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Do you keep your computer powered on all the time ?

I selected "only powered on when using the computer" for my home use. At work is a whole different story, this sucker stays on all day and only gets a rest at night.

I always leave mine on at home and at work, desktops that is. My laptops I pretty much power off after the days use. I kinda believe that the heating and cooling effects of the internals, will shorten their life span with repeated turning on and off of the computer. Plus I've always heard that the power surge through the circuits shortens life. But regardless, whatever the case. I'm just lazy and leave my desktops booted up all the time. That is the real reason!

I leave my C2D system, my G4 Tower, and my Powerbook G4 on 24/7. The only time they get shut down is if I'm going to be away for longer than a weekend. My A64, and Pentium D system get only turned on when they are going to be used. Normally I'd be cautious about a laptop being on all the time, but when it isn't under load it runs very cool.

My X1900GT GPU overheats no matter what application it's processing, including Explorer. So I power it off almost every night. The only reason it's not powered off during the day is because I use it all day.

Hibernate every night.
Restart occasionally to flush things out.

I have 2 PC's that is always on. A 3rd that is on most of the time, and may be adding a 4th.

One has a DVR card for cameras and records 24/7 (motion record)
2nd PC has DVB satellite card and it is used as my tv and PVR.

Then I have another PC that is on most of the time, to do overnight video encoding and torrent downloading.

I have another PC that I want to use as a media/file server, which would also be "always on".

Anyone have some info on how to figure out how much it is costing me per year in electricity?

Only time my pc is off is when im changing something out or it crashes from tweaking.

rusta - get one of those kill-a-watt devices for around $20, plug your machine in through that (temporarly) and see how much current you are drawing. Then look at your utility bill to figure out how much you pay per killowatt-hour. Hope you can figure out how to do the rest from there.

mine has been turned off for maybe 72 hrs out of the 5 years ive had it, if i find it off i go off my head i hate it being off but i think it might be one of the reasons its completely screwed im actually off tomorow morning to get a new one since no one was able to help me with this lil prob from a omnivision web cam (ov519vid.sys) causing my comp to crash at times last day nd a half

I cant afford to keep 3 PCs powered on 24-7 haha.

I usually just hibernate them if im not using them.

my workstations (2 of them, 1 at work at 1 at home) are on 24/7, even if I am not in town or on vacation.

My fileserver remains on 24/7 as well


Other machines, such as my performance machine, media center, guest PC, etc, are on only when they are being used.

And of course, all of my machines get conditioned power from a UPS and use some form of RAID

Thanks SNGX1275 , I'll give it it shot

My computer "sleeps" while I'm not using it. I use s3/str standby state, so it's silent when sleeping, but resumes instantly. It gets turned off when M$ updates or software mandate a restart, or if I'm upgrading or overclocking. On computers I use less, I turn them off when I'm not using them.

It's not a simple yes or no answer as it depends on what the comp is used for, how many times per day and how long each time. I advise my customers not to power cycle their comps more than twice a day of it's sued every day. OTOH, if it's infrequently used, say not for a few days but then 4 times on day, then turn it off each time. So long as you're not power cycling more than twice a day on average, it's safe to do it. Otherwise, just leave it on.

As far as wear and tear go, electronics are designed for continuous use. Leaving a comp on all the time is hardly anymore wear than leaving it off most of the time. I know this because I'm also an engineer. What does cause wear and tear is powering on or off. That stresses the electronics. Certain devices, namely capacitors, store charge. When you power up, they charge. When you power off, they discharge. Most hardware failures happen during power on or off. Of the rest, it commonly happens when there's a power spike of some kind (electrical surge.) The rest are due to age. As far as being left running continuously, there is little wear on electronics.

I have five on always at 100% CPU load folding. My x1900xt was folding too until last week when I switched over to the new SMP client.

I have a desktop and laptop. My desktop is left on most of the time, however if something goes wrong etc, or i think computer isn't acting perfectly then i restart.

In terms of the laptop, when i was at university i usually turned it off at nights or put it on standby. When i am at home it usually stays off.

My main PC in my bedroom is powered on for 14-16 hours per day.

Boot it up at 8:00 - 10:00 AM, shutdown at around 12:00AM.

My laptop is only on when I'm using it, which is usually while I'm sitting in the living room, in front of the TV (since I don't have a TV in my bedroom).

Can't keep the laptop on for too long because the hard drive gets hot.

Hmm, standby for the win ;D !

This big Alien Ware PC stays on always. It goes into sleep mode after 20 min. of no usage. One reason is the power button is "touchy" another is I use it freq. for long periods of time. Haven't noticed much increase in electric bill so will continue.