is it bad to leave your computer running all night and day

[Mattk13]

Okay... so i have almost no thermal paste enough to get by but not enough to do lots of things at once witch will drive up the temp

But i'm wondering if i should turn off my computer running almost 24/7 for 5months give a take a few days here and there when i have been busy but still

I'm worried and not sure what to do as my temps bounce everywhere

[Tristerin]

Just now, Mattk13 said:

Okay... so i have almost no thermal paste enough to get by but not enough to do lots of things at once witch will drive up the temp

But i'm wondering if i should turn off my computer running almost 24/7 for 5months give a take a few days here and there when i have been busy but still

I'm worried and not sure what to do as my temps bounce everywhere

I would save up the money, purchase more thermal paste and apply the correct amount needed to keep my CPU at acceptable temperature levels so I could leave it on 24/7 and not worry about my thermal paste being the reason my PC may let the magic smoke out of the box

[Sfekke]

Not enough thermal paste is one thing, I'd advice buying a tube of quality paste and applying it.

It'll cost you, but better safe then sorry.

 

Besides that, what cooler do you use?

Intel/AMD stock ones or some decent or cheap aftermarket one.

 

Letting it rest for five days isn't going to do much; turn it off for about 4 hours without the power turned on and it will be ambient again.

[19_blackie_73]

Why would you even want to run it 24/7?

Only wastes a lot of energy and doesn't benefit anyone

[Mattk13]

Just now, Alexsolo said:

Yes and no, 

It's good to reboot once in a while to reset the system memory, otherwise these parts are made to last a good amount of years running...

Its a older office pc i upgraded when i got it i watch movies play games and worried about the temp and if one day or something it will just die and not work again i mean i do the constant maybe reboot everyday but it goes off for only a few seconds

[Mattk13]

1 minute ago, Sfekke said:

Not enough thermal paste is one thing, I'd advice buying a tube of quality paste and applying it.

It'll cost you, but better safe then sorry.

 

Besides that, what cooler do you use?

Intel/AMD stock ones or some decent or cheap aftermarket one.

 

Letting it rest for five days isn't going to do much; turn it off for about 4 hours without the power turned on and it will be ambient again.

A Stock dell cooler with 3 pipes and a medium sized heatsink

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

I rarely ever shut down my PC, haven't in 6 years. 

[Mattk13]

2 minutes ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

Why would you even want to run it 24/7?

Only wastes a lot of energy and doesn't benefit anyone

It doesnt take much power but overtime it will

240WATT PSU gpu only takes 30 watts under load processor is 55 and yeah i have 3 hard drives in here so eh.. i wouldn't really now if its safe no issues yet, crossing my fingers.

[Pixel5]

the main question is why do you leave it running?

 

i would say if its not doing anything very important you are just wasting electricity for no reason.

[Mattk13]

Just now, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

I rarely ever shut down my PC, haven't in 6 years. 

Same ish. it's always running everyday for awhile now

[Mattk13]

1 minute ago, Pixel5 said:

the main question is why do you leave it running?

 

i would say if its not doing anything very important you are just wasting electricity for no reason.

My Windows install is unstable as heck some times it won't boot so i leave it up and that keeps it going

[Pixel5]

than the question here is not if its safe to keep it running, the question is why you dont fix it or reinstall windows to make it stable.

[Mattk13]

1 minute ago, Pixel5 said:

than the question here is not if its safe to keep it running, the question is why you dont fix it or reinstall windows to make it stable.

cause i have crap tons of stuff on here pictures, games , movies , essays, notes , etc

[HanZie82]

5 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

than the question here is not if its safe to keep it running, the question is why you dont fix it or reinstall windows to make it stable.

Cus that doesnt always work.

In my case my PC runs fine and reboots fine No problems at all.
But as soon as its been off for a couple hours it needs like 4-5 attempts to boot. 
With all meriad of errors. And its a new system too really weird.
Tried reinstalling windows 10 like 4 times (3 different versions). Still the same.
(I think it might be the memory not being completly awesome.)

So i leave it on until i can afford some new ECC RAM.

[Mattk13]

Just now, HanZie82 said:

Cus that doesnt always work.

In my case my PC runs fine and reboots fine No problems at all.
But as soon as its been off for a couple hours it needs like 4-5 attempts to boot. 
With all meriad of errors. And its a new system too really weird.
Tried reinstalling windows 10 like 4 times (3 different versions). Still the same.
(I think it might be the memory not being completly awesome.)

So i leave it on until i can afford some new ECC RAM.

I have ram issues in the past Actually thats funny

[Mattk13]

1 minute ago, HanZie82 said:

Cus that doesnt always work.

In my case my PC runs fine and reboots fine No problems at all.
But as soon as its been off for a couple hours it needs like 4-5 attempts to boot. 
With all meriad of errors. And its a new system too really weird.
Tried reinstalling windows 10 like 4 times (3 different versions). Still the same.
(I think it might be the memory not being completly awesome.)

So i leave it on until i can afford some new ECC RAM.

Could be my ram

[SansVarnic]

1 hour ago, Mattk13 said:

Okay... so i have almost no thermal paste enough to get by but not enough to do lots of things at once witch will drive up the temp

But i'm wondering if i should turn off my computer running almost 24/7 for 5months give a take a few days here and there when i have been busy but still

I'm worried and not sure what to do as my temps bounce everywhere

First off, as already suggested, stop running your pc with out the proper application of thermal paste and buy some new stuff to get it done properly so your system doesnt suffer unnecessary. Heat can and will have a negative affect on your machine and if not cooled correctly can or will incur premature damage or death of parts.

