General consensus on turning your PC off

[Opzon]

Is it worth turning my PC off for  power saving reasons and increasing lifespan if I'm going to be back on it in ~7hrs? Is it better to just leave it on all the time (disregarding power saving I guess and more on the increasing lifespan).

 

 

I am always on my PC and I used to turn it off every time I go to sleep (not just a nap) but now I only turn it off if I am not going to be on it right after I wake up (if I have work) as I feel like its more strenuous on my PC if I turn it on and off constantly.

 

Edit: seeing as the first few posts say leaving it on is better. Could someone link me a site to figure out how much it costs to run my PC per day as that would be nice to know as I am also concerned about the power cost in that as I feel bad leaving my PC on all the time.

[awesomes8wc3]

i just leave it on so everything is the way i left it and it's ready for use the next day. i've been doing this for as long as I remember and nothing has broken. you should be fine.

[Ssoele]

It's actually even better to leave your PC on if you are looking at the lifetime of your components. They are more likely to get damaged from heating up and cooling down (read turning on and off your PC). A constant temperature is best to keep your components in good shape.

[slightlyjaded]

The arguments are basicly

 

Leaving your PC on:      any moving component wears out quicker, fan bearing, hard drives, your parent's mouth when they're complaining about the electricity bill....

 

Switching your PC off:   Components heat up and cool resulting in solder points, and electrical traces eventually breaking.

 

What you do is up to you, personally I leave my computer on. My motherboard, and most of my components are rated for 24/7 operation, and I pay my own electricity bill. I also have a titanium rated PSU, so it isn't really that expensive. New fans if one wears out are relatively inexpensive. and hard drives are freaking cheap (you do backup regularly right?)

[Fate]

Roughly $5-10 a month if you leave your PC on 24/7 from my quick and dirty calculations at 11c per kw/h

[JTB123]

I've often wondered this, it used to be because of boot times but now I have an SSD that is no longer an issue. For example, on the weekends I usually turn it off while cleaning my motorbike which takes around 45 minutes. Better to just put it in sleep mode? 

[slightlyjaded]

Roughly $5-10 a month if you leave your PC on 24/7 from my quick and dirty calculations at 11c per kw/h

curious, what power draw were you using for your calculations?

[Fate]

curious, what power draw were you using for your calculations?

75 watts at idle, came out to $6 a month 

[slightlyjaded]

75 watts at idle, came out to $6 a month 

tah, I tend to run about 500W on overclocked gaming load, but my idle is down around 50W.

I could probably check sleep state, but it's still a little buggy from personal experience, and it results in a system hang about once every 3 days. So I disabled it a month ago.

[slightlyjaded]

I've often wondered this, it used to be because of boot times but now I have an SSD that is no longer an issue. For example, on the weekends I usually turn it off while cleaning my motorbike which takes around 45 minutes. Better to just put it in sleep mode? 

the reason you used to turn it off was usually because half the components had moving parts. You left it on because of the same reasons as today. (solder points, and circuit traces not liking shifts in temperature.

With modern hardware, there are far fewer moving parts... ssds, silent mode on most components (ie. fanless) I think it'd be even better nowadays to leave everything on...

[Robi_g]

I didn't buy an SSD just to leave the thing on.

[slightlyjaded]

I didn't buy an SSD just to leave the thing on.

I figure an SSD isn't just for startup. It makes everything quicker.

[Trik'Stari]

I turn mine off at night.

 

Mainly because I just don't want it running all night, I figure it saves the lifespan on the pump of my AIO water cooler and my fans. *shrug*

[soup]

The basic argument is that turning it on and off causes temperature fluctuations.  Whilst leaving it on costs more and wears out any moving parts.

To my mind you will replace items  before they break due to switching on~off or not. So cost of power bill and others attitudes/predjudices count more.

 

Personally I HAVE to switch off as wife doesn't like ANYTHING on in a room that no-one is in (took ages to persuade her that everytime I leave the room for a significant period[to eat or whatever] I didn't have to switch off the computer). Now it is just at beddy buys time . Luckily this system (which is in the lounge) is quiet enough (still have to use headphones though) that it can be left on and doesn't interfere with DVD watching (have found I watch very little TV these days [100s of channels, all dross]).

[JohnQ]

I live in a tropical country , so I usually turn off my computer so it doesn't heat up without the air conditioning ( I usually turn off my air conditioning ) . After reading all the comments above, I don't know what is better for me? haha

[soup]

I don't know what is better for me? haha

Nor does anyone else.  They know what works for them, but no-one is aware of your exact circumstances. 

