Shut Down Nightly vs 24/7 Studies?

jack1953 · 06 Feb 2012

Hey all,

I know I can be ad nauseum with this, but before I ask my question I just want, AGAIN

to thank everyone here and the originators of this forum. The information has been priceless for someone who is just starting out with Windows 7 like myself.

Does anyone know of any true, experimental, apples to apples, studies that have been done, that would show any evidence whether or not shutting down a computer daily is better or worse than leaving it on and rebooting once a week or so?

I've read the threads here and although there seems to be more in favor of a nightly shut down, there still doesn't seem to be any factual evidence one way or the other.

From my own personal experience, I got 8 years out of a Dell PC with Windows XP, by shutting down at night, but I was just curious if MS or any other reputible outfit, has done an experiment/study thereof?

Thanks again,

Jack

bigmck · 06 Feb 2012

I've read the threads here and although there seems to be more in favor of a nightly shut down, there still doesn't seem to be any factual evidence one way or the other.

Thanks again,

Jack[/QUOTE]

I don't know of any studies on this, but despite what you said above, I believe most folks on here leave their PC on all the time. I shut down maybe once a week just to reboot but otherwise it is on all the time.

richc46 · 06 Feb 2012

Many in the know, here, feel that a nightly shutdown is the way to go.
Shutting down and restarting laptop

Hopalong X · 06 Feb 2012

Electronics hardware only has so many hours of life.

I shut mine down.
My sleep and hibernate are disabled.

If sleep and hibernate are available then that would be an option but I still prefer off.

richnrockville · 06 Feb 2012

Jack1953, My recommendation is to shut down if your not going to be using it for a while. Especially any laptops.
Leaving the computer on allows the fans to keep sucking in dust which over time could impede the heat sink on your processor. This is not good.

Just my opinion.

Rich

spleener · 06 Feb 2012

WARNING/DISCLAIMER : the following is purely anecdotal evidence (sorry to not adhere to your very respectable request for factual information.

) Oh, and this applies to the situation of not utilizing sleep or hibernation.

Leaving computer on 24/7:
1) squanders electricity
2) leads to more dust build up since air is circulating in the case

Besides, it's quite satisfying to watch a system boot off an SSD! Hehe.

bigmck · 06 Feb 2012

I am shocked............I would have bet the house that 95% of you guys leave it on all the time. Well that just "shows to go ya" that when someone knows everything (as I do), that they can even be wrong.

jack1953 · 06 Feb 2012

spleener said:

WARNING/DISCLAIMER : the following is purely anecdotal evidence (sorry to not adhere to your very respectable request for factual information.

) Oh, and this applies to the situation of not utilizing sleep or hibernation.

Leaving computer on 24/7:
1) squanders electricity
2) leads to more dust build up since air is circulating in the case

Besides, it's quite satisfying to watch a system boot off an SSD! Hehe.

spleener,,

never had any experience with an SSD. For the sake of not hijacking this thread, can you PM me your reviews of the SSD?

jack

JimLewandowski · 06 Feb 2012

I favor the environment over my own desires. However, with that said, for all I know, a reboot once a week will use more watts than leaving it on all the time......

I turn mine off every single night and mght have only accidentally left it on overnight a few times over the past 15 years.

fseal · 06 Feb 2012

Hehehe

yeah, I've never seen a real study that studied if the power surge of a power on cycle does more damage over time than leaving it on... One thing about leaving it on that does shorten it's life is power surges from storms. I've lost more equipment to that than anything else. (Course that's hat surge protectors are supposed to help... maybe).

But in the end, especially these days, it all comes down to power use. Electricity = $$ and in some cases it's significant. If a machine NEEDS to be on 24/7 then it should be left on 24/7, if it doesn't then it shouldn't. :) Not to mention tha anti-greenness of just plain pure power waste which we should all feel a bit bad about (Till fusion is all up and running I guess).

I've got 8 active machines in my house, if I left them all on 24/7 it'd break me

As it is there are only two, a WHS (server) of mine and a linux server of my wife's and I wish we could agree on getting hat down to one, but oh well. That alone probably costs us about $30 a month or more.