Turn off PC every night...or not?
- Thread starter hoosieradvisor
- Start date
G25r8cer
Active Member
I believe turning your pc off at night is better for the OS but doesnt do any better or worse for the hardware. The hardware now days can take alot. Restarting and shutting down your pc every night makes your OS get into the habit of it and reboots/boot-ups will be much better than if you were to leave your pc on for a while and try to reboot.
Sir Travis D
banned
I have read that sleep is better,,
TrainTrackHack
VIP Member
No they don't. OSs don't learn any habits like that... where did you get that from? That is the funniest thing I've heard this week
Okedokey
Well-Known Member
Just to add to the previous calc done. You have forgotten something else. PSU efficiency. If the computer uses 200W at idle and the efficiency of the PSU is 70%, then you have to add a further 30% to your calc.
Also, i am a carbon management specialist/engineer, the whole shortening the life of you pc by turning it off is bs. Several companies, inlcuding samsung, western digital, itel have data to prove this. Turn off your machine, save money and the environment.
Also, i am a carbon management specialist/engineer, the whole shortening the life of you pc by turning it off is bs. Several companies, inlcuding samsung, western digital, itel have data to prove this. Turn off your machine, save money and the environment.
jdbennet
New Member
psu wears out quicker if its on, hard drives dont make a difference (they may spin longer, but the initial spinup/down wears them just as bad), but apparently the components on the mobo last longer if its on (a friend once told me that 10 hours idle = 1 cold boot)
leaving it on is better. faster
vista loads your most used stuff into RAM cache and when you reboot it has to recreate this.
leaving it on is better. faster
vista loads your most used stuff into RAM cache and when you reboot it has to recreate this.
Danda
Member
Laving it on is better eh? What about the electricity cost? Wouldent that get bigger or what?
It is not a good idea to leave your PC on 24/7. I am an electronics technician by trade. The electrolytic capacitors on your motherboard, in your other cards, and in your power supply age continually when powered up. Also your hard drive is a motor which wears out. Plus your electricity bill. Don't leave it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cohen
New Member
My parents wanted to save money on the power bill, so we got told to turn off things, like computers when we are not using them, they turned off their desktop at night, and then mum didn't like it, so her and dad always leave it on, and it's good, cause then i have to run downstairs to turn the PC on, so i can print something from my PC
I'm the same, just when i get home from school
Agree there.
What are you on about???
But think about the environment!
Not that bad really...... but leaving it on all night would limit the life of the computers hardware
I'm the same, just when i get home from school
Agree there.
What are you on about???
But think about the environment!
Not that bad really...... but leaving it on all night would limit the life of the computers hardware
cohen
New Member
Yeah, that is why you build, so you know you have good quality / decent hardware
and that it won't fail for many years to come 
Yogi32
New Member
One of my professors made a good point one day in class. He said that he leaves his computer on continuously and he made this analogy, "How many times have you turned on a light and the bulb flashes and burns out? Now, how many times have you seen a light bulb burn out when it is turned on?" So he's stating that each time a computer is turned on, a surge of energy is sent very quickly into your system, and the risk of that surge of power damaging a component is less if you leave it on.
I, on the other hand, turn off my computer every night just because I can't sleep with it on.
I, on the other hand, turn off my computer every night just because I can't sleep with it on.
Okedokey
Well-Known Member
All of the major IT companies (particularly hard drive companies) have tested millions of hours of on/off occilations, it makes absolutely no difference. This is a myth that goes back to the dark ages of IT. Turning your PC off is beneficial in all aspects.
Your professor doesn't know what hes talking about i am afraid. He is a professor of what exactly?
An incandescent light bulb, the weakening of the filiment etc has nothing whatsoever to do with this topic. His observations and subsequent analogy are based on anecdotes, followed up with a circular argument along the lines of "because the bulb flashed and burns, and i haven't seen it do that when it is on, turning it off is bad". poo poo.
Your professor doesn't know what hes talking about i am afraid. He is a professor of what exactly?
An incandescent light bulb, the weakening of the filiment etc has nothing whatsoever to do with this topic. His observations and subsequent analogy are based on anecdotes, followed up with a circular argument along the lines of "because the bulb flashed and burns, and i haven't seen it do that when it is on, turning it off is bad". poo poo.
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gamerman4
Active Member
Well considering I have extremely old hard drives in my closet, some of which are only 650MB full capacity, that still work.....it takes a lot to wear out your hard drive. I keep my computer on for weeks on end and sometimes I turn it off, I have 5 hard drives right now and nothing has broken yet.
TrainTrackHack
VIP Member
But in this case it doesn't work - it's just that the filament, when cold, has much lower resistance than when it's warm, meaning that there will be, well, plenty of current running through that very instant, so when it's cold the current heats the filament up so fast it, well, blows. It doesn't apply in case of computers, though, since we aren't pushing even nearly as much current/volts through a microchip as we are through light bulbs, and we don't even let them heat up that much, so it hardly makes any significant difference here - not to mention that, unless you have a really screwy PSU/mobo, it won't even let enough current to run through the components to actually damage them or cause any significant wear.
Okedokey
Well-Known Member
The failure of a tungsten filament has more to do with corrosion even though it is in an inert gas. The filament is not perfect and sets up variations in heat and magnetic fields along the length of the filament. As the wire first heats up and the magnetic field is initiated, variations in these two cause the filament to bend AND to attract/repel for a while setting up a movement/harmonic vibration/jerking/twisting motion. Some of the more expensive bulbs are longer lasting because the filaments are made with less imperfections in material and consistency in diameter/shape.
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