Turn my PC off?

[kramer.newsreader]

This question isn't strictly hardware related, but I'm not sure where
else to ask it.

How often should I turn off my computer? Lately I've just been leaving
it on all the time.

I once saw a figure that an ordinary incandescent uses up the same
amount of energy in one minute of continuous use as being turned on and
off. Thus it makes sense to turn off a light if you'll be out of the
room for one minute but leave it one if you'll be out less time.

So I realize that my computer is a more complicated issue. There is
the power issue, but there is also the stress on the hard drives from
booting/shutting down. And what about the CPU and memory? Do they
undergo more stress booting and shutting down once or idling for a long
period time?

An answer in general terms is great, but if you're interested, my
hardware is:

AMD 64 3000+
1 GB PC2100
1 80 GB 7200 RPM IDE HD (boot drive)
1 250 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
1 300 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
On board video
SB Live card

Ohh, and my monitor is an LCD which I'm sure saves energy over a CRT.
It turns off after 10 minutes idle.

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

This question isn't strictly hardware related, but I'm not sure where
else to ask it.

How often should I turn off my computer? Lately I've just been leaving
it on all the time.

I once saw a figure that an ordinary incandescent uses up the same
amount of energy in one minute of continuous use as being turned on and
off. Thus it makes sense to turn off a light if you'll be out of the
room for one minute but leave it one if you'll be out less time.

So I realize that my computer is a more complicated issue. There is
the power issue, but there is also the stress on the hard drives from
booting/shutting down. And what about the CPU and memory? Do they
undergo more stress booting and shutting down once or idling for a long
period time?

An answer in general terms is great, but if you're interested, my
hardware is:

AMD 64 3000+
1 GB PC2100
1 80 GB 7200 RPM IDE HD (boot drive)
1 250 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
1 300 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
On board video
SB Live card

Ohh, and my monitor is an LCD which I'm sure saves energy over a CRT.
It turns off after 10 minutes idle.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Well, my 'old' PC which I never use anymore is still working
perfectly, I got about 7 years of life out of it, I am still using
its CRT monitor now.

So I doubt you will shorten the life of the PC by switching
it of more often, you will bin the whole lot through
obsolesence before any part fails. (or sell it on assuming
anyone would by a machine so out of date).

So the short answer is switch it off and save power,
but of course you have to put up with the shutdown
and reboot times.

 

[Paul]

This question isn't strictly hardware related, but I'm not sure where
else to ask it.

How often should I turn off my computer? Lately I've just been leaving
it on all the time.

I once saw a figure that an ordinary incandescent uses up the same
amount of energy in one minute of continuous use as being turned on and
off. Thus it makes sense to turn off a light if you'll be out of the
room for one minute but leave it one if you'll be out less time.

So I realize that my computer is a more complicated issue. There is
the power issue, but there is also the stress on the hard drives from
booting/shutting down. And what about the CPU and memory? Do they
undergo more stress booting and shutting down once or idling for a long
period time?

An answer in general terms is great, but if you're interested, my
hardware is:

AMD 64 3000+
1 GB PC2100
1 80 GB 7200 RPM IDE HD (boot drive)
1 250 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
1 300 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
On board video
SB Live card

Ohh, and my monitor is an LCD which I'm sure saves energy over a CRT.
It turns off after 10 minutes idle.

Thanks for any thoughts.

If you place the computer in standby (S3 suspend to RAM), that
saves some on reboot time, as the RAM still has all its contents.
S3 draws about 10-20 watts from the wall. Your hard drives would
be turned off and not spinning.

Complete shutdown only eliminates all power consumption, if you
switch off at the back of the computer.

Modern hard drives have a "boiler-plate" specification of
50,000 start/stop cycles. It would take quite a few years to
exceed that number. So, switching the computer off, from
that perspective, should not be an issue (even if you
choose to believe that the actual life of the drive is
less than the listed 50,000 cycles).

The life of the capacitors in the power supply and motherboard,
is a function of temperature. Turning off the computer means
they will be cool for the hours the computer is off.

There are also effects on solder joint reliability caused by
daily temperature variations. Turning the computer on and off
is worse for that, but for a reasonable temperature swing,
the lifetime is probably ten years plus anyway. In balance,
I think switching off is the right thing to do.

And if the computer is networked, it is harder to hack a
switched off computer

Paul

 

[Rod Speed]

This question isn't strictly hardware related,
but I'm not sure where else to ask it.

How often should I turn off my computer?

