[wmasd]

OK, so we buy another computer at Best Buy and the computer guy says-- Leave your computer on all the time that turning it off each night and on in the morning makes the hard drive function and will wear it out a lot faster than leaving it on all the time.
When buying a new printer the computer gal says--Turn your computer off when not in use, the heat build up it the hardest thing on it.
WHICH IS CORRECT, which will let my computer last the most years???
the Ranger

[Advertisements]

Switch it off if you don't need the PC, you could get a power cut while you are out, and they are not good for a PC

[Retired Tech]

Switch it off if you don't need the PC, you could get a power cut while you are out, and they are not good for a PC

[Facedown98]

Agreed. Turning it off allows for computer to cool down and could help you out in the future. Now, this is a common debate. Some people think that you don't need to turn them off, but I do.

[Gamerlicious]

The only time I ever turn off my PC is when I make a hardware change. So it's usually on for 6 months at a time. I've heard that leaving it on wears out the PSU, but I don't really believe that. I would say it's best to turn it off if it's goind to be 6+ hours before it's used again.

[GeekMan]

If it is new, leave it on for an extended period of time. I call this performance testing and try loading and unloading huge programs, delete large movies, try downloading large things, etc. Once you are satisfyed with its performance then you should turn it off and let it cool down for about 12 hours. It is sort of like breaking in a new car or shoes.

[Mitesh]

Defintley with the 'Turn it off group' you will only be wasting precious global electricity and it will cost you a bit as well.

[Kemasa]

There was another thread on this very subject, which you might want check out:

http://www.geekstogo...s...=103710&hl=

There are reasons to leave it on and reasons to turn it off and ultimately it is a decision which you need to make based on which works best for you.

It is true that there is harm done when the machine is power cycled, but if you leave the computer on all the time and don't have good power conditioning and good temperature control, you can have problems due to that and since it is on all the time, there is more of a chance of having such a problem. Also, some parts, like a disk drive, will wear if left spinning, as well as fans. If a fan goes out and you are not around to notice, you could come back to toast. There is also the issue of possible, although rare, extreme failure which could result in fire. That means if you leave it on all the time you should also have a fire system and/or ensure that the machine is on non-burnable materials and nothing around it could catch fire. While it might be rare, it is something to consider.

I leave my computer on if I am going to use it again in a couple of hours, otherwise I turn it off. I am careful to have it off if the room temperature gets too high and I have it on a UPS. With a real computer room and someone else paying the electric bills, I would most likely leave it on all the time.

[warriorscot]

There is no need to "Run in" a computer its only puts extra stress on the system and if somethings wrong you are going to notice it in normal use anyway.

I leave it off, there are a couple of threads on the subject here so read the siscussions lots of good info.

[Kemasa]

Hmmm, it is not a bad idea to burn-in a computer, especially if the warranty is short. You want to test to make sure that everything is working. There are two main failure points, infant mortality and end of life, both of which have a higher failure rate than during the normal life of the product. Running diags for a day or two is not a bad idea, especially before you spend the time to set up everything and put data on the machine. It used to be that the manufacturer would test machines, but that costs time and money.

[SRX660]

I left my 2 main computers on for a couple of years. I did'nt really notice much difference between them and the ones i turn off every day. Main thing i noticed is that i had to reboot every few days or i would start getting errors( even with XP). Now i am of the mind to shut them off when i am done with them every day. I don't think leaving them running increases their life. I have a compaq pentium 150 with the original hardware that is still running and the computer was shut off every day. I have had many that i left running to come home one day and find the computer had died. Replaced the hardware that went bad and run the computer some more. In the last couple of years i've noticed that running 2 puters in my puter room 24/7 heats up the room about 5 to 7 ° warmer than the rest of the house. Usually by the time the hardware starts wearing out it's time to upgrade to a much faster computer anyway. So i now shut mine off every day, except the server of course. The server is a different story anyway since it is a rack puter meant to run for years.

SRX660

[Gamerlicious]

Mine is always on, and I have noticed that my computer room is also about five degrees warmer than the rest of the house.

[warriorscot]

Its warmer becausemost of the energy you put in(which is alot) is outputed back as heat between your gpu and cpu you will be putting out almost 200W if you have high end kit, 150 if its a lower, not to mention the PSU, HDD and ram add them in and its a pretty effective heater, in winter ill leave mine on sometimes as its quicker than heating up the radiator.

Diagnostics arent a bad thing but a burn in is a totally different thing, burn ins are asking for trouble unless you can be there or near the computer for the whole period of the burn in(could be a day or two) they arent reccomended and really wont achieve much if you are a heavy computer user faults will become evident before the warranties are up standard is a year never buy anything with less.

[rumble291]

Theres no need to leave it on all it does it wears out everything and wastes power. Turning it off saves the hardware from wear and doesnt waste power. Surely turning it on takes like 30 seconds to boot up.

[warriorscot]

Less if you know how to keep your OS clean and have a good HDD, flash based systems in conjunction with a supported OS (Vista and what would be OS11 will do it) should reduce the boot times to under 10 seconds or less even true instant on is a possibility. There may be a debate in other places but OS and hardware manufacturers definately lean towards turning it off and they make it easier and omre conveniet all the time.

[master_with_a_problem]

YEa the whole thing about wearing out your hard drive FASTER is baloagne, you see its true there is some microscopic, nearly unmeasurable amount of wear when you turn your computer off, but leaving it on is worse, imagine something having to spin 7200 times per minute for days and days, which do you think is worse, a padded slow down, or an endless amount of spining. I turn my computer of up to 3 times a day (or it turns itself off) I have had the same hard drive now for four years. I dont leave it on because it is a waste of money and natural resources (I have probably saved about a hill of coal from being burned) and because I have a loud computer I hate the thought of being able to hear it anywear in the house and being able to hear it when I get home.

Edited by master_with_a_problem, 03 July 2006 - 12:06 PM.