True Or False

[Keikan]

True or False?

Leaving your computer on 24/7 is actually good for your computer not bad.

[ilw]

I don't think its true or false. Starting ur computer up and shutting it down probably doesn't harm your computer (the power supply takes a bit more strain) , leaving it running just means that the computer is used more. Everything has a lifetime measured in hours of use and so running it continuously probably is eating into the parts lifetime, (especially mechanical parts like fan ball bearings). Either way its probably not going to make much difference.
If ur computer is doing stuff (eg downloading) when u leave it 24/7 then fine, otherwise why not switch it off as its just a very inefficient and noisy heater. (plus u waste energy)

[3rd gen noob]

i'd say TRUE

think about it this way...

when your computer is turned off, the internal components (most importantly the cpu) will be at room temperature (approx 20-25 degrees celsius)

as soon as you turn on the computer, the temperatures will soar (e.g. my cpu goes from approx 21 degrees to 40 degrees in 3 minutes)

this sharp increase in temperature will cause internal components to expand and is one of the major causes of hardware malfunctions.

the exact same happens when you turn off the computer. the components will cool massively in a short period of time. this leads to contraction and more stress.

of course, you need to weigh this up against the extra stress of leaving the computer on all the time.

i try to leave mine on as much as possible though

[gaz_k]

i would say it better to leave it on.

wen usin high end audio equipment, upon purchase you are advised to leave your system on in order for the circuits to stay at same level and no fluctuations (sumone just mentioned this before)

systems run at an ideal temp so surely keepin it at that temp is better.

could compare it to a car engine, runs far better wen warmed up to appropriate temp.

damage could be done wen cool as parts are movin at incorrect sizes

[zapjb]

IMO I say off as much as possible.

[Livy]

my laptop is pretty much on 100% as anything that gets downloaded get transfered to it overnight, as ii only use my laptop, then when im going to bed i move stuff that downloading from the other computer onto this, as it doesnt make any noise

[gaz_k]

[FONT=Arial]

whats your reasoning?

The Simon Smith Comedy Site (http://www.geocities.com/viewkill)

[ilw]

it'll last ages if u leave it off all the time :lol:

btw what movin parts??
Tho 3rd gen probably has a point about thermal shocks, I still vote switch it off when u aren't using it for a long while (like overnight). It might be bad to switch it on and off repeatedly, but 1x a day isn't gonna hurt it.

[lynx]

3rd Gen is spot on, IMO.
I think mine has been on continuously for about 18 months (yes, I've done reboots, but not actually switched off) with the exception of vacations and one upgrade. In that time, the only thing to go wrong was the cpu fan got a little noisy, so I replaced the cooler for a higher spec one (about £10) which is the upgrade i mentioned.

Anyway, overnight is when I do most downloads so that I'm not tying up as much bandwidth during waking hours.

[harrycary]

As one who is in the electronics repair business I can truly state that there is no wear and tear on components(solid state) when powering on and off.

Wear and tear is more likely to happen on electro-mechanical and mechanical components though(e.g. motors, switches, relays).

To power off or not is and will always be debatable as the answers are truly unknown. Electrical components fail and not many of us can truly understand why.
Although, I can say that non-use is more detrimental on components. Witness standard batteries(similar to capacitors, an all to common component), They dry out, the electrolytes leak, etc. So allowing current to flow through them actually helps.

IMO, powering off is a good thing, especially your monitor, as this conserves energy. And, it never hurts to reload the O/S. (A nice fresh start)

[mogadishu]

My pc has take thousands of restarts over the years and still works like a charm. I think what you have to be carefull of is overheating when the pc is on.

[abigspidermonkey]

I think you should leave it on... <_<

[3RA1N1AC]

i think a much greater concern should be keeping the inside of your PC clean. dust and dirt will do more damage than most things.

[Amarjit]

I think PCs have a life of around 5000 hours. I have never left my PC on for more than like 2 days running. I recommend that you always turn your monitor off when your PC is vacant.

[ilw]

I think 5000 is a big underestimate for a computers lifespan, thats only 200 days. My current pc would be getting near its lifetime and my previous one would have been long dead. 5000 hours might be the mean time between failure ie where one part breaks, but in my experience fans are usually one of the first things to go and as long as u realise quickly fixing it costs less than a tenner so u can&#39;t really call that the computers lifetime

[TIBZ]

i only turn mine off wen it dont need to be used and thats like 1 nite out of the whole week runs good tho sumtimes i restart it wen i need to other than that i my monitor just turns on and off a couple times wen i leave it on for awhile so yea i think its healty

[3rd gen noob]

just another point.
i turned on a light today and it blew

how many times have you seen a light blow when it has been on for a while compared to it blowing when you turn it on?

:blink:

[gaz_k]

very very good point&#33;&#33;&#33;

and wen sum pc&#39;s are a little knackered and temprimental, turning on and off may take several attempts to get it working.

just like wen your car is knackered it takes a while to get it going.. but it fine wen left ticking over&#33;

[ilw]

Light bulbs blow when they&#39;re switched on because the little coils inside them act as an inductor and sudden switching on causes the voltage across this inductor to spike which can destroy the very fine wire. (Hence my comment near the start about power supplies taking the brunt of switching on and off, but power supplies are built with smoothing circuits nad protections against that kinda thing)

[3rd gen noob]

Originally posted by ilw@1 August 2003 - 13:13
Light bulbs blow when they&#39;re switched on because the little coils inside them act as an inductor and sudden switching on causes the voltage across this inductor to spike which can destroy the very fine wire. (Hence my comment near the start about power supplies taking the brunt of switching on and off, but power supplies are built with smoothing circuits nad protections against that kinda thing)
of course a lightbulb is a lot less complex than a pc, however, the same effect is in place when turning on a pc as a lightbulb

[lynx]

Originally posted by ilw@1 August 2003 - 13:13
Light bulbs blow when they&#39;re switched on because the little coils inside them act as an inductor and sudden switching on causes the voltage across this inductor to spike which can destroy the very fine wire. (Hence my comment near the start about power supplies taking the brunt of switching on and off, but power supplies are built with smoothing circuits nad protections against that kinda thing)
The fact that power supplies have to have protection from inrush currents (that&#39;s the proper name for what happens at start up) should tell you in itself that turning the pc on is not good for the pc. You only need one of these to be slightly off tolerance and some of that inrush could get through to more sensitive devices.