There is no nice tidy answer, it depends on how much
you use it, how its been configured to power down on
inactivity etc, what you are using for a monitor etc.

Lately I've just been leaving it on all the time.

Yeah, I leave mine on all the time.

I once saw a figure that an ordinary incandescent uses up the same
amount of energy in one minute of continuous use as being turned on
and off. Thus it makes sense to turn off a light if you'll be out of
the room for one minute but leave it one if you'll be out less time.

Lights are quite different on that stuff.

So I realize that my computer is a more complicated issue.
There is the power issue, but there is also the stress on the
hard drives from booting/shutting down. And what about the
CPU and memory? Do they undergo more stress booting
and shutting down once or idling for a long period time?

The main effect is that they dont thermal cycle when on all the time.

That doesnt have much practical effect with modern systems
because they are replaced before they die most of the time.

An answer in general terms is great,
but if you're interested, my hardware is:

AMD 64 3000+
1 GB PC2100
1 80 GB 7200 RPM IDE HD (boot drive)
1 250 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
1 300 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
On board video
SB Live card

Ohh, and my monitor is an LCD which I'm sure saves
energy over a CRT. It turns off after 10 minutes idle.

Thanks for any thoughts.

You will save quite a bit of power if you configure it to sleep
when you arent using it. While it will thermal cycle, that
shouldnt have any real effect on the life of a modern PC.

 

[Rod Speed]

Well, my 'old' PC which I never use anymore is still working
perfectly, I got about 7 years of life out of it, I am still using
its CRT monitor now.

So I doubt you will shorten the life of the PC by switching
it of more often, you will bin the whole lot through
obsolesence before any part fails. (or sell it on assuming
anyone would by a machine so out of date).

So the short answer is switch it off and save power,
but of course you have to put up with the shutdown
and reboot times.

Not if you configure it to sleep instead.

And hibernate starts quicker than a full boot too.

 

[nobody]

Yeah, I leave mine on all the time.

I leave mine on all the time, but I turn off the monitor (CRT) at night.
I don't have power management set up.

You will save quite a bit of power if you configure it to sleep when you
arent using it. While it will thermal cycle, that
shouldnt have any real effect on the life of a modern PC.

I'll look intto the settings for that.


Alan

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[BD]

How often should I turn off my computer? Lately I've just been leaving
it on all the time.

I've been told that it's similar to starting a car - in a car, much of
the 'wear' occurs when you start it, for the fraction-of-a-second
before the oil has fully lubricated all the parts.

Similarly, startup times, when the initial 'surge' of power to the
components of a computer occurs (or so I've been told) are the most
likely times that a component will fail - if it will fail at all.

I've been using computers for - crap, I dunno - 15 years? - and I have
yet to see a convincing argument either way. It's not like a computer
eats huge masses of power or anything.

As for me, I leave mine on all the time, and only power off cold when I
have to do something with the hardware.

BD

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Rod Speed <[email protected]> said

I leave mine on all the time, but I
turn off the monitor (CRT) at night.

Yeah, I do too now. I didnt use to but the
two big 19" CRTs are a bit power hungry.

I don't have power management set up.

I do on the laptop but not on the desktops.

I'll look intto the settings for that.

If you do choose to turn it off overnight for some reason,
have a look at hibernating instead. Starts much quicker.

 

[Rod Speed]

I've been told that it's similar to starting a car - in a car, much of
the 'wear' occurs when you start it, for the fraction-of-a-second
before the oil has fully lubricated all the parts.

PCs are completely different to car engines.

Similarly, startup times, when the initial 'surge' of power to the
components of a computer occurs (or so I've been told) are the
most likely times that a component will fail - if it will fail at all.

Thats a myth too with PCs.

I've been using computers for - crap, I dunno - 15 years? -
and I have yet to see a convincing argument either way. It's
not like a computer eats huge masses of power or anything.

As for me, I leave mine on all the time, and only power
off cold when I have to do something with the hardware.

I also do when I am going to be away more than a
few days too. Mainly because there is a small risk of
something going bang and no one around to turn it off etc.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

Not if you configure it to sleep instead.

And hibernate starts quicker than a full boot too.

True but sleeping still consumes some power, I am not sure how
much. Even in sleep mode, I still have my modem, on and the speakers.
The modem is fairly hot, as is its power supply and the one for the
speakers, then you have to add in the rest of the 'sleeping' computer.
I am not sure how much it adds up to but I could find out by switching
all the other electrics in the house and monitoring the electricity meter.

