Does leaving your computer on cause a performance hit?

Geoff

Geoff

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Many people ask the question, "If I leave my computer on for a long time, will it run slower?". I am going to run several tests to help answer this question.

First, I'm going to scan my computer for spyware, defrag it, run ccleaner, scan for registry errors, along with a few more optimization tools, to get the computer ready for the tests.

Once the computer is ready, I will leave everything the way it is during every test, I'm not going to change the CPU or BIOS settings, or install any new programs. I'm going to try to leave the computer in the same exact state for the duration of these tests.

For the first test, I'm going to completly shut down my computer, and once Windows loads up, I will run PCMark04 (I have the professional version of this), and I'll post back with a screenshot of the results.

For the rest of the tests, I will simulate average working conditions, such as opening up a few programs, playing a couple games, surfing the web, ect. I will run PCMark04 during various times, to see if having the computer on for a longer period of time, does indeed hurt performance. I will also include a CS:S stress test immediatly following the PCMark04 test, to see if real world usage is effected.

In around 30 minutes, I will post back with the initial results, and I will go on from there, re-testing every 12 hours or so.
 
Well my computer doesn't show any signs of distress until about 6 days straight, at which point it will start lagging occasionally. But that's fine with me. :D
 
I'd have to say no. That's my bet.

Because I leave my laptop on 24/7, and after a few weeks of it being on it still plays my games fine and does F@H when I'm not fragging. I can never notice a "slow down", the games seem to run just fine.

It may be that my harddrive is not even 50% full? Could be that some people have loads of background apps that slow down there machine if not restarted occasionally, etc. I have 18 "normal" processes with nothing open/running...very low system usage.
 
Ok, I ran the original tests after I just did hard boot, here are the results:

PCMark04_Test1.jpg


CSS_Test1.jpg


I'll probably run those tests again around 10PM tonight, and then ever 12-24 hours from then on.


Personally, I think that you will see a drop in Hard Drive and Memory scores in PCMark, but not a difference in Counter Strike: Source.
 
Nice, I want to see the results. I would expect no change significant enough to note. However, it will be very interesting to see how it turns out.

JAN :D
 
unless you have badly programmed apps with bad memory leaks, i doubt you will notice any perf. drop after a few days..
 
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I bet it will slow down a little. I noticed when I keep my computer on and running for several weeks it really starts slowing down and every system process starts taking more and more ram.
 
Yes harddrive might start to become fragmented if you do ALOT of stuff, but having it simply sit and run F@H for a week or two...probably not.

If you actually keep a program (such as firefox) open and minimized on the destkop, I could see it start to hog system memory.
 
I certainly get no performance hit on my machine.

Been running 6 days straight now and its as quick as it was from boot:)
 
I ran the second test just now, so the computer has been on and has been used for ~5 hours.

Here are the original scores:
PCMark04: 3508
CS:S Stress Test: 90.54

PCMark04_Test2.jpg


CSS_Test2.jpg

I will continue testing for several days, and I will also create a graph once I get some more data.
 
This is just a suggestion but I think incoming dust is going to be a factor..... A computer that is running 24/7 is going to gather more dust than one that isn't..... And doesn't dust casue insulation and therefore heat?

Unless that is part of the experiment....... then never mind......
 
Burgerbob said:
Why? Not to have a one liner post...
Click to expand...

Especially on ME, I could tell within about 15 minutes when the computer would have been on for 24 hours. The computer would just hit a wall all of a sudden and get really slow... Thankfully XP doesn't have this problem...
 
Heh...... For a while, I was thinking, 'Whoa, how was he getting those scores on that machine.....?', until I realized it was 04.......
 
well... for such a kind of test, you're actually supposet to disconnect if from the internet tough.. to prevent ad-ware and such to get onto the pc during the test ;) :P
 
Hi Omega, i really like your idea. Its god to approach these question with a scientific mind set, i like how you controled your test as best as possible...

the only issue i can see that PCMark 04 can give quite varied results, would have been best to run it a few times at each sample point and them take the average... 3 times would have been enough, 5 would have been better (time permitting). The drop of 18 points could just be due to the varience in the program
 
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