Do you leave your PC on 24/7?

Or do you closedown after each session, or do you use Hibernate, or maybe Standby?

Just curious. I always close down after every session, but I am old fashioned (but willing to change). Bazza

 

Nope.

I shutdown most of the time, sometimes hibernate, unless I get bit by the hibernate bug in XP.

There is a hotfix out, but I am not willing to trade it for the hotfix for dual core CPUs. So the trade off is that hibernate only works 50% of the time for me (Only happens with over 1gb of ram. The more you have, the more frequently it gets ya).

I turn it off because:

1. My motherboard runs hot.
2. The power coming into my house isn't clean. My new UPS has already saved me from two brownout hits.
3. I have 8 fans in my machine, and they all have a limited lifespan.
4. Dust. Dust is the devil!

 

I shut mine down each time, because even if I do leave it on, I end up rebooting. Pages won't come up, freezes, etc
Doesn't everyone's do this? (sarcastic here)

 

Leave it on during the day in holidays, so now, cos I go back to it constantly and leave it on in day if I'm out for a bit cos I'm downloading (naughty-naughty!) but during school day it stays off, gotta preserve power

 

Hmmm....no.

 

Any ideas why mine does? Too many things running? Would have to be whatever runs in background.
I have no clue, but always end up rebooting

 

My guess? A memory leak.

As to what? Check Task Manager on a clean reboot, and check it again when you cant do anything. See which one is the bad man.

 

All four of my run 24/7 as I'm using them for folding@home for OUR team!
They restart themselves every now and again ;-)

 

Thanks. I'll try that. See what I find out.

 

Adrynalyne, can you expand on "by the hibernate bug in XP"and on the "hotfix for dual core CPU's". I am interested in both. Have been considering Hiberate (1 gig RAM) and as you know, I have a duo core laptop. Bazza

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left on 24/7... Downloading T.V need times.....

 

turn in off, when I sleep at night.....it's on just about when ever I'm home......music, TV run thru the computer, and surfing the web.......wobbles

 

You bet


Hibernate issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=909095

Dual core issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896256

I think I have both of these on my drive if you want to talk about them. Feel free to PM me. AFAIK, they are not inclusive, one fix will break the other.

 

I've always shut down at night, but now I'm thinking Stand By might be a better option because my laptop takes a while to boot up due to all the Stardock stuff I have running. I just have to put something on top of the blinking light so it doesn't annoy me.

 

This thread has a few of the pro's and con's concerning leaving your comp on or not

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=88204&page=3

The con's far outweigh the pro's IMO

 

I shutdown, but if I know I'm using it in the next few hours, I'll use Standby.

That works most of the time, although every now and then I get a BSOD, usually related to the nvidia driver.

 

Always liked the idea of shutting down...
Just an OLD habit I suppose...

 

If I expect to be using it within a couple hours, I leave it on. Longer, and I turn it off. I use an "Always On" power scheme, but programmed to turn off the monitor after 20 minutes of inactivity, which is good for the monitor, and saves a little electricity.

YEARS ago, hard drives took their heaviest wear during startup and shutdown, and leaving them on all the time was healthier for them. But that hasn't been true for some years.

 

My desktop is on 24/7, since I'm running the UD projects. I do turn the monitor off when I walk away for an extended period of time, though.

My personal laptop I leave on, but have it set to hibernate when I close the lid. My work laptop I turn off after each use.

 

Everyone else would have the desktop on in our house 24/7 but I've trained them to shut down at the end of every evening, as we are all out at work all day anyway. Weekends it gets left on all day pretty much unless we head out for long spells.

The laptop is MINE and mine alone.....I use it for work, so it gets switched off after use.

Isn't it just common sense to turn it off? (that's why they have an on/off button??) Were they designed to run 24/7? And those of you who do run yours 24/7...are your homes really that dust-free?

 

Thanks Adrynalyne. I'm not sure if my laptop supports "Computers that are equipped with multiple processors that support processor power management features, such as Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) processor performance states, require Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)."

Gonna have to check out my BIOS and system specs, to see if ACPI gets a mention.

I'd rather concentrate on duo core stuff than Hibernate anyhow. Bazza

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The sever computers stay on 24/7 for rather obvious reasons. The regular P.C.'s stay on if I'm home and actually using them. Like a few have said, if I'm not using the P.C.'s for any length of time, off they go.

The comparison of fan breakdowns particularly, since they contain moving parts, on the servers, compared to the machines that are shut down when not in use is pretty clear. The 24/7 operating machines require MUCH more maintenance. The power savings, at least with local electric prices, are also significant.

 

Didn't mean to start a new thread so soon after the one you quoted. Musta missed that one. It sure makes interesting reading though. Think I'll stick to turning off my laptop when not using it. Also gotta start unplugging everything when storms and cyclones are around. I've been slack about this lately. Bazza

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If its dual core, it supports it.

 

Thanks Adrynalyne, original specs for my laptop are on

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=88326

I'll check the BIOS to see what the settings are.

Bazza

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If everyone shut down their computers when they weren't using them, we could shut down at least seven power plants.

 

I'm not sure how y'all are seeing such a huge difference in your electric bill, nor do I see how we could shut down seven power plants simply if everyone turned off their computers.

When I built my first desktop and started leaving it on 24/7, our electric bill went up less than a nickel a month. Those times when I've been gone for an extended period of time (two weeks or more) and turned it off before I leave, the bill has not changed.

 

It's those Mac's...they're juicers

 

I assure you, my electricity bill has gone down leaving the computers off, instead of 24/7.

Currently, I have my LCD, and my PC, thats sucking 208 watts of power. Thats not counting my speakers or anything else that is turned off. Just those two devices. I imagine CRTs suck more.