Having said that my PC is on most of the time when I am about the house,
The monitor sleeps not not the drive IIRC.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

I've been told that it's similar to starting a car - in a car, much of
the 'wear' occurs when you start it, for the fraction-of-a-second
before the oil has fully lubricated all the parts.

Similarly, startup times, when the initial 'surge' of power to the
components of a computer occurs (or so I've been told) are the most
likely times that a component will fail - if it will fail at all.

I've been using computers for - crap, I dunno - 15 years? - and I have
yet to see a convincing argument either way. It's not like a computer
eats huge masses of power or anything.

As for me, I leave mine on all the time, and only power off cold when I
have to do something with the hardware.

At a guess I would say that costs you £50 a year in total electricity!!!
(At current prices), no pun intended ;O)

 

[Rod Speed]

True but sleeping still consumes some power, I am not sure how much.

So little you can ignore it basically.

Even in sleep mode, I still have my modem, on and the speakers.
The modem is fairly hot, as is its power supply and the one for the
speakers, then you have to add in the rest of the 'sleeping' computer.
I am not sure how much it adds up to but I could find out by switching
all the other electrics in the house and monitoring the electricity meter.

Having said that my PC is on most of the time when I am about the house, The monitor
sleeps not not the drive IIRC.

Yeah, I leave the two main systems on all the time and sleep
the laptop which is on the mains the vast bulk of the time.

 

[BD]

PCs are completely different to car engines.

What do you mean? Am I NOT supposed to use axle grease in there?

DAMN! I just lost 20 bucks.

 

[Rod Speed]

What do you mean? Am I NOT supposed to use axle grease in there?

Corse you are, you just cant hose the salt out of them
when you have been driving on icy roads, stupid.

 

[kramer.newsreader]

Okay. So besides power, I'm most concerned about hard drive failures.
If my board/processor/dvd drive fails, I don't really care. I have to
shell out a couple of bucks but I get to buy a new one. If my HDs
fail, then I might lose data (yeah I've got the most important stuff
backed up, but it still sucks).

If I leave the machine on, then the hard drives have less stress right?
They receive continuous power and they can turn off with the proper
power management, right? If I have to restart, a lot of disk accesses
occur, right?

It seems like the best thing to do is to set up proper power management
and leave it on.

 

[Rod Speed]

Okay. So besides power, I'm most concerned about hard drive failures.
If my board/processor/dvd drive fails, I don't really care. I have to
shell out a couple of bucks but I get to buy a new one. If my HDs
fail, then I might lose data (yeah I've got the most important stuff
backed up, but it still sucks).

If I leave the machine on, then the hard drives have less stress right?

Only in theory. In practice there is bugger all in it when
you are talking about turning the system off overnight.

They receive continuous power and they can turn
off with the proper power management, right?

Yes, but if you turn them off like that, its as
bad for them as just turning the system off is.

If I have to restart, a lot of disk accesses occur, right?

Yes, but that doesnt do the drive any harm, they're designed for that.

It seems like the best thing to do is to set
up proper power management and leave it on.

Like I said, there isnt much in it except for the power
use and even that isnt that much per year either.

 

[rantonrave]

I've been told that it's similar to starting a car - in a car, much of
the 'wear' occurs when you start it, for the fraction-of-a-second
before the oil has fully lubricated all the parts.

If start-up wear is so harmful, why did the maker of electric
prelubrication pumps, devices that serve no purpose in nonturbocharged
cars but to reduce start-up wear, find that their products reduced
overall engine wear by only 30%, or much less than claimed by sellers
of expensive oil additives? Also full hybrid Toyotas start and stop
their gasoline engines much more frequently than conventional vehicles
do, yet they have some of the best reliability rates.

Similarly, startup times, when the initial 'surge' of power to the
components of a computer occurs (or so I've been told) are the most
likely times that a component will fail - if it will fail at all

But you have to balance that out against failures that are more likely
to occur from continuous operation, and I haven't see conclusive
evidence that favors either mode of operation. Also all but the worst
designs use components that can withstand the current surges and reduce
their magnitudes with thermistors and soft-start circuitry.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

So little you can ignore it basically.

If that is the case you can probably ignore the cost of the PC itself.
The power consumed in its lifetime is likely to equal the PC's
cost.

 

[Rod Speed]

If that is the case you can probably ignore the cost of the PC itself.
The power consumed in its lifetime is likely to equal the PC's cost.

Not the SLEEP power use.