Preserved Topic: is it good? (Page 1 of 1)

Hello,

I'm to turn off my PC every night, but one night I become lazy and stopped turnning it off! so basically it is one during the whole week!

is it healthy! or it takes lifetime off my PC?

I heard that turning on and off is not as good as keeping on at all.

your comments please...

I heard that keeping it on was better for it. But I'm no expert so I dunno.

Maninacan Cell #471
kewl
Mad Scientists

yes, that what I *heard* too, that's why I need many opinions even though from non experts, they will help me taking a good decision...

Personally... my system has been running non stop since Feb. 2001. Minus the occosional upgrade in video card, HDD and restarts.

The only negative thing I have heard about shutting it off at night and on the next day is.... the solder that holds down all the electrical components will heat up while the system has been on for a length of time.. then this solder will cool down when you system is off.... then heat up... then cool down.. I am told, in due time, that this will "crack" the solder and loosen the connections on the little electrical thingies and possible lead to problems. I personally don't think this will ever cause enough "damage" in a computers lifetime.

I think it just comes down to personal preference, really. I am sure there are advantages and disadvantages in either case, but I don't know well enough to state true facts.

The two machines at my dad's house have been on nonstop, besides restarting every so often for quite a while now. But that's mostly because they both run multiple servers. The computer at my mom's house is in her bedroom and she can't sleep with it on, so that gets turned off every night.

Maninacan Cell #471
kewl
Mad Scientists

Solder crack? Never heard that one.

Yeah, I've had many people tell me leaving a computer on is better than turning it off, but I've never actually heard of anyone's computer dying from such activity. Hell, I've had computers become obsolete long before they begin to die.

I turn mine off every night to save the electricity. Sure, they may not use that much, but it's half of what they would if I left them on.

Speaking as a Computer Technician, it is much better to leave it on. Why? Well, that lies on the fact that all things obey the laws of physics...and as such, your computer 'feels' much better when it is running...the moment you turn it off, the computer then cools down...which has an effect on all parts, not just the solder. This cooling and heating process from turning on and turning off the computer leads to degradation of all the parts of the computer to varying degrees...

However (and this point is important), computers with a mighty processor, that needs a really big fan for cooling purposes, could be affected adversely from leaving the computer on...esp. should the fan fail...because the fan has moving parts, it is important to make sure that :
a)The fan is clean (no dust on the blades)
b) That it is as noiseless as possible (a fan that has increased in noise level probably is underway to failing).

The other consideration is the cost of electricity...however, in most cases (because monitors today have a 'sleep' function) this cost is relatively low...with the exception of the cooling fan (if any) on the processor chip....

Yeah...but that will only occur if you turn your computer on...leave it running, then turn it off, leave it for about 20 secs and turn it on again. That WILL ruin the solder joints and create what's called a 'cold joint' (which is not last night's pot roast) which is what you get sometimes, you see it a bit actually, ever had something that would only work after you hit it a few times...well that's caused by a cold joint, where the solder will pull up off the joint and become loose. Hitting it will cause the solder to move, and if you're lucky it moves back inot contact and current will flow. Most likely cse though is that it won't.

Koan 63, written on the wall of cell number 250:
Those who Believe
Can
Those who Try
Do
Those who Love
Live

Ahhh... the 'ol computer in the bedroom trick. heheh

my system resides right next to my bed.. I wake up and go to work, without even sitting upright! ( The doctor tells me this is bad! )
http://www.akstudio.com/setup.jpg


If I were to shut it off, the silence would keep me awake! I need the subtle "hum" of a spinning HDD to fall asleep to.

BTW: I just finished designing the new computer I'm going to build in a month or two....I can't really help it, but it does need it...It has 5 cooling fans. Two for the processors (it's dual processor), two on the case (one for the power supply, the other a general case extractor fan to draw air through the cooling vents) and an exhaust fan that sits in a PCI backslot....very loud...I may have to replace them with quieter ones, but at least if one fails there's still plently of cooling going on there.

Koan 63, written on the wall of cell number 250:
Those who Believe
Can
Those who Try
Do
Those who Love
Live

I dont shut down, I reboot when necessary. The last time my machine was down for over 10 minutes was in late September when I moved, and even then it was only down for about an hour. I have bad luck shutting down machines. When I have left a machine off in the past and come back the HDD is always dead....easier to leave them on.

Well, considering that the computer is about 2 or 3 meters away from my bed (about as far away as any two things can be in my apartment, excluding the kitchen/bathroom area ), I shut it down at night. Also, since it sits under my desk, it has a tendency to get warm. I've made sure there's enough ventilation space down there, but it would still concern me if I left it on all the time.




Cell 270

I never turn my computers off. Ever. I may reboot sometimes, and once we had guests sleep over in our computer room, so we had to shut them off! It was traumatic, it was horrifying, I still shudder. ;-) I *do* turn my monitors off in the evening, those beasts are monster power hogs! I don't know, I've had computers become obsolete, but never actually "wore one out", I think that would take long enough that they'd be antiques by the time it happened, heh.

Your pal, -doc-

Just out of curiosity (since WS did mention the cost of electricity) about how much does it cost to leave a computer on overnight (if you shut off your monitor)? Wait, I suppose that would depend on electricity prices and stuff. Better yet, how much power (wattage?) does a computer draw while on, but not in use?

I just toss mine into Sleep Mode and do the same for myself

I could be wrong, but doesn't Energy Star Hybernate mode or whatnot actually lob the amount of electricity the computer uses off at the knees? I'm not too sure myself, but I believe it does.

njuice42
icq 957255