Now, imagine leaving two 100w lamps on all day, 24/7. I can't imagine how you could think it wouldn't effect your electric bill.

 

Just for reference, the PC box alone is 183 watts without the monitor. So its still almost as much as running two 100w bulbs all day and night, 7 days a week.

 

That, I bet, you can't back up with any factual information.

 

I leave my desktop on 24/7, unless we are leaving town or anticipating bad weather. My laptop...which is usually pugged up to the TV (it's a media center laptop) gets put into stand by or hibernate when it is not in use, then I'll shut it off if we are going to be gone for any length of time, but then it usually goes with me in that case!!

My desktop has been on 24/7 since the day I built it, about three years ago, and haven't once had to replace a fan and/or any peripheral due to the fact that it is always on...however...I do open it up once and awhile to upgrade a part, and I will then clean the dust out...but even then the dust is never overwhelming!!!!

Roger

 

Kudos to your cleaner....what's his/her phone number please?

 

Well maybe electricity is next to free in Michigan, but I doubt it. I can only comment on local West Aust. prices. Several computers, even in Hibernation mode equals a significant difference in the power bill over time, like Adryn said. Not the majority of it by any means, but noticeable, and I don't see why I should pay the power Corp. any more than I already do, when I can avoid it. It's not seven power plants worth (LoL!), but my P.C.'s have 450 - 500W P.S.U.'s for a reason - not that they use anything like the max, usually.

More to the point, not have as many hardware breakdowns over time as well.

 

I read it in an article somewhere, but exactly where I found it I have no idea.

I found something similar to it here, though, except the phrase is this:

"If everyone in the U.S. were to turn off their equipment at night, the nation could shut down eight large power stations and save 7 million tons of CO2 every year."

I knew the term "power plant" didn't seem right...

This one didn't refer to computers, but other sites I found with the same information referred to computers and monitors.

 

Well...it's not that I think leaving the computer on didn't affect my electric bill, it's that I know it does not.

I suppose if you want proof, I could dig through the file and scan in some electric bills...but the fact remains that when I started leaving the desktop on 24/7, the bill went up less than a nickel (I think it was 3 cents). Which comes to 36 cents over a year. Now, I suppose it depends on your financial circumstances, but in my life, 36 cents a year is not something to fuss about.

 

Fair enough. When I retire, I want to move to Michigan, where electricty is cheap.

As for Arizona, ~200 watts 24/7 is gonna be more than 36 cents a year.

To be fair, my laptop only uses 13 watts.

But my desktop, thats another matter. I guess it depends a lot on how powerful your machine is, or is not.

 

My desktop usually stays on during my waking hours It will usually be doing something like Torrent seeding or downloading some distro. My servers are on 24/7, just because they're set up to be that way. Between them they only suck about 200W since they're not highly used. They do have Folding running on them, though. As does my Desktop and my laptop Gotta keep them WUs coming! Even if I am a bit slow

 

i am a very naughty geek...

i started by being more care full, but....

now its left on 24-7 even when its not used for days!! it has dust climbing out of it. it has never been cleaned, moved, or looked at in any way since its purchase. i have no glass in my windows, so the dust is 'real' dust, (ie. small grains of fine red dirt) as opposed to human and pet dander. in addition, our power is all over the place, including quite frequently 'off'. i do switch it off during storms though, and i do have a 'surge protecter' . on the up side there is a natural breeeze that flows through my house, so there is almost constant air flow accross the puter. i must clean it, but im frightened of disturbing its delicate sense of wellbeing.

 

LOL...When I say cleaning...I mean take it outside with the case open, remove all the wires & cables, and give it one hell of a blowin' out with a can of compressed air.

But then again...it's not like my system is the hottest running comp in town!! It is only an Athlon XP 3000 with 768mb of ram, 500w Ultra X Connect psu, a standard 256mb agp 8x video card and a 40gb sata hard drive, a DVD burner and a DVD rom, and fans out the ying yang!! Nothing worth bragging about!!!!

Roger

 

laurieB, "our power is all over the place", I'd be tempted to make your next purchase a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) for extra safety and cleaning up the supply of power to your PC. Blackouts and brownouts (particularly brownouts), are PC enemies. A surge protector is a good idea, but a UPS is better. Bazza

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Ours is on 24/7.

Only time we shut it down is for thunderstorms.

 

Turn my PC on first thing in the am and last thing before bed. Have always done this and no prob. But now and then forget and still no prob. I like to shut it off because I am on broadband constantly and wary of intrusions.

Jack

 

Set up your WEP password.....not a problem then

 

thankyou bazza. i will look into it.

 

I leave one PC on 24/7 because with the different schedules we work my wife or I am on the thing pretty much . . . well, 24/7! Whenever we happen to be home together and not doing other stuff I'll fire up the second (my baby) PC so we can both be online at the same time. When my kids still lived with us, we at times had four PC's running at one time (not 24/7 all the time, but for a few days certainly) for playing LAN games. I haven't really noticed a big fluctuation in my electric bill over the years with different PC usages . . . I imagine there has been a change up or down, but not big enough apparantly to activate my angst, lol.

I must admit to a baseless belief that a PC LIKES to be on, and I always feel a little twinge when I shut one down . . . Dunno why . . .

 

You're welcome. make sure you get one that covers your power needs. You can run the monitor either on the UPS or not. The main thing is to cover the power requirements for the box. A UPS also gives you time to shut down in a controlled manner rather than everything just going black and losing whatever you are working on. Bazza

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Thanks for the suggestion, Lev.

Jack

 

Mines on 24/7 because I want to get on it quick... it takes forever(1 minute, lol) to start up... and plus, i host a webserver on it

as for my other comp, its on 24/7 because i host a counter-strike server on it

yay for electricity