Leave PC on all day - pro/con?

[Bill]

I am curious if it is ok to leave my Compaq 6450NX Presario on all day
long, in my house. I have heard "no", it can get hot, I have heard
"yes", turning it on and off is actually bad for it.

I do have a broadband connection with the latest free ZoneAlarm
firewall.

Is a aftermarket slot fan recommended?

I am NOT running video games or similar applications

Thanks

 

[Mike Walsh]

It is best to leave it on if it is on a UPS box and power management works, i.e. the monitor goes into low power mode and the hard drives spin down.

 

[kony]

I am curious if it is ok to leave my Compaq 6450NX Presario on all day
long, in my house. I have heard "no", it can get hot, I have heard
"yes", turning it on and off is actually bad for it.

I do have a broadband connection with the latest free ZoneAlarm
firewall.

Is a aftermarket slot fan recommended?

I am NOT running video games or similar applications

Thanks

If the system runs hot just sitting there, unused, it needs some
additional cooling. Powering off/on is even worse for the wear when
there's a more significant temp difference between off and on.

Add the cooling it needs, enough that it can run continuously, 24/7 at
full load. THEN decide if your usage is better served by leaving it
on or not... in general I'd recommend leaving it on if it'll be used
again within 5 hours or so.

Slot fans don't move near as much air as an unobstructed (wire grill
or no grill opposed to a less open stamped metal cutout) case fan, but
are certainly better than nothing. If yours is the case I'm thinking
of, metallic grey with large slots in the bezel, you might have a
traditional rear fan mount or be able to mount a fan on the front
bottom. A quick-and-dirty fix (and likely the most significant
airflow increase) might be seen by taking a sabre saw and cutting out
a hole in the left side-panel to accept a 92-120mm intake fan, some of
which move quite a bit of air at very low noise levels.


Dave

 

[Nick]

I am curious if it is ok to leave my Compaq 6450NX Presario on all day
long, in my house. I have heard "no", it can get hot, I have heard
"yes", turning it on and off is actually bad for it.

I do have a broadband connection with the latest free ZoneAlarm
firewall.

Is a aftermarket slot fan recommended?

I am NOT running video games or similar applications

Thanks

Hi Bill,

I have a few machines.They are all left running 24/7, and have been for some
years with no additional cooling (cpu fans and psu fans only). All are
running seti which is fairly cpu intensive. Its worth monitoring the temps
of the cpu now and again. If the temps start to rise on any of my pc's I
switch it off and blow the dust out. You'd be amazed how much crap a pc,
particularly the psu, can retain. If you're not going to use the pc for the
next 20 minutes then turn the monitor off. Just my opinion, but I think
power cycling is more detrimental to the machine than constant running.
Touch wood, I've not had any disasters in this respect since 1997.
I would imagine that having a BB connection is not going to increase your
temps unless you are downloading constantly, in which case you might
consider extra cooling for you hdd's. You'll be better off with proper case
fans (front in and rear/top out) than any slot fan.
We have had some very high temps here recently but, touch wood again, I've
had no probs.
IMO - leave them on 24/7.
Good luck
Nick.

 

[~misfit~]

It is best to leave it on if it is on a UPS box and power management

works, i.e. the monitor goes into low power mode and the hard drives spin
down.

I disagree with the disk spinning down thing. That's when most wear occurs
and defeats the object of leaving the machine on to a certain extent. (Hint:
The only time the read/write heads actually physically come in contact with
the platters is when the drive is stopped, excessive stopping/starting
increases wear/partical formation)

 

[Ralph Mowery]

I am curious if it is ok to leave my Compaq 6450NX Presario on all day

long, in my house. I have heard "no", it can get hot, I have heard
"yes", turning it on and off is actually bad for it.

I do have a broadband connection with the latest free ZoneAlarm
firewall.

Is a aftermarket slot fan recommended?

I am NOT running video games or similar applications

Don't worry about it either way. At work we have several hundred computers
running 24/7 and are usually replaced every 3 years but some are over 5
years old and are never cut off in normal usage. If they are cut off , it
is to reboot them or for repairs or adding hardware.

Many of the people turn their compters off and on once or twice a day and
mot too many complaints.

The computers are usually outdated before they give problems.

 

[Mike Walsh]

A disk should not be stopped and started repeatedly. If the PC is not going to be used for at least an hour it might be beneficial to spin down the drive if only to reduce heat.

 

[Clive]

I am curious if it is ok to leave my Compaq 6450NX Presario on all day
long, in my house. I have heard "no", it can get hot, I have heard
"yes", turning it on and off is actually bad for it.

I do have a broadband connection with the latest free ZoneAlarm
firewall.

Is a aftermarket slot fan recommended?

I am NOT running video games or similar applications

Thanks

The main concern is if you are using an always on broadband connection, i.e. never disconnecting and relying on Zone Alarm free edition, broadband is more likely to be hacked if it always on. If you leave the PC on 24/7 consider disconnecting the internet connection atleast.

Turning a PC on and off can cause extra wear and tear, but the computer will be due for replacement before enough damage is done, another thing to consider as people have mentioned hard drives is a comment by IBM regarding the hard drives they supplied (the 75 gig ones) recommending only leaving the drive on for a certain amount of hours, so check the manufacturer of the drive first (not sure what Compaq use), I also remember trouble with some older jujitsu drives wearing out quickly due to a design change, (this was over 2 years ago I believe).

As mentioned before extra cooling may be required if you are worried about temperatures. Also another point mentioned earlier which I always go by, if the PC is going to be used in the next few hours leave it on, if it is not being used for the rest of the day turn it off.

Not sure if this was true of false, but didn't windows 98 always crash after something like 28 days of leaving it on?