And of course the inrush current effect is also true for the devices themselves (particularly electromechanical ones such as fans, disk drives etc). As has been said before, there is also the thermal shock effect (which, combined with inrush current, is actually what causes most lightbulbs to blow).

The inrush currents when light bulbs fail can often trip the circuit breakers, that&#39;s a lot of power even though it is only for a few milliseconds. Imagine what sort of damage that can do to your power supply. And if your power supply fails at that point (and I&#39;ve seen it happen) that energy can be transfered to the rest of your system.

[imported_The__One]

In my experience, the longer you leave stuff on, the better....I leave my computer on 24/7 (xept for re-boots), however I also have to leave my monitor on 24/7 because I bought it from a guy who, for unknown reasons, turned the monitor on and off &#39;bout 5 times a day...for 2 years, now the monitor will sometimes flicker like crazy and then turn itself off (not completely, just the yellow light instead of the green one). But it only does this after i turn it off and back on again, so I have to keep it running straight for it to function properly....an it&#39;s a 19" sony flatscreen (not LCD) so I really don&#39;t want to have to buy another one :(

[3rd gen noob]

Originally posted by The__One@1 August 2003 - 15:14
In my experience, the longer you leave stuff on, the better....I leave my computer on 24/7 (xept for re-boots), however I also have to leave my monitor on 24/7 because I bought it from a guy who, for unknown reasons, turned the monitor on and off &#39;bout 5 times a day...for 2 years, now the monitor will sometimes flicker like crazy and then turn itself off (not completely, just the yellow light instead of the green one). But it only does this after i turn it off and back on again, so I have to keep it running straight for it to function properly....an it&#39;s a 19" sony flatscreen (not LCD) so I really don&#39;t want to have to buy another one :(
i&#39;m having the same problem as you

the cause of my problem is a faulty cable though...you might want to check yours out

[imported_The__One]

i&#39;m having the same problem as you

the cause of my problem is a faulty cable though...you might want to check yours out

Pawer cable eh?......I&#39;ll check this out. It&#39;ll be a lot better to have to buy a new 5 dollar power cable insted of a &#036;300 monitor :D

[Dalegas]

5000 hours??...

Man... My last pc lasted more than 4 years running ever day... there were weeks It was 24/7....

[boyzeee]

hmmm interesting post...for last 16years i have been an electronics technician stroke prototype wireman stroke........myself alot&#33; te he back to the post, i have worked for IBM making and fault finding hard drives, intel making chips and processors and various other companies making and fault finding high tech equipment and can say with some degree of knowledge that keeping your pc on is a wise move, the time that your hard drive will most likely fail is at start up and shut down (not that you will notice at shutdown) this is not due to "power spikes" etc but the heating up and cooling of internal parts causing stress and ultimately failure, much better to keep things constant but not to hot&#33;, also when you power up a hard drive it has to find its "datum point" this is done by the read/write heads skating from one side of drive to the other and back at very high speed all whilst the discs are spinning up from nothing to 10000rpm in some cases in a couple of seconds, stress and double stress&#33;&#33; all electronic chips and processors like to run warm to hot ( amd&#39;s to darn hot) and cooling and re heating them etc will shorten there lifespan (which is what intel and amd want you to do so you will buy another&#33;), keep ya pc clean and dust free with plenty of air circulation, clean ya fans etc with a can of "air", if you overclock fit bigger cooling fans or kill ya pc, common sense really. the light bulb reference was a damn good example by the way....there you go, not to technical i hope&#33;&#33;? have a cool day yawll

ps... a message to AMD.. stop overclocking your ancient athlons to silly heights and actually design a new chip to beat the P4.. nuff said

[Amarjit]

ps... a message to AMD.. stop overclocking your ancient athlons to silly heights and actually design a new chip to beat the P4.. nuff said

Yeah, I second that. AMD can&#39;t match the speed of a 3.06GHz Xeon without having to overclock a Athlon XP 2400+, whatever the f*** that is :rolleyes:, why couldn&#39;t they identify their clock speeds with GigaHertz like everyone else does, their "attempt to outsmart Intel" turned out to be an act of stupidity ... :lol:

[krome]

false, look at ur Electric company bill :P~~

[boyzeee]

i build and repair pc&#39;s in my spare time and i gotta say people that rarely do i get an intel based pc thats a processor fault, usually mobo or configuration issues or that wonderful piece of software called windows, AMD based units on the other hand i&#39;d say 3 out 10 its the chip burnt out, XP2.0 being the main culprit but time will tell on 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 etc etc, i see me retiring early.....hmmmmm i change my mind....BUY AMD&#39;S BUY BUY BUY :D

[[B][O][T]]

I never shut down My PC, only re-boot after installing new software et cetera....and ofcourse when windows crash.

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