Leaving PC on for long periods - Opinions?!

sticker

Hey all,

I've been getting into the habit of leaving my PC on for long extended periods. Is it reducing the lifespan of my components / risking the health of my PC?!

I'll restart it every few days just to reload all essential drivers, but for the most part it's on all the time...

Are modern PC's designed to stay on for long extended times?

Thanks in advance

Cableguy

Hi there,


I see no reason how leaving a PC on for extended periods of time would shorten its life (Unless its extremley overclocked) . In fact you can shorten the life span of a PC by doing so. The constant heating up and cooling down of PC components can cause cracks and breaks in the welds, I`m lead to belive through expanding and contracting.

I leave mine on 24/7 but use all the power save options. I know lots of systems that have never been powered off for more than 5 mins over a five year period and longer.

dalk

sticker wrote:

I've been getting into the habit of leaving my PC on for long extended periods. Is it reducing the lifespan of my components / risking the health of my PC?!

As mentioned, not a problem. Cheap fans/power supplies often wont last for too long being left on 24/7 though...

It is however a waste of money/energy. Unless it is doing something usefull/neccessary, why do you need it on 24/7? With the average PC drawing 150watts+ that adds up over a year period. Even in standby you are talking about between 2 and 8 watts being drawn.

WexCan

I leave mine on 24x7 but then again, I don't pay the electricity bill. When that day comes, I'll have to reconsider. Do I really need it on when I'm at work and it's there doing nothing? Then again, makes it easier when I get home, no waiting

Khannie

Very damaging to the environment in fairness. Massive waste of electricity unless the machine is actually doing something productive (which is really very unlikely).

youcancallmeal

If you turn on AMD's cool 'n quiet technology then it clock your cpu down when not in use. This'll also save power and extend the life of your cpu.

dalk

youcancallme>al wrote:

If you turn on AMD's cool 'n quiet technology then it clock your cpu down when not in use. This'll also save power and extend the life of your cpu.

Missed one very important point. To my knowledge, only works with AMD Athlon 64 processor-based systems.

stevenmu

It's bad for the enviroment, and bad for the ESB bill, just turn it off if it's not doing anything all day.

bungeecork

Could you set it up to shutdown and startup automatically?

WexCan

bungeecork wrote:

Could you set it up to shutdown and startup automatically?

some motherboards have software that lets you do this

Edit: There's prob some freeware around that does it too, try in google.

Lump

I have an old P333 that's on 24/7. However it's doing stuff


John

Gurgle

sticker wrote:

Is it reducing the lifespan of my components / risking the health of my PC?

Spikes in current/voltage happen mostly at power-on and power-off.

Mechanical components will wear out quicker, electronic components will last longer. When its just sitting there the mechanical components aren't running.

You're just wasteing money and damaging the environment.

Khannie

Gurgle wrote:

You're just wasteing money and damaging the environment.

I'm heartened to see the number of responses focusing on the environment. I've heard of so many people leaving their PC's on 24/7. That just pisses me off (unless it's a server of some sort or actually doing stuff).

Airblazer

surprised no one has yet mentioned the health risks...if your pc is in your bedroom for example and it's on 24/7 basically you're breathing this air in...it's not too bad for small pc's but for gaming pc's in particular this expel a lot of hot air which you are breathing in..so if you're having problems with your sinuses, headaches etc this could be caused by the above..I was getting a lot of probs with my breathing and I isolated this down to my pc being on during the night while I was sleeping..and this was only over a few months and maybe 3-4 nights a week..from then on I've left it off or if I'm downloading I set it to switch off after two hours no matter what...it's been a big difference to my health..

WexCan

Khannie wrote:

I'm heartened to see the number of responses focusing on the environment. I've heard of so many people leaving their PC's on 24/7. That just pisses me off (unless it's a server of some sort or actually doing stuff).

A lot of companies leave their PCs on 24x7 or have no policy regarding power conservation etc etc. In my... ahem... place of work, everyone just locks their system for the night.

