master_mood
Posts: 24 +0
i plan to leave my computer on for a couple of days.... how long is it safe to let your computer run? are there any side effects for prolonged usage of the pc without switching it off?
How long is it safe to let your computer run?
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fastco
Posts: 1,075 +1
There are good and bad to both. If you leave it on it gets very hot especially in the summer and needs to be in a cool location. It burns about as much electricity as a 100 watt bulb. If you turn it on and off you are wearing out (slowly) the on/off button and when it's cold stressing the hard drive which has to spin up and warm up every time you turn it on. Personal preference really. Unless you are concerned about the possibility of starting a fire.
AMDIsTheBest010
Posts: 359 +0
i would choose the hibernate option, b/c this process writes all you open data to hard disk, then shuts down ther PC, if there is a power outage, then all you data is safe, b/c its already on the HD. Be sure to turn off the monitor though, as they consume ALOT of energy, especially id its a CRT.
...AMD
...AMD
master_mood
Posts: 24 +0
so it's safe to use your pc the whole day and when i'm gonna sleep i leave it to hibernate/standby(around 7 hours)? if i do it this for a week is it all right?
N3051M
Posts: 2,094 +3
Thats pretty much what i've been doing with my pc for the past 7 months.. Hadn't had a cold boot/soft reboot untill a few days ago to do some maintanance.
Even less so (hibernate) since it got a new cpu cooler and i cant hear it much, therefore i forget to press the hibernate button..
Like mentioned above, your most likely consern is your temps if you plan to run it all day, especialy cpu and your active HDD temps.. use speedfan and monitor it to see how hot it goes then if you need to mod your pc or clean out the dust as necesary. And also your PSU, if its capable of handling such prolonged hours of use..
Even less so (hibernate) since it got a new cpu cooler and i cant hear it much, therefore i forget to press the hibernate button..
Like mentioned above, your most likely consern is your temps if you plan to run it all day, especialy cpu and your active HDD temps.. use speedfan and monitor it to see how hot it goes then if you need to mod your pc or clean out the dust as necesary. And also your PSU, if its capable of handling such prolonged hours of use..
master_mood
Posts: 24 +0
oh ok t hanks.. btw whats PSU?
AMDIsTheBest010
Posts: 359 +0
what i would suggest, is to take a vacuum, well first shut the PC down and unplug everything from the computer. then put the hose attachment on the vacuum, then suck the dust from the PUS fan, and the air intake fan ( if its a BTX chassis) then suck dust from the air output fan on the reaer, and also clean off all the dust from the vents on the side. do this every few months, and this will dramtically cut down on heat issues.
...AMD
BTW, forgot to metion, that after the computers all unplugged, from the power source, press the power button to drain any residual power.
...AMD
BTW, forgot to metion, that after the computers all unplugged, from the power source, press the power button to drain any residual power.
vdvdvCurtis
Posts: 60 +0
My computers on almost all day, if im not at it, or in bed then its on standby. I restart every couple of days because i play a lot of games and run out of Virtual Memory, ive had mine nearly 2years, still runs great. If there are problems to leaving it on a lot i dont know it.
I have an old computer i use as a file server, as a backup mostly, thats on all the time (small PSU, lower Power consumption than most)
My computers on almost all day, if im not at it, or in bed then its on standby. I restart every couple of days because i play a lot of games and run out of Virtual Memory, ive had mine nearly 2years, still runs great. If there are problems to leaving it on a lot i dont know it.
I have an old computer i use as a file server/http, as a backup mostly, thats on all the time (small PSU, lower Power consumption than most), i havent used it properly in a few months, but it seems fine too, thats abotu 5years old but ive only been leaving it on for around 6months
I have an old computer i use as a file server, as a backup mostly, thats on all the time (small PSU, lower Power consumption than most)
My computers on almost all day, if im not at it, or in bed then its on standby. I restart every couple of days because i play a lot of games and run out of Virtual Memory, ive had mine nearly 2years, still runs great. If there are problems to leaving it on a lot i dont know it.
I have an old computer i use as a file server/http, as a backup mostly, thats on all the time (small PSU, lower Power consumption than most), i havent used it properly in a few months, but it seems fine too, thats abotu 5years old but ive only been leaving it on for around 6months
SNGX1275
Posts: 10,615 +467
PSU is Power Supply Unit
Leave it on all the time, hibernate/standby is only marginally better than just turning off your PC, its actually worse than just turning it off if you dont' care about boot up times. Hot and cold temperature changes and the stress of spinning up and down the hard drives time and time again are worse than leaving it running continually.
Also hibernate/standby screws up pretty often with some pcs, windows refuses to wake up. If you don't believe me you haven't been around these boards too long.
Energy savings is really the only reason for turning a PC off, and it may not be worth that energy savings if you have to buy a new hard drive more often because yours died from excessive wear caused by startup/shutdown hot/cold cycles.
Leave it on all the time, hibernate/standby is only marginally better than just turning off your PC, its actually worse than just turning it off if you dont' care about boot up times. Hot and cold temperature changes and the stress of spinning up and down the hard drives time and time again are worse than leaving it running continually.
Also hibernate/standby screws up pretty often with some pcs, windows refuses to wake up. If you don't believe me you haven't been around these boards too long.
Energy savings is really the only reason for turning a PC off, and it may not be worth that energy savings if you have to buy a new hard drive more often because yours died from excessive wear caused by startup/shutdown hot/cold cycles.
AMDIsTheBest010
Posts: 359 +0
yea that happened to me once, windows refused to come out of hibernate. finally i just started pressing keys on the keyboard, and only the up arrow key is what bought it out of sleep.
...AMD
...AMD
Mictlantecuhtli
Posts: 4,049 +13
The new PCs consume more, even when idling.fastco said:
Unless they go to sleep, of course.
Compensate leaving the computer on by replacing light bulbs with energy-efficient ones and you might not see a difference in your electric bill.
N3051M
Posts: 2,094 +3
Maybe i should've expanded on it before...
i ment if you're pc/components are running at high temps for too prolonged periods.. there is a difference between letting it run constantly on 25-35`C and running it constantly at +50`C. The latter is obviously no good for your system.
i ment if you're pc/components are running at high temps for too prolonged periods.. there is a difference between letting it run constantly on 25-35`C and running it constantly at +50`C. The latter is obviously no good for your system.
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