Turn a PC Off or Leave It On?

i leave my server, HTPC, and process computer on all the time. laptops are the only thing that ever go off. my power bill did not seem to change much when i turned them off so why bother.
 
i leave my file server, HTPC, process computers on all the time. i tried turning them off when not in use and my power bill did not change much so why bother
 
<snipped because it's too WTF for me to argue with>
Further, Windows works best when it's restarted now-and-then.

If you think Windows works best restarted now and then, then there's something seriously wrong with your computer. That, or you're still running Windows 98.

Seriously, why are we still having this discussion? PCs have come a long way in terms of power saving features and stability in the past decade. ACPI long ago replaced APM and is implemented in virtually every machine, S3 sleep has replaced S1 sleep. I would even say hybrid sleep has pushed hibernation into obsolescence. If you're so anal about how much juice a computer, monitor, or any device uses in standby then by all means unplug them or switch the mains off to your entire house when you're not using them. Nobody's forcing you not to.
 
i turn mine off everynight, and back on every morning. I am not too annoyed with waiting for it to boot up, especially when i hit the button on my way to the kitchen to make coffee, and when i get back its on and the login screen is up
unless i am torrenting or something
the housemates laptops stay on permanently, but sleep all the time
 
I turn my systems off when I'm not home or not using them. I don't use my desktop every day. I only turn it on when I'm actually going to sit down, at home. So... a few times a month during the summer. Maybe.
 
Used to turn it off every night -> became paranoid of thermal cycling after some bad experiences off cold boots + got used to the noise to where my ears expect it to be there for sleep -> on 24/7.

Also motivating is a GPU fan that grinds/buzzes badly off cold boots but otherwise behaves normally.
 
i leave my pc on all the time... seems like windows doesn't work right when you turn it off a lot. turn my lcd off every time im gonna walk away for awhile though.
 
I turn off my main system when it's not in use. My auxiliary system stays off unless I really need to use it, which is rare. I keep my server running 24/7.
 
I leave mine systems on all the time to run updates and virus/malware scans in the early hours of the day while I should be sleeping. I started folding (for a different team) to stabilize the temps, yeah my wife didn't buy that either.
 
I turn mine off when I am not using it because electricity is very expensive here in Ireland.
 
Netbook and laptop(s) sleep. My PC is shut off when I'm not using it, except during the winter.
 
Seriously, why are we still having this discussion? PCs have come a long way in terms of power saving features and stability in the past decade. ACPI long ago replaced APM and is implemented in virtually every machine, S3 sleep has replaced S1 sleep. I would even say hybrid sleep has pushed hibernation into obsolescence. If you're so anal about how much juice a computer, monitor, or any device uses in standby then by all means unplug them or switch the mains off to your entire house when you're not using them. Nobody's forcing you not to.
You would think so wouldnt you , but when I had a laptop my electric bill was less than 90 euro every two months , but my laptop died and I didnt have a laptop since march. Since then my electric bill went above 180 euro while I use my gaming rig most of the day. I bought a laptop two weeks ago because in the end my electric bill is too high keeping my gaming rig on just for browsing the internet.
 
I turn mine off every night, I very rarely leave mine on 24/7.

Reason I don't use sleep, it's because I can't seem to get it to work properly on my computer.
 
I was shocked at how much my electric bill went down when I turned my computers off for 8 hours a day. Since then, I turn them off and keep them off when I'm asleep. I also only keep one on now, during the day, unless I need another for something.

People used to argue that it was bad to turn off your machine. That 'theory' got debunked quite a long time ago, so I'm glad in the responses I saw that no one said that.
 
To be honest, the only reason I linked this "Turn a PC Off or Leave It On?" article is because I want to know what you guys do. Personally, I have several PCs in the house and most are turned off every night but my main box (overclocked, 1000W PSU, 2x Radeon 6950's, Triple monitors) runs 24/7.

I have 3 boxes, leave them all on 24/7 and put them to sleep.

I think it does take more energy to cold boot everyday, thento keep it on.
I also think its a wear and tear issue.
 
You would think so wouldnt you , but when I had a laptop my electric bill was less than 90 euro every two months , but my laptop died and I didnt have a laptop since march. Since then my electric bill went above 180 euro while I use my gaming rig most of the day. I bought a laptop two weeks ago because in the end my electric bill is too high keeping my gaming rig on just for browsing the internet.

Of course a laptop uses less power than a gaming PC. We are talking about the differenc between unplugged, off, hibernation, and sleep.
In actual use, for gaming, my PC and three monitors use right at 700-800watts, for everyday crap, it is in the low to mid 300 watt range, in sleep mode, with the monitors going into standby it is 30-35 watts, and when the PC and monitors are turned off, the setup still pulls 19-20 watts. This according to the meter on my ups, si while I don't really give the absolute numbers a whole lot of credence, it is still prolly good enough to show the variation in power usage.