Airblazer

WexCan wrote:

A lot of companies leave their PCs on 24x7 or have no policy regarding power conservation etc etc. In my... ahem... place of work, everyone just locks their system for the night.

not advisable if you've large quantities of movies and music on your system..a lot of companies run scans at night time and check for these

Khannie

Yeah, the policy in our place is specific to the monitor (which you are required to turn off). Computer boot / no boot is left up to the individual.

killbillvol2

Why not just Hibernate? It should power up again in a few seconds and it's not chewing up fossil fuels etc. while it's dormant.

WexCan

Airblazer wrote:

not advisable if you've large quantities of movies and music on your system..a lot of companies run scans at night time and check for these

I'm a good employee. Hehehe.

Khannie wrote:

Yeah, the policy in our place is specific to the monitor (which you are required to turn off). Computer boot / no boot is left up to the individual.

We don't have anything at all. Some people do turn their sys off but the majority just lock and run.

RotalicaV

I've 147 pcs under my control and none of them are turned off ever, **** the ozone and **** my companys esb!

WexCan

RotalicaV wrote:

I've 147 pcs under my control and none of them are turned off ever, **** the ozone and **** my companys esb!

This is where I contradict myself, I leave my home system on 24x7 but a large number of PCs is a bit of a waste.

Cableguy

RotalicaV I see your going to get employee of the month and will be elected Minister for the envoirment also.

Cableguy

RotalicaV I see your going to get employee of the month and will be elected Minister for the envoirment also.

dalk

RotalicaV wrote:

I've 147 pcs under my control and none of them are turned off ever, **** the ozone and **** my companys esb!

heh. What on earth are you doing in the company to deplete ozone?

Think you mean **** global warming... :rolleyes:

incisor71

.....or "**** rising fossil fuel prices and depletion of global resources".

I can understand why certain types of computer (UNIX workstations, web servers or software codebase hosts) have to be always switched on and always available.

But leaving one's personal PC on 24/7 just so that you can use it the instant you need it smacks of the modern-day "I don't see why I should have to wait for anything!!!" approach to life - the same impatient approach that feeds all these "make $1000 per week working part-time" or "buy these pills and lose 2 stone in two months without exercise or dieting" scams.

Think about it. Is a few minutes of waiting time, while the computer boots up, really going to have a negative impact on your life? If yes, then it's definitely time to slow down and take stock.

[Some years back, at the start of the dot-bomb era, the multinational company I worked for then (which has closed down in the meantime) was encouraging people to switch off monitors once they left work in a bid to conserve energy. But judging by the number of screensaver patterns lighting up the ceiling overnight, it seems nobody took much heed.]

themole

in college i never turn off my pc.

i am so used to just locking it and popping in/out during the day.

are there any options in WinXP Pro to have it go to standby when the machine is locked for a certain period of time?

WexCan

*feels suitably guilty*

Grimlock

The labs in DCU certainly didn't turn off their pc's ever while I was there.
Left runnign all night with the monitors on.
Waste!

Alkers

youcancallme>al wrote:

If you turn on AMD's cool 'n quiet technology then it clock your cpu down when not in use. This'll also save power and extend the life of your cpu.

Didn't know they clock down the CPU?! Thought it just managed fan RPMs with temperature?

sticker

dalk wrote:

As mentioned, not a problem. Cheap fans/power supplies often wont last for too long being left on 24/7 though...

It is however a waste of money/energy. Unless it is doing something usefull/neccessary, why do you need it on 24/7? With the average PC drawing 150watts+ that adds up over a year period. Even in standby you are talking about between 2 and 8 watts being drawn.

...In a word - Torrents etc. The PC is *working*

If it's not damaging the PC, I'm gonna stay with it...

EOA_Mushy

RotalicaV wrote:

I've 147 pcs under my control and none of them are turned off ever, **** the ozone and **** my companys esb!