 

I would say turn it off at night but once on leave it on, during the day, that way it doesn't get thermally cycled quite so  often and there is nothing running while you sleep. 

Besides which Windows likes a hard reboot now and again (all well and good those with Linux machines saying "it now has 14 days of uptime" but is that really impressive or is it just something else to brag about? At least that is what I keep reading about may no longer be an issue).

[MrSuperb]

It's actually even better to leave your PC on if you are looking at the lifetime of your components. They are more likely to get damaged from heating up and cooling down (read turning on and off your PC). A constant temperature is best to keep your components in good shape.

 

most electronics age MUCH faster the hotter they get.

I doubt, that the change from warm to cold and back (once a day) is worse than countless hours of warm idling.

[slightlyjaded]

most electronics age MUCH faster the hotter they get.

I doubt, that the change from warm to cold and back (once a day) is worse than countless hours of warm idling.

ummm, why is any component in your computer more than a few degrees above ambient at idle?

[JohnQ]

most electronics age MUCH faster the hotter they get.

I doubt, that the change from warm to cold and back (once a day) is worse than countless hours of warm idling.

 

Yes. this is the reason why I turn it off during the day. ( It gets up to 38 Degrees Celcius during the day here  )

[GlassBomb]

I'm keeping my computer on 24/7 since I'm folding. It has been on for about two months straight now.

Before I was folding, then I always turned it off during sleep/work. Since I wouldn't be using it for basically 16+ hours.

[MrSuperb]

ummm, why is any component in your computer more than a few degrees above ambient at idle?

 

because even at idle components are drawing power ...

Have you ever touched a 50W bulb? a 100W bulb?

most pcs here will draw between 50-100W (especially those with overclocked components)

[slightlyjaded]

because even at idle components are drawing power ...

Have you ever touched a 50W bulb? a 100W bulb?

most pcs here will draw between 50-100W (especially those with overclocked components)

yes my computer runs at 500W overclocked, but at idle it runs at 50W (gotta love current gen power savings) If your cooling if efficient enough that 50W spread throughout the system might yield a couple of degrees. I'm not talking gaming load here. just what's being generated if you're asleep in another room, or with some light web browsing.

 

A 50W bulb is spreading power across glass which is a woeful transmitter of heat, and retains it far longer than a conductive material would, also the surface area it's spreading that 50W across is, while larger than the heater spreader on a cpu, is far smaller than even a stock cooler on a 20 year old cpu.

[MrSuperb]

yes my computer runs at 500W overclocked, but at idle it runs at 50W (gotta love current gen power savings) If your cooling if efficient enough that 50W spread throughout the system might yield a couple of degrees. I'm not talking gaming load here. just what's being generated if you're asleep in another room, or with some light web browsing.

 

A 50W bulb is spreading power across glass which is a woeful transmitter of heat, and retains it far longer than a conductive material would, also the surface area it's spreading that 50W across is, while larger than the heater spreader on a cpu, is far smaller than even a stock cooler on a 20 year old cpu.

*sigh*

 

It still is 50W (which to me seems like a rather low estimate) of wasted power. And no you can't just "spread" those 50Watt

[slightlyjaded]

*sigh*

 

It still is 50W (which to me seems like a rather low estimate) of wasted power. And no you can't just "spread" those 50Watt

50W is spread..... Okay 50W in a system with a cpu, graphics card, motherboard. All components which draw power, all spread out, all of which add up to a total power draw of 50W and because it annoys the shiezer out of me to be called....disingenuous...

 

Add in a decent AIO, which should be pulling heat away from the component attached and venting heat outside the case.

[slightlyjaded]

@MrSuperb Your lightbulb analogy doesn't hold water, or inert gas in this case.

Heat in a light bulb is contained. it has to be as it feeds back into the system creating more resistance in the circuit which causes the filament to glow brighter. It's why old incandescent globes took time to glow brighter, and part of the reason while flourescents flickered on startup.

 

Building a modern PC is all about getting rid of heat. Airflow, intercoolers (Which is what a water colling loop really is), heat sinks. all of which are designed to get heat away from components that are actually affected by it, and into the atmosphere, whether that be your internal case ecosphere, or (as most modern water, and AIO collers do) venting it straight out of your case.

 

If your components are running more than 10 degrees above ambient under idle you need to check how your cooling your computer. If you're running more than 5 degrees above ambient you might need on idle you might want to check case airflow.