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Kavawuvi

Do you power off your computer when you're not using it?

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There are several benefits and drawbacks to leaving a computer on 24/7. The main benefit for most people is that there is no need to reopen any programs, as volatile memory is constantly powered while the computer is turned on, even when in sleep mode. However, a powered off computer consumes very little power, makes no noise, and has less dust accumulation without any case fans spinning. While sleep mode can mitigate some of these problems, it's not the be-all/end-all solution for everyone.

 

Do you leave your PCs turned on all day, or do you power them off when they're not in use? Or, do you power off some devices, but leave the rest on?

Takka likes this

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Tiddy-bits:

Adding to your list of trade-off's, heat greatly contributes to the crystallization of solder points over time, which can lead to premature hardware failure. However repeated power-cycles puts a significant strain on hardware as well, so if you're looking to go the easiest on your system, It's best to keep it off unless you're using it, as long as you don't power-cycle it more than about twice a day on average.

 

Personally I keep mine off if I'm away from it for more than about 3 hours, but I've only been doing that for the past couple years. I used to just leave it on 24/7, mostly because I didn't have a phone and I liked having a good means for people to message me when I was away/asleep.

WaeV and Kavawuvi like this

Oddly, this is familiar to you... as if from an old dream.  

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I leave my PC on during the day (for convenience, and Plex). It gets turned off around midnight when I head to bed.

Edited by Sceny

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For me, it depends on the type of PC. I turn my desktop PC off every night and turn it on in the morning. It's not because I want to give it a break, nor am I concerned about any hardware degradation. It's mainly because of noise (the Intel stock fan in particular) and because I've done this for years. I leave my MacBook Air turned on, as it's silent and consumes next to nothing in sleep mode. It'll also stay on when the power goes out, which is nice.

 

Adding to your list of trade-off's, heat greatly contributes to the crystallization of solder points over time, which can lead to premature hardware failure. However repeated power-cycles puts a significant strain on hardware as well, so if you're looking to go the easiest on your system, It's best to keep it off unless you're using it, as long as you don't power-cycle it more than about twice a day on average.

 

Most types of hardware should be pretty good against reasonable amounts of power cycles, but it still does put some stress on the hardware, which can create heat. It may not be best for things like hard drives.

 

Sleep mode is pretty useful for reducing hardware degradation, as the CPU is more-or-less suspended (sometimes completely turned off depending on the sleep state), reducing most of the heat generated by the system. Of course, even sleep mode has its drawbacks. In sleep mode, the computer is mostly inactive, meaning you won't be able to download any large files overnight or leave server software online, leaving the only convenience of being able to resume your work. I suppose you could have your computer hibernate, instead. Sleep mode is not for everyone.

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I usually have mine running 24/7, but with it getting hot outside and running up the AC, I've been turning it off because of heat dispersion.


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Desktop goes to sleep at night, but sometimes I forget. Not a huge issue IMO. Solder crystalization happens so slowly and only at consistently high temperatures, so if I shrink the potential hardware life of some components even from 5-year max to 3-year max, that's about the life span of relevance (give or take).  I doubt it's that big a problem though, seeing as I've left most desktop PCs I've ever had on 24/7 and can count spontaneous hardware failures as 0. So it's relevant, but not super important.

 

Power consumption is also kind of a silly reason to turn it off.  My electricity bill went from $150 -> $56 after the winter was over, the major difference being that AC is now on all day/night and the baseboards are no longer active.  If all the power in my entire house combined is only costing me $56, then there are way larger things to worry about proportionally than my PC.

 

Microwave, refrigerator, AC units, washer/dryer...the consumption from a 24/7 PC that isn't rendering some advanced 3D animation all day every day should be negligible.

 

 

 

Laptops get turned off when I'm not going to be using them for hours, because I've never had good luck with batteries and sleep/hibernate.  It's a funny little 50/50 for me:

 

Put it to sleep: won't need it for 2 days, until I open it in a rush to do something and have to hunt the charger because it's at 5%.

 

Turn it off: gotta use it 20 minutes later and am drumming my impatient fingers on the keyboard as it loads up.


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Microwave, refrigerator, AC units, washer/dryer...the consumption from a 24/7 PC that isn't rendering some advanced 3D animation all day every day should be negligible.

Especially in the winter.

All the apartments out here in Washington typically have electric heat. If I'm going to be heating the house with electricity, it might as well be computing something.

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