The power savings of using off over sleep are minimal at best. You have to unplug to actually stop using power with today's electronics.
 
All these people mentioning power bills got me thinking....

I leave it on usually for no reason besides to have it come on quicker, but is that worth $10-30 a month in power? especially when I have 5.1 sound system hooked up to it... that's a lot of juice I'm wasting by just leaving it on.
 
I shut all the PCs in the house off at night to save a small amount of money, cut down on heat and noise. Some only get turned on once or twice a week but we have at least 7 that get turned on for most of the day. The one PC I leave on is in our detached barn/studio - it keeps the temperature above the dew point, a function that incandescent lightbulbs usually perform (if you live rurally you know what I mean) - now that they are being phased out I need another option. In fact I'm considering leaving a P4 system on in our other shed and the pump house for the same reason. The barn PC also functions as a music server, etc.
I always turn on every modern PC (12 total ) at least once a week to download updates, etc.
 
I turn my main PC off at nights or when I am away for the day. My HTPC/DVR box I put to sleep as it automatically wakes itself when a recording is suppose to go off. The only box that stays on 24/7 is my HP NL-36 ZFS NAS box which is a low powered device. Only uses about 35-40 watts under load and I think 10-15 idle (mostly the HDDs as they never spin down)
 
I have 3 boxes, leave them all on 24/7 and put them to sleep.

I think it does take more energy to cold boot everyday, thento keep it on.
I also think its a wear and tear issue.

This is a huge myth. If you walk away from your computer for more than 10 minutes, you will save a lot more electricity to turn it off than to leave it on.

On a cold boot, it takes an initial jolt that last for a fraction of a second. This jolt is like maybe 150% of the normal operating power draw.
 
My server (just powerful enough to transcode HD H.264) is on 24/7, everything else is off unless I use it. My workstation starts up in about 30 seconds from cold so it's not really an issue anymore. I've even dumped the HTPC recently for a 360 because in combination with transcoding it can play anything quickly and easily.
 
Windows 7 Hybrid sleep is where it's at!

Same here. There is no reason to keep in on all the time. I think that is an older times habit. Windows sleep mode keeps it ready fast and furious. Although my cat sometimes fouls that up.:D
 
Yup, sleep is awsome. Takes 2 seconds to wake up, big reason I don't leaave mine on 24/7 is heat. I keep my pc in the bedroom, but with a i2500k @ 4600mhz and a 6950 my room gets hot by the end of the day lol
 
My main rig stays on 24/7 and my HTPC is asleep when I am not using it.
 
Oh, I do turn my speakers and screens off manually when I go to bed or leave the house.
 
my main rig is always put to sleep, speakers turned off, and monitor set to sleep. my other system is always shut off, unless its in use.
 
I'm doing it the old fashion way, everything on 24/7. I did invest in 80+ silver corsair power supplies, so I am being somewhat green. When I get my own place I will most likely turn my main rig off/sleep at night and just leave my ESXi box running.

At work everything is on 24/7, I dont think that will change soon.
 
I've got an ASUS board with the EPU stuff built in. It actually tells me my reduced CO2 emissions. Has 4 profiles and i'll typically put it to a sort of 'sleep' mode before bed or if i'm out, so 'technically' 24/7. The netbook and laptop get turned off or get put into sleep mode when the lids are closed.
I've only got a 450w powersupply which is adequate for my system. I'll tell you though, once I got my flatpanel LED I noticed a difference in my hydro bill vs my beloved trinitron CRT 17in. Colour isn't as great but $10 a month cheaper is fine by me.
The 2 flatscreen monitors stay on regardless, even in standby I don't think they use much power.
 
I've always turned my computers off when I'm not using them. Like others have pointed out, I rarely notice the boot times since it's easy to just hit the power button and go do something else while it boots. Also, "sleep" is not an option since my main rig is in an Antec 900 case which lights my room up like a Christmas tree. No way I can go to sleep with it on.
 
I have three Intel core i7 desktop machines and a 17" laptop with a i7 mobile processor.
I have SSD drives in all but the laptop and we turn them off after use.
The SSD's just reduce boot time so it's not a factor.
Also an older custom built HTPC that goes into S3 standby.

Being greener is not impossible, plus the electric bill is a bit better.

topping it off with green font.

this post just used electricity.
 
Turn it off at night when I go to bed. There's no reason to keep it on, it does use more electricity. And the last thing I can afford is an even higher electric bill or the homeowner here having a hissy fit over the bill. Plus I have a demented, overly curious cat who likes to get into things when I'm not around. Don't even want to think of what he could do jumping on the computer desk and tapdancing on the keyboard. He's already "killed" a mouse, the foam windscreen on my mic. Cats and computers just don't mix!

Of course, I also completely shut down my tv and cable box when they're not being used too.
 
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