Not to mention **** YOU. :mad:

WICKL0W

Just as a matter of interest , how much would it cost per hour to have a pc on just surfing versus gaming ?

dawballz

I leave my laptop on pretty much all day every day..
Except when I go home, some weekends.
I think I had it on for 45 days once before it got a little bit.. how you say.. handicapped.
But, I am normally downloading something overnight.

Cableguy

Hey Sticker, I think the answer to your question is No it won`t damage your PC but with all the posts on the envoirnment etc, I`m going to power mine off well after its not busy anyway.

Heres a helpfull free utility for powering your system of after a specified time for when your torrents finish.

http://www.download.com/Shutdown-Machine/3000-2344_4-10138258.html?tag=lst-0-2

OMcGovern

If you're worried about possible CPU overheating, then there's a freeware
"Motherboard monitor" program.

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

You select your motherboard make & model, and it reads as many temperature sensors as it can find, eg. motherboard, cpu, fan, case etc...

regards,
Owen

dalk

sticker wrote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by dalk
As mentioned, not a problem. Cheap fans/power supplies often wont last for too long being left on 24/7 though...

It is however a waste of money/energy. Unless it is doing something usefull/neccessary, why do you need it on 24/7? With the average PC drawing 150watts+ that adds up over a year period. Even in standby you are talking about between 2 and 8 watts being drawn.

...In a word - Torrents etc. The PC is *working*

If it's not damaging the PC, I'm gonna stay with it...

Take note of the "Unless it is doing something usefull/neccessary" bit... If the PC is doing something then obviously it needs to be turned on. :rolleyes:

I just wanted to see if you were one of the people who cannot bear to wait 40sec for a PC to boot...

Gryzor

i got one of those meters in maplins that can monitor the power consumntion of electrical devices....put it on my pc for 24 hours....probobly only about 4 hours of actual usage in that time...rest of the time it just sat there

can't remember the exact details, but it worked out around €1.20 /24 hours...thats feckin expensive per year just to leave a pc on all day and nite

Khannie

RotalicaV wrote:

I've 147 pcs under my control and none of them are turned off ever, **** the ozone and **** my companys esb!

:rolleyes:

okden

Gryzor wrote:

...thats feckin expensive per year just to leave a pc on all day and nite

afaik a 70 watt bulb is about 1 cent an hour

so a pc on standby only costs about a fiver a year.

HelterSkelter

To run 1,000 watts for one hour = 14.14c (http://www.esb.ie/main/energy_home/urban_charges.jsp)

So the typical PC is about 400W (right?). That would work out at €1.35 for 24 hours or almost €500 a year if you leave it on 24/7.

Gryzor

okden wrote:

afaik a 70 watt bulb is about 1 cent an hour

so a pc on standby only costs about a fiver a year.

that cost i mentioned was based on my PC left powered on for 24 hours, didn't try it on standby

HelterSkelter wrote:

To run 1,000 watts for one hour = 14.14c (http://www.esb.ie/main/energy_home/urban_charges.jsp)

So the typical PC is about 400W (right?). That would work out at €1.35 for 24 hours.

what i said..:)

WexCan

HelterSkelter wrote:

To run 1,000 watts for one hour = 14.14c (http://www.esb.ie/main/energy_home/urban_charges.jsp)

So the typical PC is about 400W (right?). That would work out at €1.35 for 24 hours or almost €500 a year if you leave it on 24/7.

Ouch - so that's why our bill is always so high. Might reconsider my foolishness.

HelterSkelter

RotalicaV wrote:

I've 147 pcs under my control and none of them are turned off ever, **** the ozone and **** my companys esb!

You are costing your company €72,434 a year

PDD

Hi Guys,

I will be setting up a PC for home soon to use for downloading torrents etc and I was just wondering if people could make suggestions for how to make it as environmentaly friendly as possible in terms of power consumption. Unlike other people on this forum Im not a lazy bastard.