 

To answer your question, the answer is no. My current rig (linked in my signature) has been running almost 24/7 for the last 3 years with no noticeable degradation that i can determine. I use my system to F@H and BOINC. 

[Reznik]

Running the CPU knowingly not having the correct amount of thermal paste is stupid.   If money is so tight you can't afford a few bucks in paste, you won't  e able to afford to replace the system should it die a early death.  Shouldn't be running it at all if thermals are a issue.  

[Mattk13]

2 hours ago, Reznik said:

Running the CPU knowingly not having the correct amount of thermal paste is stupid.   If money is so tight you can't afford a few bucks in paste, you won't  e able to afford to replace the system should it die a early death.  Shouldn't be running it at all if thermals are a issue.  

i use this or a laptop with 3 gb of ram and a celeron  it has some not much some

[LightskyTiger]

I personally only leave it on during a big game download or video render [rarely]

 

If you have nothing to do and are gonna get some sleep, why not just turn it off, I assume you have an SSD so rebooting shouldnt be a bummer and it takes no time.

 

Saves power too.

[Mattk13]

sometimes it won't boot and sometimes it will its very weird and yes i do have a ssd

[Sfekke]

8 hours ago, Mattk13 said:

i use this or a laptop with 3 gb of ram and a celeron  it has some not much some

Don't swap thermal paste; once it has been applied you shouldn't re-apply it!

A tube of quality paste can be as little as € 6 here in the EU; enough for 6-7ish applications.

 

I'd then use a service like

Google Drive

Dropbox Personally I use this to backup vital information & pictures; paying for 1TB at this moment; free users get 5GB or something.

Mega.NZ

Etc,etc

to backup your : Pictures/Documents/Savegames and reinstall Windows.

If you have an external HDD or just a USB; use that in conjunction with the online storage; no need to pay for them either spread it across multiple ones if needed.

 

 

I do get why you want to go "lazy way" using that for a lack of better words however in the long run you might regret it.

Let's say the power goes out, the system will shut down.

You say it has issues booting into Windows, from that day forward it doesn't boot period

Then your problems increased ten fold.

 

Golden Tip To @Everyone

Make backups, if it is showing such clear signs of instability I wouldn't take the risk.

 

As per the booting issue; either bad RAM; SSD that is slowly giving out or just Windows being ... Windows.

 

I hope this helped, you don't have to do what I say; just consider it.

[Mattk13]

17 hours ago, Sfekke said:

Don't swap thermal paste; once it has been applied you shouldn't re-apply it!

A tube of quality paste can be as little as € 6 here in the EU; enough for 6-7ish applications.

 

I'd then use a service like

Google Drive

Dropbox Personally I use this to backup vital information & pictures; paying for 1TB at this moment; free users get 5GB or something.

Mega.NZ

Etc,etc

to backup your : Pictures/Documents/Savegames and reinstall Windows.

If you have an external HDD or just a USB; use that in conjunction with the online storage; no need to pay for them either spread it across multiple ones if needed.

 

 

I do get why you want to go "lazy way" using that for a lack of better words however in the long run you might regret it.

Let's say the power goes out, the system will shut down.

You say it has issues booting into Windows, from that day forward it doesn't boot period

Then your problems increased ten fold.

 

Golden Tip To @Everyone

Make backups, if it is showing such clear signs of instability I wouldn't take the risk.

 

As per the booting issue; either bad RAM; SSD that is slowly giving out or just Windows being ... Windows.

 

I hope this helped, you don't have to do what I say; just consider it.

I just reinstalled windows and i gave my computer a break

[Mattk13]

17 hours ago, Sfekke said:

Don't swap thermal paste; once it has been applied you shouldn't re-apply it!

A tube of quality paste can be as little as € 6 here in the EU; enough for 6-7ish applications.

 

I'd then use a service like

Google Drive

Dropbox Personally I use this to backup vital information & pictures; paying for 1TB at this moment; free users get 5GB or something.

Mega.NZ

Etc,etc

to backup your : Pictures/Documents/Savegames and reinstall Windows.

If you have an external HDD or just a USB; use that in conjunction with the online storage; no need to pay for them either spread it across multiple ones if needed.

 

 

I do get why you want to go "lazy way" using that for a lack of better words however in the long run you might regret it.

Let's say the power goes out, the system will shut down.

You say it has issues booting into Windows, from that day forward it doesn't boot period

Then your problems increased ten fold.

 

Golden Tip To @Everyone

Make backups, if it is showing such clear signs of instability I wouldn't take the risk.

 

As per the booting issue; either bad RAM; SSD that is slowly giving out or just Windows being ... Windows.

 

I hope this helped, you don't have to do what I say; just consider it.

just put everything on my 2nd and 3rd hhd 

[Sfekke]

3 hours ago, Mattk13 said:

I just reinstalled windows and i gave my computer a break

Great idea, I hope that fixes the booting issue you were having.

Try to find some thermal paste either online or at a local store; then you'll be good to go for a while.

3 hours ago, Mattk13 said:

just put everything on my 2nd and 3rd hhd 

That's a smart move, but keep in mind if your power supply fails it could take those drives down with it.

Nevertheless it is better then no backups for sure