Leave on or power down?

[fergiet]

Ignoring the electricity saving is it best to leave pc powered on or shut down at night?

I am using Win7 and just wondered what folks on here do?

 

[TheReaper]

My PC is always on, 'cause I download most of the time, don't see the point of turning it off for a couple of hours at night. You can always put it into hybernation or stand-by to cut down the electricity bill.

 

[Wallonn7]

Hi fergiet.
Unless you go to download, sell items on any online rpg game, or the like, is always a good idea to keep it off. Remember that much of the hardware compontents have life based on hours of use.

 

[mickey megabyte]

personally i like to have my machines off when i'm not using them for a few hours, especially overnight.

my ssd machine has a very quick reboot, and i would rather start afresh each day from a clean slate.

i only leave it on if i'm downloading a big file, or doing some serious number-crunching.

 

[DarkXeno]

Most of the time at night, im either downloading or doing some type of video rendering so I leave it on just have the screen power off after 30 minutes, and when I go to work I put the machine into hybernation so when i get home all my stuff is still open or where i left it.

 

[pparks1]

Electricity savings aside, I think it's best to turn it on and leave it on. It's much easier on the components to turn on, stay running, and not cycle on and off and heat and cool.

 

[severedsolo]

Electricity savings aside, I think it's best to turn it on and leave it on. It's much easier on the components to turn on, stay running, and not cycle on and off and heat and cool.

I would agree with that, and in truth, a PC that has clocked itself down when Idling (Speedstep, or Cool N Quiet) used hardly any power anyway. I have a pre-pay meter for my electricity, and the actual costs of electricity of my PC idling are next to none.

Every piece of hardware that has ever failed on me, has done so on a "shut down" "switch on" cycle.

 

[seavixen32]

I leave my box switched on all day and put it into Sleep mode when I go out, but I always switch off at night.

To date, I've never had a hardware failure, but perhaps I've just been lucky.

 

[Shadowjk]

I turn my Comp on in the Morning and then put it to sleep If I am not using it and then Shut down at night

Unless there is a certain reason why it should be on overnight I always turn off

Josh

 

[tw33k]

I put mine to sleep when I'm at work or in bed. I shut it down if I'm away for more than a day

 

[GeneO]

Hybrid sleep mode after 45 minutes of idle or when I am done for the day.

 

[Devux]

My tower is always on. Don't even reboot unless software or Windows updates dictate that I need to.

 

[Hopalong X]

I leave my box switched on all day and put it into Sleep mode when I go out, but I always switch off at night.

To date, I've never had a hardware failure, but perhaps I've just been lucky.

I turn my Comp on in the Morning and then put it to sleep If I am not using it and then Shut down at night

Unless there is a certain reason why it should be on overnight I always turn off

Josh

Ditto!

Power supplies can be good smoke makers and fire starters when they go.

They usually pop like a light bulb- poof- but not always.

OFF at night and when not home.

I like fire trucks when they are sitting in the firehouse!

 

[lffoar]

Turn it off when not in use. Do you leave your car idling when not going anywhere?

 

[noobvious]

When I leave the house, or go to bed, I put the computer to sleep....if I was going to be gone for more than a day, I would shut it down. Unlike some people though, when I put it to sleep, I close all programs too.....unless I am just running to the grocery store or something.
I'll do a shutdown every week or so, or when updates call for a reboot.

 

[gregrocker]

I ilke the WIn7 default power settings, with hibernate turned on.

I like to be able to walk away and not have to think about coming back to save my work. After 30 minutes it goes to sleep which can be awakened with a mouse shake or Enter, then awhile after that it saves everything on the desktop to hard drive and Hibernates. This is a shut down but powers up much faster and with everything just like you left it on desktop.

 

[fergiet]

Many thanks for all the replies.

 

[smarteyeball]

I put mine to sleep when I'm at work or in bed. I shut it down if I'm away for more than a day

I do the same for my sig rig.

I've grown accustomed to being back in business in 3 secs vs the 40 odd seconds from a cold boot.


My other machine however is 24/7 that only gets turned off during maintenance or electrical storms.

There's pros and cons to each.