POLL: Do you shut-down or let sleep?

Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 22, 2002
Messages
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Some say, shutting down and powering back up (hence the initial surge) would gradually kill your system. Others say by having the system go to sleep, the hard drives might eventually go bad, and the entire system might fail.

Which way do you do it and why?

p.s. by the way, my newly built ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 is an amazing board! No freezes or any issues so far!
 
I leave mine on 24/7.

*cough: torrentz...*

only time my comp gets a rest is when im changing hardware.
 
I'm in between, I put my computer to sleep although by default it will stay on 24/7. I didn't always, but since I moved back to LA it's too hot to keep it running when I don't need to.
 
Do you think my previous system failed because I turned it off at the end of each night and powered it all up in the morning?

Basically I am trying to avoid what happened to me. It might have been the faulty OCZ DDR3 modules that killed my MoBo, but I want to make sure this new board (ASUS M4A87TD/USB3) will not fail.
 
If Im folding I leave it on, if Im not I let it sleep. I rarely shut down because my pc wakes from sleep to record tv. Although on my old pc I always shutdown or left running because sleep didn't work on my old mobo.
 
comp stays on 24/7 longest my computer has ever been off was the 16 hours it sat in the back seat of my car while driving up here to washington was also the first thing i setup in my new apartment the day i got here.. but my cpu+gpu's are under full load 24/7 running F@H as well..


Cannibal Corpse said:
Do you think my previous system failed because I turned it off at the end of each night and powered it all up in the morning?

Basically I am trying to avoid what happened to me. It might have been the faulty OCZ DDR3 modules that killed my MoBo, but I want to make sure this new board (ASUS M4A87TD/USB3) will not fail.
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as far as killing your system, no it shouldnt have.. turning it on and off does more harm to psu's then anything else since the majority of them shut off the fan the second you turn the system off so its still having to displace all that heat left within the psu case.. your hardware most likely failed because it was already defective and even if it was on 24/7 it probably would of failed anyways at some point.. the big thing that can hurt systems is people that use sleep mode and put their system to sleep them wake it 30 seconds later only to put it back to sleep a minute later and then waking it back up.. the constant on and off in a short period of time can screw up hardware.. but turning it off at night and back on in the morning shouldnt cause a problem..
 
Mine stays on 24/7. I also use my PC as a server for movies/tv for the xbox 360 for other people. The sound card is probably my oldest part. It has been on 24/7 for 7 years without any breaks.

Over the years, I have had only 1 hard drive go bad on me, and it was a 60 GB Maxtor that died after 3 years of continuous use.
 
is there a shutdown -s -t command for standby or hibernate?

Because often I want my computer to stay on for an hour or two and then sleep by itself on a timer...but I only know how to make it shutdown in an hour or two.
 
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Cannibal Corpse said:
Some say, shutting down and powering back up (hence the initial surge) would gradually kill your system. Others say by having the system go to sleep, the hard drives might eventually go bad, and the entire system might fail.

Which way do you do it and why?

p.s. by the way, my newly built ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 is an amazing board! No freezes or any issues so far!
Click to expand...

Is this referring to spinning the disks up and down? Modern hard disks go to sleep when not in use anyway so I don't see how sleep is bad.
 
If l had to Choose, shut down. When not in use he tablet gets shut down. My desktop folds 24/7, and so is always on
 
Last two motherboards have slept flawlessly and it is so much quicker to the desktop so, sleep. But I honestly don't see how it would be any different wear and tear wise compared to shutting it off. When I come in and tap the keyboard it roars to life just like if I pressed the button on a cold boot.
 
Tryckee said:
Hibernate here...
Click to expand...
Same here. I don't like shutting down my computer, but it makes no sense to leave it on all the time. I do shut it down once I'm finished with it completely (usually late at night)
 
MrCrispy said:
Is this referring to spinning the disks up and down? Modern hard disks go to sleep when not in use anyway so I don't see how sleep is bad.
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they did until microsoft created superfetch.. in vista it would constantly spin up and spin down the drives every 10-15 minutes.. windows 7 its not as bad but still does it even when the systems sitting idle..


Spare-Flair said:
is there a shutdown -s -t command for standby or hibernate?

