Is Sleep Mode Dangerous?

Hey All,

I just built a mini ITX HTPC in a silverstone sg06 case (Zotac H55 ITX MOBO, 4GB DDR3 Ram, 32GB SSD, and intel i3 built in intel HD graphics)

All works fine and I am very happy with it. I am using XBMC for my media program and I have the Logitech Dinovo Mini Wireless keyboard.. I use the SLEEP button when I am done watching a movie and when I want to watch a movie "lets say in a few days" I quickly press any button and instantly I am in XBMC again with my movies list..

Is this dangerous? Does it use alot of power? IS it dangerous to leave pc on stancby overnight..? Is it harmfull for the hardware.. ?

I have been reading mixed reviews.. please can someone clear this up for me..

Many Thanks. :)

I would strongly doubt it. If you you want to save energy when not using the computer, I would advice you to use "dynamic voltage and frequency scaling" in your BIOS settings, usually "DVFS". It pretty much uses the amount of power that the task requires for the CPU. Meaning when you don't use your PC, there wouldn't be as much of a power drain when using your PC.

I have been using this mode for more than a month, and haven't noticed any difference in performance. As long as your PC is cool, and doesn't overheat, the hardware may be safe from harm.

Overall, I don't think it's harmful in any way.

severedsolo said:

I agree with Skulblaka. It isn't dangerous at all Many People use sleep rather than shutdown because they can resume quicker.

The only "dangerous" thing is if you have a power cut, you lose everything that wasn't saved. However Windows 7 has something called "Hybrid Sleep" that will save your data to the hard drive before sleeping (this is why it seems to take forever to sleep) so it can resume safely in the event of power failure.

Oh and on Intel CPU's DVFS is called Speedstep I believe

The name varies among CPU's. I'll confirm that, it is called SpeedStep on Intel CPU's.

severedsolo said:

On the subject of SpeedStep/DVFS If you use it, Don't set your Power Plan to High Peformance. Leave it on Balanced. Otherwise Windows will override the settings.

Thanks for the tip.

thanks for all your help guys .. I will check the zotac H55 WIFI ITX mobo if it has speedstep and if it has I will enable it and make sure my power is on Balanced .. :)

Thanks for your support.