0 or 1?

[mgordon99]

I realize that there are probably people on both sides of this issue. Is it better to leave your computer running 24/7? Or turn it off every night, when not in use?

I am asking this because I used to shut mine down at night, until I joined the RC5 effort, and now leave it on 24/7 for obvious reasons.

So is it harder on the system components when powering up and down on a daily basis? Will it shorten the life of the components?

Or Will leaving it on all the time do this?

[plucky duck]

Save the planet, save your wallet, and energy conservation. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Plucky

[seti]

I've left mine on for the past 2 years without problems. I've shut it off the times I've been away for over 2 days.

[happyhamster]

I think it's been proven that frequent power up-down stresses are worse for the hardware than continuous operation. Computers are designed to work 24/7 to begin with. Also, most modern computers have stuff like AMP, so they save as much energy as possible while still working. Just make sure that your monitors turns off, and let the system block run.

[Wiz]

i keep it running, it gives my computer reason. =]

[wtp]

YES THAT'S RIGHT, I LEAVE MINE ON SOMETIMES A WHOLE DAY, OVERNIGHT DL, AND IN THE AFTERNOON, I GO ONLINE, THAT'S HOW MY LIFE IS, IN THE MORNING I DL TOO.. HEHEHEHEHE

[Ed_S]

For years I left mine run except for maintenance/ vacation/ thunder storms.

But two things happened in a short time. A friend had a frequent lockup problem with a P90. Turned out his fan had died. No harm done on his, but if MY o/c'd K6-2 did that, it'd kill it.

Then the big one. I fried a PS bad enough to trip a breaker Actually threw sparks. Somehow, nothing damaged besides the PS. Freak occurence, probably never happen again. But this made me think - do I really care enough about stressing my hardware to risk the HOUSE??

I shut 'em down. Every night. Rare exceptions.

Ed

[reddog4629]

Both of mine run 24/7 and have been for over a year now. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[smokin1]

All of mine are on 24/7...one has been on for years....I do have the monitors power down though...no problems.
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[BEOR999]

I say if not in use for 6 hours or more, then power it off http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Morpheus1964]

My 8088 ran for 14 years, only powering down when necessary, but mostly soft reboots. The Seagate 20M HDD finally augered in last month. My 386 has been on for about 6 years now (i got it used). My P166 Linux box has been up................271 Days, 17 Hours, 11 Minutes, 41 Seconds as of just now. And aside from shutdowns to ad hardware or remove software <G>, this computer's been on for about a year. My proxy server has been up for about 3 months w/out a hard reboot. My 200 (orig. P120) has been up as much as possible for most of 4 years...

I think the 300 is the only computer that spends any appreciable amount of time turned OFF <g> .... If only hardware was as difficult to destroy now as it was in the days of the MFM hard drive, though, eh??

[krusty the klown]

Considering that the energy used by all of the satellite boxes on standby in America amount to the electricity generated by one entire power station and that a computer will use considerably more electricity than a satellite decoder box, do we not think that far too much pollution is already being generated??

We are currently consuming the Earth's resources at an unsustainable rate and simply being able to afford to needlessly pollute is no excuse for doing so.

What next? Leave the oven on just in case you want to warm some buns up? Leave the car engine running just in case you fancy a trip to the shops??

We should all try and make an effort to reduce our energy consumption. This will not only make the world a more pleasant place for us to live in, but also for our future generations. I defy anyone to look at pictures taken of this planet from space and say that they are not stunningly beautiful. Yet when we see some of the hellbound attempts to totally *"$% the place up, it can only leave you wandering whether there is any intelligent life on this planet.

There's my £0.02 http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[NoCtrl]

Yeah, OK but how am I gonna crack RC5 code 24/7 with my computer off?

It was once predicted that at the pace we were going NYC would be neck deep in tobacco spit and horse dung. Things change. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[jad1097]

24/7

Except for storms, then everything gets unpluged. I also have the monitor shut down if not used for an hour.

[Szech]

If I know I'm going to use my computer in the next hour, I'll leave it on. Within the next three hours, I'll put it on standby until then, and anything more than that, I'll just shut down. In my MCSE training, it said that a server should be left on 24/7 for stability purposes (and to prevent chip creep), but my logic is this: I'm not a server, Processors and components are designed to take booting, I don't spend -THAT- much time on my computer, I don't tax my computer the whole time I use it, and lastly, I always fear opening the edison envelope. I've always done this with my computers, and I've never had any problems, so I will continue doing this until I do have a problem.

[wyvrn]

I have never blown a machine by turning it off after use. That being said, I sill leave one of them on all the time because so many people use it. With the proper power settings, an unused pc will consume relatively very little power.