I can do the typical stuff that if its not used for x amount of time then it can be turned off etc. But Im wondering can I reduce the speed of the CPU on the fly or would that even matter if Im still using a standard PSU. Are there specialty PSU's out there?

PDD

WexCan

HelterSkelter wrote:

You are costing your company €72,434 a year

There must be thousands where I work, PCs, servers, blah blah blah. Electricity bill must be ridiculous.

BendiBus

Is not the power supply up to 400W or whatever.

But it's only using this if the CPU is running full tilt, lots of diskio and as a result, the cooling fan running full blast too.

My PC at home runs 24/7 as I run one of those protein-folding scientific research screensavers. Which does run the CPU at 100%

HelterSkelter

BendiBus wrote:

Is not the power supply up to 400W or whatever.

But it's only using this if the CPU is running full tilt, lots of diskio and as a result, the cooling fan running full blast too.

Well Gryzor said:

i got one of those meters in maplins that can monitor the power consumntion of electrical devices....put it on my pc for 24 hours....probobly only about 4 hours of actual usage in that time...rest of the time it just sat there

can't remember the exact details, but it worked out around €1.20 /24 hours...thats feckin expensive per year just to leave a pc on all day and nite

dalk

PDD wrote:

Hi Guys,

I will be setting up a PC for home soon to use for downloading torrents etc and I was just wondering if people could make suggestions for how to make it as environmentaly friendly as possible in terms of power consumption.

I recently done something similar. I wanted a low(er) power using PC for dishing out music, that didnt need much processing power and took up as little space as possible, so i bought an VIA Epia all in-one board and Mini-ITX case with 60w PSU... add a disk and some ram and off you go. Its equivalent to roughly a PII 400mhz. Runs XP fine. Stashed under the stairs, networked and i just VNC into it when i need to. Has aggressive power settings and it turns itself on and off automatically during set periods (ie its off for most of the day). It should draw no more than about 40w at full tilt, and less for most of the time...

Lump

Yes, but your pc doesn't use 400 watts all the time. It might use 200-300 Like my P333 has a 200 watt PSU and no monitor, and 1 fan. Hence I use it as my 24/7 pc. And according to the ESB site, day time electric is 12.73 KWH exc. VAT and the night rate is 6.16 KWH exc.VAT = 48.28 for the night charge, assuming night is 8 hours, 203.68 for the day charge. Then for my pc it's about 50 Cent a day. that's the 200 watt PSU running full blast. About €183 a year. Not much. I'd say about €150 would be about right. That's nothing, considering some people have 30 minute showers every morning. 2000 watt heater in your shower, and washing machine and fan heater..... so leaving a pc on in the day is hardly killing your pocket and the environment. But I agree if it's not in use.... turn it off.


John

Lump

PDD wrote:

Hi Guys,

I will be setting up a PC for home soon to use for downloading torrents etc and I was just wondering if people could make suggestions for how to make it as environmentaly friendly as possible in terms of power consumption. Unlike other people on this forum Im not a lazy bastard.

I can do the typical stuff that if its not used for x amount of time then it can be turned off etc. But Im wondering can I reduce the speed of the CPU on the fly or would that even matter if Im still using a standard PSU. Are there specialty PSU's out there?

PDD

Just get an old PC, if you're only gonna use it for downloading. I use a P333 with 512 megs ram and 80 gig drive and a 12 gig drive. It runs won 2000 pro fine, and it's not too bad on the electricity as explained above.

John

rubadub

If a PC left on really does last longer then it may be better for the environment since you are not wasting energy in producing new components (I hear chips take lots of energy to produce). Also you are not disposing of excess waste. In the winter devices left on standby are mostly generating heat so your heating is turned off sooner if thermostatically controlled so it sort of balances itself out. I presume laptops more so since big fans in PCs are pretty much wasting energy.

I returned to a dead HD in work after leaving the PC off over a cold christmas.