[Reck45]

The biggest killer of components is switching on and off. The thermal change wears the components big time. That goes for monitors too. Never turn the monitor on and off, use the power save mode. As for fans, they are made to run for long periods of time. I'm still using the same cpu fan that I've had for 2 years now and it's still running at full speed.

Oh yea and that goes for hard drives as well. The longer periods of time they are on, the longer they last. Kind of strnge but true, again the booting is the biggest wear factor.

 

[enzoferrari650]

Leave it on! Leave it all on! Leave it all on 24/7! Leave it all on 24/7 until it dies! whahahahahah.........sry bout that.

 

[Edwood]

WIth the quality and improvements in computer components today, leaving your computer on or off is really a matter of personal choice, or business direction. Obviously, if you have a second or third shift coming in to use the computer (i.e. shared workstations), it makes little sense to shut off a computer for a few minutes before the next person turns it back on.

However.

Monitors are a different story altogether. They most certainly wear out with use. If you do professional, calibrated color work, leaving a monitor on 24/7 is a waste. You will only be burning the phosphors away on a CRT faster, and the cold cathode in an LCD wears out as well. But if you set your PC to turn off the monitors after a specific idle period, when the monitor no longer gets a signal, they usually go into a sleep mode which turns off the display, but keeps minimal current flowing to keep the electronics "warmed" up.

Keep in mind, nearly every electronic component we plug into the wall has an "idle" or "standby" mode. Unless it has a simple physical switch for the mains input, your computer, TV, stereo, amps, clock radio, toaster, just about everything draws a little power all the time, even when you have turned them off.

So this "idle" or "standby" current keeps your systems from ever having a true cold start if they kept plugged in.

-Ed

 

[Mexicorn]

Quote:

Your pc is meant to be turned off. Think of big companies with thousands of them. Do you think they can afford to let them run 24/7? Do you think they can afford to change them more often just because by turning them off every night they shortened their life expectancy? I'm not an engineer nor an enviromentalist but common sense and respect tells me to turn it off every night (if I don't need it to be on).

Uhh, last I checked every big company i've been to with large amounts of computers almost exclusively leave them on all night. If it's a computer specific company, even more likely....not for one side or the other (leave my computer on at home, but turn it off at school), but I think you got it wrong about companies keeping machines on.

 

[skitlets]

Actually, power supplies aren't 100% effecient. If you have a solid 350w psu, and you require the peak wattage your psu will put off, the psu is pulling about 400-425watts off the wall. Electricity bill is quite high in my home, with only 2 computers. Only one is on 24/7.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skitlets Actually, power supplies aren't 100% effecient. If you have a solid 350w psu, and you require the peak wattage your psu will put off, the psu is pulling about 400-425watts off the wall. Electricity bill is quite high in my home, with only 2 computers. Only one is on 24/7.

Inversely, when a computer and all its components are not using 100% of their energy draw, the power supply will not pull it's maximum power out of the wall all the time. e.g. A 350 watt PSU won't be pulling 350 watts (not even 400-425) out of the wall all the time.

-Ed

 

[skitlets]

hehe, but in the case of one of the computers, I'd say it is just about maxed all the time, with a good 6-7 hard drives in it. I think it's time I built a home server, which could double as another computer to fold! Ah, but funds are short.

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Mac leaving it on all the time will fatigue fan motors, and you'll have to replace fans more often, as well as increasing dust intake, so you'll have to clean more often. Turning it off at night (more specifically putting it through a cold start) puts strain on all the IC's because of the expansion/contraction they go through due to temp change. Either way, it's a wash, so do whichever you prefer (it costs a little more to run it all the time because of the electricity). Personally, I leave mine on all the time, so I can use it as a stereo in the morning, not have to wait for boot times, and so I can leave bittorrent downloading (if I'm downloading anything). But I turn off my three monitors.

Fans? What fans? heheheh... I'm water-cooled and the only moving parts are my pump (Swifty MCP600) and my Maxtor HDD. I also have foam in my case to absorb and isolate sound. My 15" CRT is louder than my computer. My 15"LCD makes no noise so at that point I CAN hear my computer, but only at night and even then it's hard.

Here's my current rig...
Athlon XP 2000+ T-bred B @ 2ghz 1.85v (runs 2.4ghz @ 2.1v)
Water-cooled (MCP600, WW, '86 Chevette HC)
Abit NF7-s rev 2
512mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-11
AIW 9800 PRO
15"LCD
40gb Maxtor HDD w/ Fluid Bearing Technology (whatever... It's quiet)
52x Creative CD-ROM
Sunbeam Rheobus
All housed in a Full-Tower Chieftech Matrix Case.

BTW, uptime is 4 days

Dad made me turn my rig off when we went over my cousins... But is was only on for like a day before that anyway since I replaced my Northbridge HSF with a P1 heatsink for noise reasons. Before that my uptime was over 100 days

I had 200+ day uptime on my server (1.33ghz Athlon @ 1.46ghz running mandrake 8.1) before I sold it

I'm going to be gone for the next 3 days, so if I don't answer before 1 PM EST, you won't get an answer 'till Sunday.

 

[skitlets]

You usin a video card block too? and about your heatercore, no 120mm fan + shroud?

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skitlets You usin a video card block too? and about your heatercore, no 120mm fan + shroud?

Actually I'm currently using a GF2 MX (Hey, I gotta brag about my 9800 no?)... 9800 was too loud and I don't have enough $$$ for a block right now... So I pulled the card out for the time being. The heater-core does have a 124CFM Y.S. Tech fan + shroud but the fan's off.

 

[skitlets]

So you truly are fanless. It must be nice

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skitlets So you truly are fanless. It must be nice

It is. Problem is, I can't seem to quiet my 15"CRT. The buzzing sound it makes is louder than my computer! lol.

BTW, I honestly don't play many games, so I really don't miss not having the 9800pro installed... I mostly browse the web. And it takes all of two seconds to install the 9800 when I do want to game. Later, I will buy a block for the 9800 so I can just leave it in my rig.

 

[wit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skitlets So you truly are fanless. It must be nice

power supply fan?

 

[MD1032]

Definitely turn off your computer at night. Leaving it on will SIGNIFICANTLY shorten the life of your hard drives, and that's if you're starting with a really nice one. Some crappy ones will just outright die the first year you use them doing that. Plus, you're wasting energy, heating up your room (I know it's basically like running a heater in mine), and you've got the noise of the cooling fan, regardless of how quiet it is (my Panaflo H1A is quiet, but it still produces noise).

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrix_2k It is. Problem is, I can't seem to quiet my 15"CRT. The buzzing sound it makes is louder than my computer! lol. BTW, I honestly don't play many games, so I really don't miss not having the 9800pro installed... I mostly browse the web. And it takes all of two seconds to install the 9800 when I do want to game. Later, I will buy a block for the 9800 so I can just leave it in my rig.

I'd serioulsy consider picking up a refurbished/used 17-21" CRT, can get good sony trinitron tubes very cheap, $50-100 easily. Toss that old 15" in the trash

Nice setup btw, I have foam in my case also, but still using air cooling, zalman fans and quiet psu etc. Plus I have it in a hutch in my desk down below that closes, so I do not hear it cept at night. But never when listening to music.