Because often I want my computer to stay on for an hour or two and then sleep by itself on a timer...but I only know how to make it shutdown in an hour or two.
Click to expand...

yes.. control panel/power options/change plan settings(which ever ones already selected) then you can set it to go to sleep at a specific time..


note: using this feature if your cpu is at full load or your downloading something it will not go to sleep until the processor is idle or the download is complete..
 
Sleep, perfect for that instant wake-up ability and it doesn't continue sucking in dust while not in use :D
 
Shut down, but computers start so quickly these days. less than 30 seconds to desktop if you have an SSD isn't long to wait. Standby is a huge waste of power.
 
Flunk said:
Shut down, but computers start so quickly these days. less than 30 seconds to desktop if you have an SSD isn't long to wait. Standby is a huge waste of power.
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Yeah, but your programs and documents are all closed, so add opening them that on top of that. Plus, you still have BIOS routines, which take their own sweet time irrespective of your SSD, so all in all, you won't be able to get back to work/pleasure in 30 seconds from the time you pushed the ON button. My time worth to me more than saving meagre 10-20 watts an hour my system eats in its sleep.
 
I use sleep on a nightly/daily basis. Quicker to come back up than a cold boot and it doesn't rack up the electric bill like leaving it on 24/7 would.
 
S3 Sleep is perfect. Like others have said, instant on and no power usage (except a tiny bit for the RAM).
 
ZodaEX said:
KublaKhan I like your uber efficient rig. Is it quiet as well?
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Thanks :) - I traded tuffgong a Philips HDTV for it here at [H].

Short answer: To me, yes. It's in my bedroom where I sleep and I can't even tell it's on.*

* - My old rig was a P3 @ 1GHz with 4 x 80mm fans and a 120mm, so I might be deaf and not know it.. :D

But compared to other systems, no, probably not.

Because:

I rigged a 80mm fan up to a 12v plug-in adapter, using speaker wire, so it runs constantly, even when the computer is off. It makes the most noise. I have a 120mm exhausting out the back and another 120mm pushing air from inside the case towards the 80mm, which intakes from the front. Air flow is moving in a "backwards" * L * - with the long arm air flow going over my RAM & CPU and exhausted out the back.

In addition to *those*, the PSU has a intake and exhaust fan. However, the GPU is passively cooled...

I don't have Cool n' Quiet enabled in the BIOS, so the CPU fan runs at 3K RPM all the time.
 
TehQuick said:
Yeah, but your programs and documents are all closed, so add opening them that on top of that. Plus, you still have BIOS routines, which take their own sweet time irrespective of your SSD, so all in all, you won't be able to get back to work/pleasure in 30 seconds from the time you pushed the ON button. My time worth to me more than saving meagre 10-20 watts an hour my system eats in its sleep.
Click to expand...


all depends on the system.. if you have quick boot you can be into windows within 30 seconds even without an SSD..

but yeah as far as programs go its a pain in the ass.. just depends on what you do and how you use your system..
 
Shutdown and auto power on at a fixed time :D

Even rest of the time, my quad idles @ 0.65V even though at P0 I juice it to 1.4V
 
I just do sleep. It fires back up in an instant, and my kill-a-watt meter tells me that my computer in sleep mode is using about 1-2 watts.
 
Used to leave mine on 24/7 until it started having heating issues and is now in a slow death spiral. . . But it ran fine for 2 years and hard drives are still working well
 
I shutdown both my desktop and laptop every night--though the first thing I do in the morning is turn them both on and leave them on all day.
 
I leave my server and htpc on 24/7 (recording tv etc.). My gaming rig I shutdown at night during the week and boot it back up around 5pm. It stays on most of the weekends though. I used to leave the gaming rig on 24/7 but that was when I lived with other people and we split the power bill :p
 
I let my main system sleep only, like most others only shut down to swap hardware

my htpc I usually shut down though, it wakes up to easily and then the TV switchs to that input automatically, its a pain :p
 
Sleep, hibernate or shutdown for everything. 24/7 on just 300W is $50/month in electricity that I can save at least 2/3 of, per computer.
 
I've had trouble with sleep modes in past. For me it's just leave it idling when I'm not using it.
 
well I put it to sleep when I know I will be back later to use it, but I shut down when I head to sleep.
 
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