Is It Better To Leave My Computer On 24/7?

Question

I keep getting different answers to this one.

Some say it's like a television, why leave it on.

Others say it's better to let everything (processor, ram, hd) running all the time so they get a consistent amount of electricity

I use my "sleep" button thinking that will help.

I want to save electricity, but not if it cost me more to replace a PC.

Answer 1

it's better for your computer to be turned off when not in use. It saves energy and keeps the computer up. If you notice once your computer has been on for a while it starts to get hot, the more you keep it on the hotter it will get, computers are supposed to be kept cool, and the only way they can really be kept cool is by turning them off.  

Answer 2

Laptop or desktop, it doesn't matter.

The primary thing that is going to wear-out in any computer are the moving parts, the most critical of which is the Hard Drive.  The other parts are the fans, which are inexpensive to replace.

A study was done years ago, and the conclusion was that if the comptuer was going to be off for more than about 5 hours, it was best to turn it off, if it was going to off for less than 5 hours, then the "wear and tear" of thermal expansion on the hard drive would make it worth-while to leave it running... The other thing discovered was that there was VERY little actual difference in the longivity of the drives either way... It was only a slight advantage to follow those recommendations.

If you leave the PC on all the time the fan bearings will wear faster, you will be sucking dust into the heatsinks 24/7, meaning you'll need to open the computer more often to clean the dust or risk over-heating the CPU.  You will also be drawing around 100 watts of electricity, like leaving a 100 watt light bulb turned on and running constantly.  If you have air conditioning, you will be working your air conditioner more to extract that 100 watts of heat being dumped into your house...  

My suggestion would be turn it off if it isn't being used.

Answer 3

No its not better to leave it on.

If you are concerned about start-up time, then sleep is a good option.

Answer 4

No it is actually 100% better to turn it off. I know alot of ppl that leave there computers just on standby or hibernate and 70% of the time they burn out there RAM because the fans arent in use and there is still electricity flowing through the computer heating it up.

Answer 5

One major reason to leave your computer on all the time is updates. It is essential to keeping a computer running, that you have the latest security patches, virus, spyware, firewall (try Comodo, free for life), and software updates.

"Security updates are delivered by the Windows Update service on the second Tuesday of each month. However, security updates can be delivered whenever a software update is required to prevent an exploit targeting Windows users. Windows Update can be configured to automatically install updates, ensuring that a computer is always up-to-date and not vulnerable to computer worms and other such malware."

Answer 6

It really doesnt make a difference.  the components are designed to run for long periods of time, and thier age is gauged in hours.  if you want leave it on.  will not affect performance because, unlike a car, the computer has no moving parts, other than the fans and the hard drives, so wear and tear isnt an issue.  

The only component that will be affected is the hard drive, which stores all your data.  this has moving parts, so wear and tear is an issue, and that coupled with a life expectancy of 3 years will not be good.  but the computer's parts will not be affected.  

Heat is the only other problem.  if the air coming out of the back is warm after an hour or so, dont leave it on, because heat is the enemy of computers, and this will make your computer behave abnormally.  

if all of these things check out, leave it on, nothing will happen.  

Answer 7

Wow. OK. There's a lot of variables here. Let me just list some and you can do your own math.

A computer left ON uses a crapload of electricity. For most desktops, they might idle around 100W. That's a LOT. I used to leave my music server running 24/7 until I put it on a Kill-A-Watt and realized that keeping that music server on all day every day was costing me about $35/month! Laptops usualy fair much better, but still use a bit.

A computer in SLEEP uses very little electricity. For all intents and purposes it is as good as OFF. It'll maybe use a couple watts just to keep ready for when you need it, but FAR less than if it were on.

A computer turned OFF will still use electricity. If you're at all concerned about energy usage, put your rig on a powerstrip and turn the whole thing off when not in use.

Can leaving your computer on damage the hardware? Maybe.

A computer left ON may leave it's hard drive(s) spinning if not configured to sleep them when not in use. This would certainly cause more wear than necessary. It's not going to "wear out the RAM" or anything foolish like that.

A computer in SLEEP is, as before, basically just off. Nothings running, nothing's going to wear out.

A computer turned OFF, well, it's off. The hardware sure isn't going to wear out that way, certainly not from a lack of "consistent amount of electricity." That's ridiculous.

What about software? No way.

A computer that's ON is not going to "get slower" as some people say. It's not going to get tired, it's not going to get screwed up at all unless it's hacked or virus riddled. Nothing bad can happen to the software. In fact, only good can come of leaving it on. Most modern operating systems will automatically run maintenance routines on a set schedule if they're on when that routine is scheduled. Otherwise, they just run next time you start up. Leaving your computer on means those routines will probably run when you're not trying to do your own work.

A computer in SLEEP won't wake up for those routines. It will rarely wake up for anything, actually. There's no way the software could "get slower" while it's in sleep mode.

A computer thats OFF, same as above. No software can be affected while off.

Sleep is, in my opinion, the best mix of energy savings and convenience. I leave all my computers on 24/7 but set them to sleep after a half hour of inactivity.

Answer 8

I build sell and repair computers. I have NEVER repaired a computer because it was damaged as a result of turning it on and off several times a day. I did replace the PSU on a rig once that actually caught on fire because its fan got so caked with dust it quit spinning. That would be nice when you're sleeping or away from home huh? All leaving a computer on 24/7 does in suck 6-8 times the dust into it which actually does more harm than good. Paying $10 a month on electricity to save a $20 power supply that isn't gonna get damaged anyway is dumb. Go green and turn it off unless youre doing a massive download when starting the download on the way to bed makes sense. This "leave it on 24/7" started many years ago because it was thought that the heating up and cooling down could possibly result in a solder joint on the motherboard going open. I've yet to work on a rig thats had that prob and Ive worked on 100s of them. I find it ironic when people whining about $4 a gallon gas waste our resources leaving their computers on 24/7.

Answer 9

We only shut it down if there is a thunder storm in the area.

Answer 10

A number of things to note:

1. The monitor can be switched off, so no wear there.

2. Starting up spins the HDD from cold every time, not ideal.

3. Fans wear out more quickly when used a lot.

4. A windows computer can slow up considerably if it isn't rebooted from time to time.

5. Heat in the system damages components and not cleaning the dust out causes heat build-up and consequently, fan wear. You can't clean it if it is switched on.

There are pros and cons, but there's no sense in keeping it on if no-one is using it. A server is a different story.

Answer 11

Turn it off properly when you've finished using it for the day. Not only is it a massive waste of energy, it's a fire hazard, even in 'Sleep' or 'Hibernate' mode.

Answer 12

no way. if you leave the computer for too long, then its..

first of all, a waste of money and energy..

second of all, ur computer is going to become slow due to having it on for too long

[this is why computers/laptops get HOT when you leave it on for a certain amount of time.]

Answer 13

no it will get hacked

Answer 14

No you should let it rest

Answer 15

A desktop can be left on 24/7 if you so choose, it doesn;t use that much power.

A laptop is another story, they weren;t created to be left on 24/7.

It's good to turn a desktop off during storms or if you going away on vaction, but other then that you can leave it on, if you so choose.

Answer 16

no turning it off will save you fron having to replace a computer fan and a monitor.