your local surroundings. I've lived in several different places, and have only had dust build up issues in older houses where there are more things prone to collecting dust. I've never taken my PC apart to clean it, as I've never had to.

On 7/16/2021 at 2:02 PM, Wh0_Am_1 said:

It will wear out fans, HDDs, and possibly other components faster if you don't put it to sleep. Because rather than having the opportunity to spin down they are constantly active. Besides those most other components are rated for long enough that you will likely replace them before they could ever fail.

While you're technically correct, it's by no means something the OP should be worried about, as it won't shorten the life by any amount he's likely to notice. Also, a lot of things fare better in a constant state rather than being powered up and powered down again.

On 7/17/2021 at 3:14 PM, Moonzy said:

if you have things to do on it, it's fine to leave it on

 

otherwise, you're just burning electricity and making the room warmer for no good reason

Not necessarily. Most PCs only generate enough heat to increase room warmth when they're doing something intensive, and when idle PCs really don't burn much electricity at all.

[Moonzy]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

when idle PCs really don't burn much electricity at all.

Idk, 40-60W by my measurements from my wattmeter

That can definitely slowly warm up my room

And adds about $3 to monthly electricity

[dizmo]

12 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

Idk, 40-60W by my measurements from my wattmeter

That can definitely slowly warm up my room

And adds about $3 to monthly electricity

Right. It won't warm up a room, and $25/year isn't really a whole lot of cash. I spend almost twice that every day on my snack break.

[BondiBlue]

Basically all of my computers are on 24/7. Most perform some sort of a server function, and the rest are on for convenience. They're all fairly energy efficient for their performance, so it doesn't raise my power bill by more than a few dollars. Plus, one of the rooms I have a machine running in needs to stay warm for some of my pets, so that works out well. 

 

I've never lost hardware simply from running it 24/7. Any hardware that has failed has failed simply due to age (bad caps, failed cooling fans, etc.). One of my file servers is a 2008-era Dell OptiPlex 755. It was used as a business server from the time it was new until it was retired, then I got it and have used it as a server ever since. Still works beautifully. 

[Moonzy]

6 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Right. It won't warm up a room, and $25/year isn't really a whole lot of cash. I spend almost twice that every day on my snack break.

Why would you leave it on though? Unless if you have a reason to.

[dizmo]

3 hours ago, Moonzy said:

Why would you leave it on though? Unless if you have a reason to.

Why not? I don't have to do anything extra, updates will download while I'm sleeping, and really the $25/year isn't even noticeable.

[Moonzy]

47 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Why not? I don't have to do anything extra, updates will download while I'm sleeping, and really the $25/year isn't even noticeable.

Updates can also download while you're using the PC too

 

Tho I'm on the boat that never sleeps my PC because I do something on it

And I hate it when windows restart it, because everything I have open will be closed and some of them not saved

[Mark Kaine]

sleep is broken on windows anyway, use hibernate its much better and uses less energy…

 

also if you arent going to use your pc for a while just turn it off, common sense, more safe, less wear, less energy. why is this even a question  lol