Randy P

I regularly shut down my PC. I was wondering if you guys do too? What are the pros and cons of doing so if there are any at all?

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Rasta Monsta

I use STR (S3 Standby), either manually or through Windows power management timers. It puts the machine in a low power state, shutting down drives, fans, etc, but stores the last state of the OS in RAM. So, the comp is pretty much off, but restarts in about a second.

Pros are: peace & quiet, longer hard disk life, and longer PSU life. Cons are none, as far as I am concerned.

rasta

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MIG-31

After using disk keeper 10, defraged and a boot-time defrag my rig boots up within 30 seconds. So a shut down is the norm for me.

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The_Neon_Cowboy

#1 you save power , wich mean you save money
#2 you save the power on life of you hardware EX. If a CDrom has a 100,000
hour (allways estamated) MBTF . Thats it power on life... It will fails after so
much time weather you actualy use it or not! So if you have one CDrom being
used freqwwntly and one not but just pluged in they both will fail in relitively the
same amoubnt of time. there a process called electric degradation. Electrictiy slowly degrades the electrical path it travels down. untill either it stops flowing of enough
power can pass along the ciucut for proper operation of your device.
#3 you have less problems

the other sides aregument (useally inspired and soured from repairmen whos
well paid jobs and demand jobs rely solely on the devieces failing )

#1 that powering on/off changes the values of capitors ever so slightly this effecting
the circut. (the circits and chips are designed to handle like + or - 10% of spec anyways)
#2 the rely on power saveing features that still use alot more power then haveing your system off.
#3 you eventaully have to reboot anyways, with windows, linux would last
longer in this regard. But with windows you eveally se a perfomance degradation.
All it takes is one program not doing what it supposed to to ruien you day for as long as you PC has not been rebooted.

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riles9262

I shutdown most nights, unless I'm downloading something huge.

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ViRuS2k

my system is on 24/7.
i shut it down when ever im leaving the house but thats about it.

shuting down and powering on everything degraids your systems life aswell as shocking the system everytime you power it up.

Dark Lord

i turn it off every night.

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Lowfat

I restart daily, but hardly ever shut the computer down.

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Rayder

I ALWAYS shut down when I'm not using the PC. Heck, I even kill standby power to the system when I shut down. No sense wasting ANY electricity that I don't have to waste.

In the 12 or so years that I've been messing with PC's, I've only had one harddrive ever go bad and nothing else. So I don't buy the "shocking the system by turning it on and off" theory.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

i turn it off at night, i turn it on when i need it and leave it on till the night. if im downloading or sending something, it's up all night

but i avoid shutting down like if i leave for an hr or 2. if im out for the whole day its not use. the highest possibility of having a hard drive failure is when the disk spins up. and ive had so many power problems with this mobo i hate it. remember my post on MSI boards? anyways i only turn it off when it needs to conserve power. nothing in my comp is runnign hard as you can see the specs in my sig

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ViRuS2k

did i ever say anything about HDD`s ?????????
by in terms of shocking im talking about genraly everything when you first power up.
there for it can reduce the life or everything or anything in your system.

Tril

I almost never shutdown. The pc is quiet enough to go almost unnoticced when it is on.

dj_stick

i'm too lazy to wait for it to boot, so it stays on period

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Lowfat

I agree. IC's and anything that produces heat expands when warm. If shut down all the time, the expanding and conctracting could definately put stress on components.

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Zelig

I never shut-down, I'm on dial-up, so my rig is downloading stuff 24/7.

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Drakon

I usually shut it down, unless I'm dl'ing or running an app like Memtest or Prime 95

Sargentwhitey

On all the time, it's usual rest period is two weekends a month though, when I'm not in the house.

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Judas

If people had unlimited fuel to let there cars run 24/7.... would they? would it be good? would it be worse to fire it up in the morning and shutdown at night then to just run 24/7? Um..... yes, shutting down GOOD... specially a vechicle idling is the worse (aside from overrevving) for it.

Sure, the "shock" of starting anything initially is hard on things... .but it's the length of time it's running also hurting...

I shut my main rig down every night.... i never turn it off during the day if i've already fired it up.

Like previously mentioned, chips and capasitors and the works are designed to have fluctuations within usually 10-15% (some are 5%... but frankly it's doesn't really matter)..

