Desktops forum: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad

I have been responsible to literally thousands of PC's over the years and my experiences have taught me that computers fail at power on more often than while running. I do believe that you still need to restart any non-server Windows based system PCs everyday for optinum performace.

Note that an electric bulb also fails when it is turned on. But I think you have to look on how many yeas your computer lives when it's always on and how many years, when it's turned off when not needed. In both cases the MTBF is longer than you would keep your computer, so save the money you use to power and buy a new computer when it fails.

I don't think there is much electricity wasted by leaving it on all the time. Security is important if you are connected by broadband to the internet. Performance will degrade if the computer is not rebooted daily.

I agree 100%. My WinXP Pro system hasn't been rebooted for the past 3 and a half weeks and it's still running as though I just started it. I use it for numerous tasks including playing very intense 3D games. Nothing seems to break this system down.

I also agree with what someone else here said that most failures occur at startup rather than while running.

Here's a little food for thought. Motherboards, video cards and some other PCI cards have very power-hungry capacitors on them. Capacitors draw a fairly large amount of current initially so that they can get charged up, but after that they don't use any more than anything else in the system. Also, devices like hard drives and fans are the same way; they draw quite a bit of current to get up and running but once they're running, they have a pretty steady current draw. And what has to deal with this initial excessive current draw? The power supply of course. That is why people always recommend that you buy a good/high quality power supply and not to skimp. When power supplies start to fail they can cause all sorts of weird things to happen to your system which can lead ANY experienced technician to thinik that it's your RAM going bad, or your CPU, or your hard drive, or even your motherboard! This can be very costly if you replace one of these items and it doesn't fix the problem.

Also, the power supply is not the only part subjected to stress. Pretty much all of the mechanical parts in the system, which would be the hard drives and fans, are prone to it. And of course the normal wear and tear.

My suggestion is to turn the computer on in the morning and then off in the night. There really isn't much reason to have it running all thru the night unless you have some kind of server running on it, like a webserver or a fileserver.

I think you mean Windows degrades if not rebooted everyday.

Powering off is good and bad. Semiconductors do have a finite life. They degrade when powered up, degredation is accelerated by heat and radiation. Therfore turning it off is a good thing.

It used to be 90%, but now with better designed power supplies, probably 70% of the failures occur when turned off. Yes, off. You just don't know it until you try to turn it on. Every time you turn off the power switch, you are playing the odds.

It is a trade off. My rule of thumb is, if it is going to be idle for 8 hours or more. Turn it off, otherwise leave it on.

I turn mine off. I think it helps to reduce power usage.

I turn my 'puter off several times a day because it tends to overheat if I leave it on.

When was the last time you cleaned the interior of your machine. Overheating is a symptom of dirt clogged cooling fins/.passages/fans. It is only a matter of time until your computer will toast itself. Overheating is *not* normal.
Regards.
Ken.

... sounding like a jet.... speaking of which is it normal for a high powered computer (my son has the works in his with several fans) to sound so loud? My computers at work and the one I have at home are relatively quiet but his is really noisy. Just wondering if that's the trade off?

I personally leave my 3 computer runing 27/7. My primary XP machine run for over 2weeks without needing to restart it. My two other linux machines run different server application,http/ftp/irc/opennap/email/sql, etc. In a cold dry area where theres not too much of dust, computers can be on for years.
One of my box has this uptime:
12:01am up 345 days, 3:03, 9 users, load average: 0.15, 0.04, 0.01
and been runing 24/7 for the past 3 years. Had to restart it one year ago, and still going well, like my other one just before the hard drive died.
11:56pm up 242 days, 12:24, 2 users, load average: 0.39, 0.55, 0.43

Michel Morel
masternap.org

I worked in computer sales for Olivetti Business Machines some years back. The Olivetti computer technicians told me never to tell my customers this, but every time we power up a computer it spikes the board and components, dramatically shortening their life. A computer that stays on all the time apparently will last considerably longer than the warranty period, not something the manufacturers are particularly interested in. I was advised to leave my own computer on, as any power savings would be more than eaten up in repairs down the road.

I have personally read and heard the same: the more you turn it off/on the more it messes up your computer in the long run. I believe the mother board and the hard drive are what take the worst hits. Anyways, never had any personal experience with that. However, I know for a fact that laptops are NOT meant to be never turned off. Heh Anyways, interesting topic though.

For an older computer, I would turn it off when not in use for more than 5 hours. For newer computers though (made after y2k), with their better saving and handling of power, it's OK to leave them on. I have quite a few computers in my house, and most are never shut down except when it's too hot or hardware tinkering. All computers and parts will run down eventually. The fastest way I know of really shorten their life is overclocking. But even then, you'll upgrade long before it usually kicks in.

good point, bro.

I feel you are going down the wrong path...
If you are talking about an incandescent bulb with a filament there is no relationship to a power supply with transformers and diodes etc. Transformers can be turned off hundreds of times per minute as with alternating currnet and there is no problem. Solid state devices are only susceptible to overvoltages. That is why power supplies have built in voltage regulators.

I personally leave my computer on for convenience. I set the monitor to go to sleep after 10 minutes and leave the fan and hard drives run. I feel there is more damage to hard drives starting up than running all the time.

Lightning is another story...
when there is a storm in the area... PULL THE PLUG!!

Lightning never jumps from the wall to the plug...

In other words it really doesn't matter if you power off or not... Just enjoy your computer and don't sweat the small stuff.