Will keeping comp on 24/7 KILL it faster?

[GrefMofovich]

I've heard two theories about this. One is that the spinning up of hard disks, etc (ok mostly hard disks) shortens the life of a computer. Also possibly the repetitive heating + cooling down sometimes 5-6 times a day can wreak some havok...

The other theory is the one I subscribe to, which is the less hours you log, the better off you are and I'm not talking about the social life here.

What do y'all think?


Watch what your saying, we prefer to keep this place clean, check the sticky on profanity above to get an idea on what we mean, means no inferences as well.

[rangeral]

Try the search feature here, we just went thru this discussion should be able to get opinions from everybody here in the most recent one and last I looked everybody is still here.

[Sterling_Aug]

No.

[CompGeek01]

What Sterling_Aug said.

[Vampiel]

Probobly not, but you'll pay more for electricity.

[GrefMofovich]

I was talking about the computer!! Nobody digs my humor.

I found the other thread http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthre...=shut+down+day
My bad, but actually the first terms I searched for didn't find it and I probably woulda given up then. me = lazy!

[causticVapor]

Staunch anti-turnoff activist here. I'm a folder, that explains a lot

Did you also know that the need for sleep came about to prevent mammals from expending too much energy and becoming vulnerable to prey at night? i.e. it's not absolutely necessary for the maintenance of an individual, just an evolutionary requirement.

Carrier-based aircraft eventually have to be mothballed sooner than others. because of hairline cracks resulting from sudden catapult takeoffs and harsh landings.

Think HDD, think aircraft carrier. Spin down/spin up... click, click, click...

as opposed to staying on and doing something useful.

[bob05]

I am one of the few here who turn off my computer at night. I just like clearing out all the cobwebs from the day before, so when I turn it on the next day it's fresh and ready to go.

[BuildItYourself]

I shut mine down too. What's the point of leaving it on all night if i'm not using it, especially since it's wasting electricity, sucking in more dirt that ever, and I do belive that leaving it on all day shortens the life of fans and the hdd. They do use electric motors, you know.

[Sterling_Aug]

I leave mine on so I can pump out SETI units.

No good point in losing all that time when I can crunch for the sysopt.com team.

[genesound]

The only harm i can see in leaving them on as i do 24/7 is they get full of dust more quickly and need to be cleaned out more often.

[lptech]

GrefMofovich-

Leaving your computer on 24/7 does not necessarily shorten the life of the computer. Turning-on and turning-off has more probability of doing so since the electronic components are subjected to minor surges when you first bootup the system. In time, it will eventually degrade certain electronic components on the mobo, FDD, HDD, Optical Drives, etc.

Of course, leaving it on 24/7 does give you a higher electric bill. You have to remember that servers run 24/7 for several years in most cases as long as proper cleaning and maintenance is followed to keep it running longer. As long as you don't use it 24/7 then I don't see why you'd keep it on 24/7 unless you access it remotely.

The other thing to consider is the quality of the components used to build your system. That does affect the overall longevity of the system. As the saying goes, "its only as good as the weakest component used to build the system."

LPTECH

[Aznmask]

my pc is 24/7.. for couple day..then i have to shut it down. Then couple hr later i turn it back on.

[RamonGTP]

Everone has their own opinions on what wears down a computer faster. Fact of the matter is there is no appreciably difference either way. That said, I turn mine off becuase I get more benifits of it being off.

Life span is not going to change either way, so its a draw there. However turning it off keeps the system cleaner a LOT longer, adds less heat to the room, especially now. Room is quieter, electricity bill is less. Unless you're running some type of DC project, the only advantage to leaving your PC on is that you don't have to concern yourself with boot times. But mine boots fairly quickly so i'm not too concerned with that.

[CaptHandsome]

Originally posted by Aznmask
my pc is 24/7.. for couple day..then i have to shut it down. Then couple hr later i turn it back on.

I do the same thing. I think its good to leave it on for a 4-5 days, then turn it off for a night. Give the ol rig a night to rest. Not switching it daily, but not 24/7....more like 24/5.