Leave it running or not?

[toptec]

Toptec, what do you mean by dormant? I can only make mine go to standby or hibernate, both stop the hard disk. I have Speedfan slowing the fans when not in use but that's about it.

Aulus - When not in use for 30 mins or so my PC slumbers. There is no activity from the hard drive, the screen is off and the blue power button on the front dims significantly. Power usage also drops enormously.

As soon as I move the mouse to wake the PC up the power button brightens the hard drive chatters and the screen shows my log in icons. It is like a standby but the screen is completely dark.

TT

 

[Monkeh]

Hmmm, still not convinced about leaving it on, for a start my machine pulls 100W just ticking over.

You should replace it with something mildly efficient. I'm guessing that's a Pentium 4, possibly an Athlon XP..

2nd never had a harware failure on any machine caused by powering on/off, and my machine get hard daily use.

You're lucky, and don't have much equipment. You start worrying about startup cycles when none of your primary machines have less than three HDDs in them..

OK, so a compnent is More Likly to fail at start up than anything else, but IMO, for the majority of users, unless the machine it used for 16 hrs a day anyway, leaving it on just increases the number of hours its been running causing wear and tear when not in use.

Problem is, most people don't leave them running all day and just turn them off at night. The majority of users will turn them on, do something for twenty minutes.. and then turn them off. Repeatedly, every day. This is an HDD killer.

My last 2 machines were 6 years old when I upgraded, my celeron 800 is still running today (albet it is now on 24hrs a day because its a print server)

Modern machines are a little more delicate. Especially when it comes to the HDDs.

 

[joinerjohn]

I can remember a time when you had to command the HDD to park before moving a computer. If you didn't the HDD could be damaged beyond repair.
Might have been the late 80's or very early 90's though.

 

[Monkeh]

I can remember a time when you had to command the HDD to park before moving a computer. If you didn't the HDD could be damaged beyond repair.
Might have been the late 80's or very early 90's though.

Back in the days when people actually understood how they worked?

 

[Aulus]

Toptec, what do you mean by dormant? I can only make mine go to standby or hibernate, both stop the hard disk. I have Speedfan slowing the fans when not in use but that's about it.

Aulus - When not in use for 30 mins or so my PC slumbers. There is no activity from the hard drive, the screen is off and the blue power button on the front dims significantly. Power usage also drops enormously.

As soon as I move the mouse to wake the PC up the power button brightens the hard drive chatters and the screen shows my log in icons. It is like a standby but the screen is completely dark.

TT

Sounds like you have the power option set to standby. Which stops the hard disk....!!

 

[JamesA]

Is it really as cheap as 26p a week to run a PC? Did you measure it when it was going full tilt with all the cooling fans?
It really depends how often you use it, it will die sooner if left running.

I wouldn't leave a PC running unless it's doing a job, or downloading with a download manager overnight.

Plus it will be unpleasant to have it constantly gushing out the hot air.

Setting all the power save options is fair enough.

However, as you use more and more applications over time memory leaks will grind your PC to a halt.
You'll have to restart it once in a while to get round this.
Assuming you're using Windows, Microsoft will probably restart your machine after a windows update for you without asking

 

[Monkeh]

Is it really as cheap as 26p a week to run a PC? Did you measure it when it was going full tilt with all the cooling fans?

All those cooling fans which eat a gigantic watt or so a piece!

It really depends how often you use it, it will die sooner if left running.

No it won't.

Plus it will be unpleasant to have it constantly gushing out the hot air.

What, are you still using a P4 or Athlon XP? Modern PCs don't put out anything like hot air.

However, as you use more and more applications over time memory leaks will grind your PC to a halt.
You'll have to restart it once in a while to get round this.

Not really. You just, y'know, close the offending, broken program.

Assuming you're using Windows, Microsoft will probably restart your machine after a windows update for you without asking

Which is your own fault for letting it install updates automatically and reboot without warning.

 

[toptec]

Is it really as cheap as 26p a week to run a PC? Did you measure it when it was going full tilt with all the cooling fans?
It really depends how often you use it, it will die sooner if left running.

Yep. 26p according to the meter. I have it on all the time so it measured it for a full week running, in use for about 4 hours per day.

 

[mrgas]

Yeah, really.

I was always told that a tumble dryer uses s"1t loads of lekky. When I tested mine it used 0.4p per cycle!!

TT

Is your tumble drier a gas one?

 

[big-all]

Yeah, really.

I was always told that a tumble dryer uses s"1t loads of lekky. When I tested mine it used 0.4p per cycle!!

TT

Is your tumble drier a gas one?

yes my thoughts with the average electric tumble being around 2.5kwh
even allowing for cycling where the heat reduces over an hour its still will be about 1.5 units and 2 to 2.5 over a drying cycle

0.4 would equate to the motor and not much else unless his units are 1p each
i suspect 3 unit or 40p is more accurate

 

[toptec]

Nah, definitely 0.4p, ( A Gas one..... that's a good un!). I double checked the rate set on the meter and it is correct. (How accurate these meters are I have no idea.)

TT

 

[sergeantash]

As a follow on from my previous thread about a cruddy/dusty failing to start PC.

Is it advisable to always turn a PC off when not in use or is it fine, as I do, to leave it running permanently? What's the consensus?

Interestingly I set up a minor experiment with one of those electricity monitors attached to my PC and it costs me 26p a week to run it permanently on!!

TT

There are pros and cons to this, as follows...

Pros for leaving running:

- Immediately ready when you need to use your PC

- Can prolong the life of components

Cons for leaving running:

- Your PC may encounter issues when you need to reboot, components that are permanently on/heated generally fail when there is an interruption, i.e. power cut/reboot.

- Windows Updates may not be collected and installed properly, a reboot is healthy as it allows your system to perform bootup pagefile defrag amongst other routines.

- Modern PC's boot up quickly, so there is little need to leave it running

- Your PC will consume power if left on permanently.

In summary, I would turn your PC off each evening, servers are healthier if left running due to their patching cycles being managed, workstations however are healthier if turned on/off IMHO.

 

[timtheenchanter]

Hmmm, still not convinced about leaving it on, for a start my machine pulls 100W just ticking over.

You should replace it with something mildly efficient. I'm guessing that's a Pentium 4, possibly an Athlon XP..


No, that is my new machine, 2.3G celeron, 4Gb ram, 2x500Gb SATA drives, and a chuffing big graphics card (TBH, thats the killer in my system.) 850W PSU.

only just pupgraded form a 1.9 singlecore athlon

 

[Monkeh]

No, that is my new machine, 2.3G celeron, 4Gb ram, 2x500Gb SATA drives, and a chuffing big graphics card (TBH, thats the killer in my system.) 850W PSU.

only just pupgraded form a 1.9 singlecore athlon

Ah, a Crapperon, that explains a lot. As does the PSU..

 

[timtheenchanter]

ok, dont dig too much, its only till I can get me mitts on the cash for a quad core...

darn site better than my last machine,
the PSU is there for the graphics card (radeon HD2900XT, needs a 650W min)