Keeping the computer on?

Keeping the computer on

  • I turn it off when I go to bed. My computer is never on for more then 24 hours

    Votes: 55 37.2%

  • I keep it on as long as I can.

    Votes: 93 62.8%
  • Total voters
    148
FlatLine84 said:
"Folding made my electricity bill go up! But I don't have to buy as much wood as I used to for the winter." This would be more funny in my situation if it wasn't true.
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I don't have to pay for heat, but I have to pay for electric. So unless you can convince my landlord to lower my rent, all I am doing is saving him money. :(
 
Ghostface said:
People who keep there computers on as long as possible what do you guys have the power settings set to?
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I have it turn the monitor off after 15 min. HDD and system standby are set to never.

I want my machines to run 24/7, but the two 19" CRT's on my main rig run way too friggin' hot to be left on unless they're being used. :eek:
 
Not to mention if you left them on all the time, they would get dim a lot quicker. I have everything set to never, and when I walk away I turn my LCD off.
 
Reasons I turn my computer off when I'm not using it:

1) Heat buildup in the computer room is significant from 2 gaming boxes turned on 24/7.

2) Electricity. I pay my own bills.

3) Noise. I don't like listening to fan, bearing, or airflow noise when I'm not using the computers.

4) I don't run any apps 24/7 or host anything.

5) On/off cycle is not going to hurt my components any faster than leaving them on 24/7, in fact it will extend their lifetime.

6) I was brought up with the mindset that "when you leave a room you turn off the lights, and if you're not using an item you put it away or turn it off".

It's funny about #6. It was ingrained into my brain so strongly that even now when I leave my computer on at work sometimes so I can use it as a proxy server, I still hear my subconscious telling me I shouldn't leave that computer on all day) :)


MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) ratings are normally based on usage figures (meaning powered on or in use). Why do you think that is?

Check out this page for some insight: MTBF

I'm not saying you're wrong to leave your system on 24/7, if it suits your needs. Just keep in mind there are also may good reasons to turn your system off.
 
My file/ftp server is on all the time. It's a KT7-RAID with a 800MHz t-bird. I just installed Server 2003 SP1 and saw it had an uptime of 113 days before I had to reboot it! I was pretty proud of that one considering the hardware its running on. Even one of the capacitors near the AGP slot is bulging but it continues to go strong!

Anyway, about the on/off issue...Expansion/contraction due to heat is not a good reason for leaving a computer on all the time. Computers have a useful lifetime of ~5 years. I cannot believe that thermal stresses would cause a computer to fail in that lifetime. If you start talking 15-30 years, then maybe I'll listen to the theory. Also, in reference to a post I saw on the first page, the higher power draw at start-up does not mean it will cost more to run if you do the on/off thing. The peak power draw last <2 seconds and is not much higher than your continuous usage. While I haven't done any calculations, a good estimate is that you would have to turn your computer on/off multiple times a minute in order for the total power used to be greater than leaving the computer on continuously. Needless to say, you wouldn't get any work done on your computer this way.

I'm a power engineer so while consuming power gives me a job, I also don't like to see power wasted, since I also know what it takes to produce it.

In case you were wondering, I make an effort turn off my other machines if they are not doing something at night or while I'm at work.
 
They were made for the stress of turning them on and off, and since they are not in use for the time they are not "on" it won't effect the life of the component.

If I did'nt have such a noisey HDD I might leave it on overnight maybe a couple times if I really NEEDED to. But since I do, I just turn the crapper off.
 
How much stress does it put on the hdd and monitor when left on most of the time?
 
NickN said:
Just out of curiosity for the people who do leave their compies on - why do you do it? Folding (or any type of DC, for that matter) is very understandable, but I can't understand why else you would leave your computer on overnight. So what if it takes 5 minutes to boot up in the morning? Go make yourself a cup of coffee or something while you wait... :confused:
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I listen to music when I go to bed threw meh surround sound. My comp hasnt been off in a while, I just restart once in a while.
 
Mert said:
How much stress does it put on the hdd and monitor when left on most of the time?
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Less than when turned on. While the 'lightbulbs blowing mostly when switched on'-analogy isn't completely accurate, it's not wrong either.
 
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