Running Question

[Black_Z28]

I've been wondering this for a while now. I was curious what's better on a computer, to just let it run all the time, shut it down, or let it go into sleep mode?

Example, I normally use my computer on and off form about 5pm-10pm on weekdays. But, during the day and night, so about 18 hours of the time it's not used. Would it be better for me to shut it down when I'm done using it for the day, then turn it on when I finish with work, or put it in sleep mode, or just let it run? Any help would be great.

[86 IROC-Z]

Shut it down. Running it 24/7 will make it run hotter, your hard drives will fail sooner, and it will suck in more dust.

[Black_Z28]

Is sleep mode better then shutting it down?

[Knighthawk LS1]

no shutting it down is your best bet it also clears the ram invade there is any unused crap in it

[Ed Blown Vert]

Mine runs 24/7. I will turn off the monitors if I leave for a while.

[ss~zoso~ss]

i do sleep mode on my computer, i think that sleep is better than hibernate, because more components are active in hibernate mode than in sleep mode

[SiggyZ]

It's not going to hurt your system to leave it running. It's actually better to do this. If you have proper ventilation, you don't have to worry about things overheating unless there is already a problem.

[Ed Blown Vert]

To me, when you turn on any electrical device, thats when your going to have problems. (Power Surge)

When does a lighbulb burnout? Rarely while its on. But usually when you click the switch.

[SiggyZ]

Exactly. And when I had my other system shut off for several days, and powered it back on. The HD stuck and now when the Compaq screen comes up, it freezes there.

To me, when you turn on any electrical device, thats when your going to have problems. (Power Surge)

When does a lighbulb burnout? Rarely while its on. But usually when you click the switch.

[Capn Hook]

To me it's a power consumption issue. I don't care to pay for electricity to power the power supply and all the accessories for 18 hours a day of no use.

If a power supply consumes 500 watt/hours a day, and power is 9 cents a kilowatt hour, you're spending $32 a month just to power your computer!

[Speedy_Gonzales]

sleep mode here when I am gone, and reboots when I install or update stuff

[Mike's02Z28M6]

To me it's a power consumption issue. I don't care to pay for electricity to power the power supply and all the accessories for 18 hours a day of no use.

If a power supply consumes 500 watt/hours a day, and power is 9 cents a kilowatt hour, you're spending $32 a month just to power your computer!

I don't know if this is still true but back in the day (15 years ago) your PC being fired up was equivilant (sp) to running it for 8 hours.

[Black_Z28]

To me it's a power consumption issue. I don't care to pay for electricity to power the power supply and all the accessories for 18 hours a day of no use.

If a power supply consumes 500 watt/hours a day, and power is 9 cents a kilowatt hour, you're spending $32 a month just to power your computer!

It's my understanding, that a power supply only provides enough power for that particular time, so at point it may only use 10W.

Anyways, I don't care about the power. And there's not way it cost that much to power a computer 24/7. Because my roommate leaves his on 24/7 and our power bill is about $40/month. And I also have a 40" LCD that we watch pretty often.

[Z28Thunder]

I turn mine off every night. An always on hard drive will fail alot faster. I cant tell you the number of hard drives we have had to repalce for just this issue (50/60+) . I work IT at a local hospital. We set our image for the hard drive to always be on. You could always go in to a suspened mode if you want. We have to many power surges/outages here for me to be willing to leave it always on. Also unless you clean all the cache yourself the pc will and can take a perfomance hit from it.

[JonB]

For the most part I leave mine on 24/7 unless I know I will be away for a long period of time like 10+ hours. Its just annoying to start it up when you want to get on. I've had this pc for a little over a year and already burnt out one power supply, but this was a budget pc so I did't buy the best of the best parts when it was built.

[garver]

I run Folding at Home 24/7. The only bad thing, is your power supply will degrade faster.

[Spaz]

Mine runs 24/7. I will turn off the monitors if I leave for a while.

same... i just have a auto shut off set for my monitor...

[96z28]

I turn mine off becayse its too loud and i cant sleep