Additionally, Over a period of a year, constantly running machine vs a completely shutdown machine, the constantly running one ends up failing first.. in some respect.. be it hardrives/fans/memory/ you name it.

I know, i've ran serveral machines 24/7 vs machines that don't..... I've had to fix/upgrade/build these machines.

And i'll tell you one thing... a machine that never shuts down is one of the nastiest damn things to try and cleanup.

Fans are only able to run so long... some fans are cheap... others are decently built and the rest are utterly pro built to last. There are way to many fans out there that are cheap and being used.... failing within 1/4 of say a decently build fan. Slowing then sticking/freezing up solid. Frying the living crap outa whichever it was cooling.. and actually possibly causing complete failure (not to mention frying of other parts).... IMO, you deside to let your south/northerbridge fans to stop... bye bye motherboard. CPU fan stops..... big problem.. although most motherboard now have a failsafe in the case of a cpu fan failing (northbridge fan failing though, depends, i've had a northbridge fan fail, but the bios still reporting safe speeds.)

In any case, from what i've seen, heard, fixed, upgraded, built and experienced myself. Majority of the problem systems related to failures of any kind, come from being left on 24/7.

But yes.... there is such thing is excessive startups.... i mean, if you use a computer.. shut it down.. come back 15 minutes later and fire it up... and shut it down... come back an hour later... well.. you get the point.. it starts to get excessive....

Starting any car cost about say $25... yes EVERY TIME you start your car.... reguardless of age.... year/condition..... on average.. it's costing you $25. Everytime you start your computer everyday, i think we figured it out to be about 0.25 cents or something. This is the cost in which something will break down and you'll need to replace it.. or basic maintenence.... Be it using compressed air (buying it in cans).. replaces rebuilt... time spend.. hours spent.....

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CDsDontBurn

when i'm at home, i leave my rig on. but if i'm gone (unless it's for a short period of time), then my system is off.

i especially like to keep my rig on at night because it acts as a mini-heater in my room

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BWX

If I am not using it, or downloading something.. I turn it off. Leaving it on just means I have to clean it out a lot more often. If I turn it on and know I am going to use it later on in the day or something, I will leave it on.. but not for more than a few hours.

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Sandok

Always shutdown except when a DL.

niceguyrichy

I shut down regularly.
I have a recurring nightmare that my comp overheats and fries itself while I'm at college

i read an interesting article a while back that suggested that there was evidence to show that if you are going to shut down, it's actually better to 'crash' your comp, rather than letting windows care of it.
don't ask why , I don't remember anymore. Must go and try and find it again, post a linky if i do.

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Matth

For hard disk spinups, a powersave spindown and spinup is as bad as a power off.

I could probably shut mine down less than I do, as I tend to shut it down at any time I leave it, unless waiting for a download to complete.

As with others, I go down to system off / main off - the under-monitor power distribution switchbox that also controls the monitor and speaker system, as well as other externals that are on only when required.

swimtech

Judas said it...

I shut down when I'm not going to use it for over an hour or two - and at bedtime - along with all the lights in the house (incandescent and otherwise - light bulbs have some of the same issues...).

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Randy P

Wow, everyone seems pretty divided. It seems like it comes down to wearing out parts by keeping the PC on OR possibly damaging parts by habitually shutting down. Interesting Someone should do a study...lol

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Judas

it is NOT GOOD to completely power off the system in the manner of shutting it down.. then killing the power bar that connects all devices....

Monitors for one thing don't like being constantly cut dry of all power and then blasted EVEN if the monitor is off (internal components still keep charged and rely on a connection even while off to keep things "warm"... swimtech could probably explain)

I've just encountered a few monitors that were on the frits due to consantly having the power completely pulled on them...

It's also a little hard on the PSU as when you shutdown a machine, the PSU keeps a charge much the same as a Monitor.

Using shutdown in windows = Good
Using Powerbar Button shutoff = NOT GOOD

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BWX

Yeah I never cut the power from the components unless I am going out of town for more than a few days- or when we get a nasty electrical storm.

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Sandok

Na I always do the windows shutdown unless it's for a long vacation.

Vikingod

I shut down at night, or if I'm not using it during the day. No sense in wasting electricity and collecting dust. Fans also tend to last a bit longer that way (not a huge deal, but a deal none the less).

Dark Lord

ive always shut down and cut the power to everything for the last 6 years or so. cant say ive ever had a problem going about it that way.

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