Touch the Future Now at Staples
Desktops: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad
Re:Re:Re:Leave the computer on
by John Coltrane - 5/4/04 6:23 AM In reply to: Re:Re:Leave the computer on by eric.dRUN!!! Hit the OFF button!!! (Imagaine 3 am in the morning, dead asleep!)
Haha, beeen there. Dust caked up between the CPU fan and heatsink, blocking air from getting to the heatsink fins.
Lesson: Always keep the bevel with the air filter, ON!!
Took me weeks to figure out what the problem was, as there was no significant dust buildup in the case. Thoroughly cleaned the case anyway, and the heaksink/fan. The alarm still kept going off, the cpu temp was astronomical.
Finally, took the fan/heatink combo (Swiftech MCA 462 A with a Delta 80mm fan) apart and discovered the buildup, which *wasn't* noticeable otherwise. Something to keep in mind when you have a very powerful CPU fan.
Re:Leave the computer on
by jely - 11/26/04 4:44 AM In reply to: Re:Leave the computer on by jlmartinI have an AMD Athlon chip and the computer is left on 24/7. It's been running for well over a year now with no problems. The only time the chip temp goes up is when I'm rendering in graphics programs which is pretty much constant when I'm on the computer. The chips are built to withstand the heat though and I've never had any problems with it. AMD's do not tend to overheat in a well ventilated case 
Re:Leave the computer on
by Balastrea - 4/19/04 3:52 PM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppI say leave it on. I had a friend once tell me that it is simmilar to starting your car. Every time you start it up it creates more wear and tear.
Now on the other hand if you plan to leave town for a few days I would say to turn it off.
Balastrea
Re:Leave the computer on
by wgjconsulting - 4/19/04 4:46 PM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppThis is really an issue of time versus money. Is your time spent in waiting for the computer to boot up worth the cost of electric energy to allow the unit to maintain an "on" status. Energy Management settings help, but your still burning kilowatthours. The decision is yours: Pay with your time or Pay with your Electric Bill
Re:Leave the computer on
by Larsen1952 - 4/19/04 7:38 PM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppI have been servicing upgrading and building PC sense the days of the TRASH-80 model 1 and over that time my experence has been that hard drives last their longest if left on.
With the hard drive being the most important part of the system every effort must be taken to prolong its life and the data contained on it.
As my older drives out live their usefullness because of size they become boot drives and containe the operating system only so when Windows crashes it does not take everything with it.
By doing this I still have working 10 MB MFM hard drives.
As for dust a 6 month shutdown is a good idea for general cleaning and fan replacement, fans die all to often and are the biggest cause of system failure.
Once a year pulling all cards: ISA, PCI and so on will help keep the connections clean. Yes I know gold is non-corrosive but that's only found in some edge connectors and not always in the slots. I could write 10 pages about cheap slots and cards.
My point is KEEP IT ON and save the hard drive.
LL
Re:Leave the computer on
by salahqpp - 4/22/04 3:57 AM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppI leave my computer ON. however, I turn the monitor OFF both for power saving and monitor life saving. There are no moving parts in the monitor, but it is the major power consumer in the computer system, specialy if it is a CRT type.
Re: Leave the computer on
by Michael00360 - 11/26/04 7:03 AM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppThe only problem with leaving the computer on is that it is more subject to power surges, spikes, and sages. Even if you have a good UPS system protecting your computer, I think that you should turn your computer off.
Re: Leave the computer on
by donoghue - 11/26/04 5:08 PM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppI like to be environmentally friendly and turn it off. I have had no problems doing this with this or previous computers (one of which still gets used and is part of a network).
Derek
Re: Leave the computer on,wrong
by Ldans - 11/27/04 8:34 AM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppWell I guess nobody is going to tell you,but I will.Remember one thing,your hard-drive will only last for so much time as described,hours.That little motor still keeeps on going unless you shut down the hard-drive thru windows in sleep mode.I have my drives last me a long time by shutting down all the time,Im not big bussiness where if one goes down its no big deal.Think about it.
Re: Leave the computer on,wrong
by Ldans - 11/27/04 8:49 AM In reply to: Re: Leave the computer on,wrong by LdansRead Doughboys technical facts as he pretty much explains the way it is.Ijust skimed the top of things that can happen.
Turn PowerPC Macs off
by Alegoo92 - 1/15/07 6:17 PM In reply to: Leave the computer on by bjuppI do the same thing as you, leaving it on for 7-9 days before turning it off. I notice that near the end of that week the mac performs much more slowly and applications like Garageband or Safari are much more likely to freeze.
So because of that Ive decided to leave my computer on for 4-5 days max, and I use iStat nano to track my uptime.
Re:Re:
by Samscat - 4/18/04 8:45 PM In reply to: Re: by rocks3906I leave my PC on and connected to the Internet and have a dedicated 'phone line for that purpose. Also, the United Devices program for which I volunteer can access the server to upload results of computations and download new problems. The project at the moment is Cancer Research, Phase II. It alternates between that and Smallpox and Anthrax research.
Re:Re:Re:
by mehmetadumlu - 4/18/04 10:36 PM In reply to: Re:Re: by Samscatwell i have a cable connection and when i am at work and during night i leave my computer on. i am constantly downloading something like movies, software etc. to take the most out of my 24 hour connection.
Re: The age-old question of powering off.
by Dear Old Dad - 11/27/04 11:55 AM In reply to: Re: by rocks3906This discussion has been going on since the PC first became popular, and this won't be the end of it. I agree with Rocks3906, shut it down.
Disk drives are electro-mechanical devices and the wear on the bearings is minimal, but why waste it? Solid-state devices are less likely to fail, so I say preserve the moving parts (drives and fans), by powering off when not in use.
At the very least, turn off the CRT, those take the most juice, and unattended, don't need to waste the power.
If you're not running a server or hosting a web page, I say turn it off.
Dear Old Dad
Re: The age-old question of powering off.
by accelect - 11/27/04 2:30 PM In reply to: Re: The age-old question of powering off. by Dear Old Dadi have been to Tech schools, have a BA in repair, troubleshooting etc, from MSU tech. Many years of hands on experience with hundreds of systems, and now own my own company building and selling, repairing and upgrading hundreds of systems per month.
At home i have five systems. two of which are old desktops, Compaq in nature. They only turn off when the power on my block goes out. All original ram, hard drives, everything. I have one system that is 2 years old. Dual hd's, top notch vid card, lights, 600 watt ps (cheapy too), all original, and never is turned off. Two newset are Athlon 64 based with Asus boards, 6800 ultra vid cards, 3 gigs of ram, etc etc... and are only rebooted after installing a game or something. I have fan controllers that max out all the fans, and there are 4, 4 cathodes,, 6 leds, and i have to say i have never experienced problems with these machines. I have replaced for customers, several cpus, boards and power supplies that died from power surges and things like that, but they also said they never left theirs on all the time as well.
In classes in College, our systems were on all day, and shut down each night. Them computers were problemsome.
So in my 15 plus years of experience with thousands of customers, my own machines, i find that more problems occur when the sytems are shut down.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
