When my brother stayed at home he had 4 servers and 2 desktops running 24/7 with a large 10KVA ups, firewalls, routers etc always on. Power bill was about €900 / 4 months. When he left and took all the hw with him, first bill was normal (2 months), next one was €600 credit
Now electricity is less than half than it used to be... Standby makes sense, especially with large gaming rigs etc.
Well Europe is one of the areas where electricity was hopelessly overpriced to start with and privatization as in the UK made things worse for a while.
I guess the whole idea is to use less electricity to save the planet. My current rig is twice as powerful as my old one but actually uses less power because it's much more efficient.
As improvments are made in how computers are made and components work, it hopefully can only get better.
I wont accept the emerging argument in soime quarters that says we should pay more for electricity in order to force us to cut down on its use. Sorry, that is simply a money grab, nothing to do with saving the planet.
It's certainly making things worse in Australia atm.
Couldn't agree more.I wont accept the emerging argument in some quarters that says we should pay more for electricity in order to force us to cut down on its use. Sorry, that is simply a money grab, nothing to do with saving the planet.
Ideologically, the idea has merit - were that the real intention - but ideology and reality are two separate entities with next to nothing in common.
It's simply gouging, no matter how much 'delusion dust' you sprinkle.
As for the topic, my sig rig gets turned off when not in use. Another low end machine runs 24/7.
I leave mine on 24/7 for the best reason of all - I want to.
Also, I have 5 SSDs, and if I shut down I'm afraid they'll feel unwanted, unloved, and unneeded.
"To hell with the trees, hug your cool SSDs."
Posted with all due respect to any and all opposing viewpoints.
For me: Off - Shutdown
a) Stability - after time open/running apps (including the OS) won't clean up the memory and the system will become unstable, hibernate/sleep can also contribute to this as well.
b) power consumption
c) noise while sleeping
Sorry but I leave mine on 24/7 too although it boots in a few seconds I like the fact that is instantly available :) I let my monitor go off after an hour though.
Steve
Me, I leave Prometheus on 24/7 because she also plays the role as media server for the Mede8er in the lounge.
And she's also busy 24/7 downloading digital tv shows (works out cheaper than sattelite tv, even though South Africa is the most expensive country in the world in terms of broadband internet - with the slowest lines too!)
Sleep works so well now that I like to have it sleep after 30 minutes then hibernate after a couple of hours.
This way if I walk away and come back to work quickly the desktop is back up quickly with a keystroke, or if I come back later, it takes just a few seconds longer to Power up and Resume.
This has gradually changed me from being an always-shut-down guy to letting the improved Power management in Win7 do it for me., One less thing to think about.
it depends on how much you use your machine. If you only use it for a few of hours a day, then turn it off. if you use it a lot more then keep it on.
I keep my main machine on 24/7 and my HTPC is on when I watch movies or need files from it, otherwise it is off.
Heat cycling is also hard on components shortening their life.
I agree with getting a Kill-A-Watt meter. I've seen them for about $20 at Radio Shack. They can record usage over a period of time to tell you on average what your computer is drawing. I've got a few low power linux boxes which only take about 62 watts when running...but gaming boxes that take 250+ watts when running.
So, with that device, you can determine your kwh draw of your computer and then compare to your power bill to see what power costs you. Generally in the US, the cost of power increases when you use more power. So, how much it really costs depends upon a variety of other things that you also run.
I think I calculated that my box would cost me about $14 monthly if I left it on 24x7.
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