[krusty the klown]

OK, this may offend / upset some people.

Shame.

Why bother cracking RC5 or running SETI? cos you may as well put your computer to some (good) use while it's sitting idle...Fine. But if you do this just so you can say you've run X number of units and have to leave your computer switched on 24/7 to do this when you use the thing for a fraction of the time........

Well, hey... sod the global warming, sod the irreplaceable resources that are being consumed nad go for it! Why not? You're probably going to be dead before the planet's *(%!ed, so why not?

(Oh dear)

If there's a genuine reason for running a PC 24/7 and in the time that the machine's sat idle, you may as well put it to some good use, but if it's just to clock up figures........ just run that reasoning by me again http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[Warthog]

What the hell is RC5????

[alpha]

If I'd left my system on when my PSU went, it would have caught fire. The HDD powerleads got burningly hot. It's crisped two boards.

[Amarok]

Well lets see..... leave mine on all the time... only time it is not on is when I am rebooting after the install of a program.

As for energy savings.... most of the electricty is produced with renewable resources... hydro-eletric power.... The province I live in ships alot of it to the states as we have more than enough to supply our own needs. So how is that going to create any greenhouse effect? A computer as well as a light bulb in theory consumes more power when you turn it on than leaving it running for a few hours.

So.... if I turn it off every time I leave it I would be consuming even more electricty than before. Btw all the lights here are full spectrum florecents. The monitor turns off after 20 min of inactivity.

Just my opinion.

Amarok

[seti]

krusty the klown

Well, hey... sod the global warming, sod the irreplaceable resources that are being consumed nad go for it! Why not? You're probably going to be dead before the planet's *(%!ed, so why not?

I can't ***edit, i wrote "can" opps! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif*** speak for everywhere in the world...but all of my electricity comes from hydro, and even a little wind. Both of which are in fact renewable resources. Though I don't agree that the localized ecological impacts of some mega damns are worth it.

Amarok, have you been out to Three Sisters ****? It's nice country around there. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif (ex winterpegger...st.vital)


[This message has been edited by seti (edited 04-07-2000).]

[mgordon99]

I see what you are saying krusty, but someone keeping their computer on 24/7 is more of an individual choice isn’t it? Millions and millions of people make choices like that every day, 24/7. It doesn’t matter if it is a computer, television, stereo, motor vehicle, light, etc…

Everything as a whole causes the pollution, not some guy who wants to crunch numbers 24/7 on his computer. I don’t think that you can delay the eventual destruction of the planet by turning a computer off when not in use. Even if it could be done, it would be very fractional and futile.

I do commend your personal commitment to the preservation of our world. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[socalgal]

Ahh! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif


RC5 (http://www.sysopt.com/rc5team.html)


Also, visit our Distributed Computing forum!

Lots o' fun... and a good cause. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

(Looks like my almost new-from-RMA WD 22500 may have taken a nosedive.. taking blocks with it http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif )

[Mntsnow]

Noooooooo Socalgal http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

Bet next time you buy a maxtor or ibm huh? lol j/k

I hope you can resurect that pupply long enought to get your stuff off of there!

Mntsnow

[Warthog]

Ok. Thanks Socalgal. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Warthog

[krusty the klown]

Ahhh, I was looking foreward to the replies http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif Been away on an exciting holiday learning about diesel engine emissions. Beats working, anyway!

Of course one person leaving their computer on 24/7 is not going to contribute significantly to global warming. Nor is one satellite decoder box left on standby, like one person taking a 1 mile trip in their car won't significantly deteriorate the air quality and one person throwing their glass bottles in the bin won't make the land-fill waste site noticeably bigger. Only there are quite a lot of us and if lots of people all make little changes, the net result is noticeable and worthwhile.

Unfortunately, we can't have our cake and eat it: stuff a catalyst on a car exhaust and emissions are reduced but fuel consumption increases, flood a valley for hydro-electric power and there's no coal burnt, but the rotting vegetation underneath the water releases methane gas (a greenhouse gas). These compromises will always exist - it is hard to consume and not pollute. The only effective way is to not consume, or at least make an effort to reduce consumption....

[mgordon99]

but the rotting vegetation underneath the water releases methane gas (a greenhouse gas)

Are you saying that my excessive flatulence has contributed to global warming? http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[krusty the klown]

More than likely!! stay away from those beans http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

I'm sure the figure for the amount of methane generated by a cow was actually calculated once (it is a large amount!). How they discovered this information is...... Mmmmm best not think about it http://www.sysopt.com/forum/redface.gif

[ytay]

mine is on all the time until the girlfriend gets home http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[mgordon99]

Your computer or flatulence?

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif