Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

[OADesign]

I used to leave em on ALL the time. only rebooting when needed. But I have been helping some folks trim back on expenses in their stores. And one of the stores says she cliped a hundy or so of the top of her utilities just by shutting down the PCs in the shop. I was like WOW (or like Whoa: only a few will get that) But since I heard that I have been shutting all my stuff off when I'm not using it. And yes I have seen a bit of a drop in my electric bill.

I too hate to wait for the start up, but for the most part I keep my machine running lean so they get up quick. And to decrease the perceived wait time, i push the on button(s) then go put on a fresh pot of joe. By the time I get back I'm ready to go.

But what shutting down has help the most with is my addiction, to the net. If i don't shut down my machine when I'm headed out I will never get out. I will check my email once (twice) more. Or i will come back here to check for new posts etc. If i shut down I actually leave...

 

[Techman]

just use your sleep or hibernate functions.. That's what they were designed for..

 

[Pat Whatley]

Shop computers go into sleep mode after 15 minutes of inactivity. The main computer at the house stays up and running 24/7. It's only used as an internet browsing maching and dammit, when I need to look up some porn or a tasty oatmeal cookie recipe I don't have time to wait on some damn machine to crank up. If it burns up, wears out, short circuits, or just disappears I've got three other outdated, reformatted, ready to go internet machines just like it waiting to replace it.

 

[ryan6916]

Mines on 24/7. It might get shut down 1 night a week.

 

[Joe Diaz]

I'm a hibernate fan here. Saves energy, gives the hardware a break, yet you don't have to wait for lengthy boot ups and you can leave you programs up and going. At the end of the workday my virus scan kicks in and when it's done it puts the whole system into hibernate.

 

[Rodi]

I have kept my IMAC G5 on for so long, until this week. Strange thing happens now…it goes to sleep and does not come back. Happened same day as when I switched to a logitech mouse. Just Strange.

 

[The Big Squeegee]

My home computer is on 24/7 and shut down about once a week. The office computer is only on in the afternoon for filling orders.

We have a 10,000 square foot warehouse and the electric bill usually runs about $53/month. About $50 of that is delivery charges. I run equipment, lights and computer for less than $4/month in actual energy use.

 

[joeshaul]

Usually I let my monitor go into low power mode, but not my hard drives, had an issue where they wouldn't come back up after doing so on two separate occasions.

 

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

I have a pal who is a computer engineer at Lockheed Martin. He advised me to leave 'em on 24/7. Our oldest one (6YO dinosaur) has been left on its entire life. See no need to shut 'em down and wait for reboots. Do you?

 

[shadi75]

hi

I leave mine on 24/7 , but i built mine from the best parts i could get for the money, if you got a cheap pc a low end dell, hp .... . Those dont get proper cooling all of the parts are cramed togather, having them on too long will shorten there life span, but since we all upgrade every few years its no bigy.
I do sugest haveing an external hard drive that you store all of your important files on, in case your pc overheats and power supplie fries, that could take out your hard drive.

I do sugest having a computer case that has alot of cooling fans and a good powersupply, also a good cpu cooling fan is a good idea. Leaving a pc like that turned on 24/7 no problem . I only turn mine off once a while to blow and vacum out the dust inside of it, that should be done every six month.

 

[gtjet]

We do all of the bottom 3, sleep-monitor off-off on weekend

 

[iSign]

8 computers in my office:

1 owners (me) design station,
2 FT employee's design stations,
3 dedicated production machines (Edge, Mimaki, Multicam)
1 bookkeepers workstation
1 server

6 of them go off at the end of every shift they have been turned on for, although some don't get turned on on some days.

As for the other 2, my design station is 24/7 because I use remote access sevarl times a week, late at night, and early in the morning, to check stuff out, reply to emails, or get some work done from home.

The server runs auto backups each night, so it is a 24/7 machine (as is my Buffalo Nas where almost all the data being backed up resides.. the server couldn't handle that task as well for some elusive reason, but the Buffalo is a godsend - thanks to Casey)

 

[coyote]

Just for grins, we turn off the computer and all peripherals at night or if we are going to be gone for many hours. Just an experiment to see if it makes any difference in our electricity bills. It's a losing battle because every plug, power strip, appliance, battery charger, TV. anything with an LED display or "instant on" feature...they all are sucking power and $-

ever notice how quiet your house is during a power failure? No constant background hum.
C

 

[ddarlak]

ever notice how quiet your house is during a power failure? No constant background hum.

yea, its creepy.....

as far as computers, everyone on 24/7 as i have the patience of...... well i have no patience...

 

[Patco]

Yes

 

[ATXsigns]

Hard drives go into sleep modes BTW, they don't constantly spin.
All the other chips have extremely long lives. Very much more likely to go obsolete vs breakdown.

<<Microelectronics/Semiconductor Engineer.

 

[TheProfessor]

I shut mine down every night, but only because my work makes me. If it was up to me I would only shut it down once a week...

 

[briderx]

Alright.. Theory Time.. First: iSign.. You should set yours into sleep mode. Faster boot up and will save power just as well as turning them off.

Second: I will never turn a system off as long as I live. Every computer I have ever owned has been left on it's entire life and never had 1 problem with component failure. If a fan goes out, it's because you didn't dust it. That will cause problems, not power..

Think about it this way: your fans on your processor spin (fairly fast at times) to cool the processor.. Now, if you turn the power off on your system what happens? No fans spinning and processor heats before cooling... So, you are left with a processor that is SLIGHTLY overheating each time you turn your system off (unless you have a good enough heatsink that takes care of the heat).

As for comparing your computer to a car... That's kind of ridiculous to compare, as cars will last you 15-20 years. A computers average life time is about 2.5 years.. SO, if I was to know that my car was going to only last a couple years before I upgraded it, I can guarantee I'd beat on it pretty hard for those couple years..

Energy savings? about $100 MAX a year. I think that's exaggerating (I have no statistical proof, just word of mouth). Putting it into sleep mode will place the info into your memory which is still supplying a small amount of power (not enough to EVER notice) and will increase your boot times to a few seconds bootup.

If I come home and my computer is off, I actually get upset, as it's my media center and my NAS for my TV/Xbox 360 and modified Xbox (original).. Movie/music/game server.. <--- Geek

 

[MachServTech]

He told me with much conviction, do not leave your computer on all the time,

From a technical standpoint I agree. The biggest impact is on your electrical bill. The second biggest is the life of the power supply, hard drives and monitors.

I have my systems set to shut down at a particular time and start up at a particular time so its ready to go when I walk in the door.

 

[Mainframe]

I was comparing a computer to a car because cars are FULL of microprocessors nowadays, I have a Mac upstairs here that is 8 years old & runs like it is new, (it is shut down at the moment)

If you turn your power off on your processor it stops working so it will be cool, it won't burn up from shutting down-LOL

If sleep mode requires electricity, then it costs money, I would be happy if someone handed me a 100 dollar bill at the end of the year just for shutting my system down every night