Solved Does powering down your computer wear it down?

[mcnulty]

I almost always hibernate my laptop when I'm not using it. I like to have everything as I left it the last time I was using it.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
The main thing is DO NOT switch off and on too frequently -- that's the worst of all possible options. The maximum wear on things like electric motors / fans / spinning disk drives is when you first switch them on as the power consumption is at maximum and oil in the bearings is thickest -- after machine warms up the bearings are fine, current is reduced and oil has thinned out.

(Staring can be considered like starting a Car engine -- look at the power taken when a Car starts --and it takes a little while to "Warm up" before it runs nice and sweetly.

Switch off things like screens / external USB drives when not using the computer -- so long as your power consumption is not high -- just leave it on until say you go to bed (unless running overnight backups or downloading / seeding huge files from torrents).

We have an abundance of Geothermal Energy -- but that's still no excuse to WASTE it. In the end you have to relate energy costs to the cost of replacing equipment. Single computers usually won't cost the earth to run for several hours a day or even months at a time in continuous mode. If you have loads on a LAN then that's another issue.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Der Snoober]

Single computers usually won't cost the earth to run for several hours a day or even months at a time in continuous mode.

Unfortunately I have to disagree. Here in The Netherlands the energy prices are sky-high. All due to some left-wing-ecological-extremist taxations (80% of the price is tax ). Although I use 100% nuclear energy I still have to pay taxation for as if I was using 100% coal energy.

Shutting down my pc during the night and the workdays (when I'm either asleep or not at home) will save me €150 every year. And my pc uses only a modest 90 watts per hour with the monitor off.

With that money I can buy a new PC every 5 years!!! So it really counts to shut it down when you're not using it.

 

[jeffrys]

hi Der Snoober (i thought you where a german).

Your PC is consuming 20-30% of your energy bill. Whaw do you have a mainframe? Hihi.

When you computer goes to sleep, i can hardly imagine it consumes that much at all.

Overhere we only have electricity, no gas or mazout (diesel) or gasoil, whatever.

One can save even more. Throw out your 800 W or 1200 W power supply and replace it with a 500 W. Throw out your videocard (as i did) and ust the one on the board.

If not overclocking and or no gaming, one can Always throw out his cooler as well. I did in 1 of the 4 computers here.

So Der Snoober if you are a serious gamer......then there lies your problem? since i do not game, i leave them on.

Even though i overclock, i am thinking of throwing out every cooler there is and see what happens.

Jeff

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
replacing the power supply with a smaller one won't necessarily save power -- all the 1000 Watts means is that the PSU is capable of SUPPLYING 1000W when on full rated load -- if it's "idling" it won't be delivering anything like that.

Switching OFF the monitor will be fine and should save most of the power your PC is using - especially if you are a gamer since the GPU as well (also another heavy power consumption item) will not be working.

Disks once they've reached rated speed use only a very small amount of current when not reading or writing.

The point of my post was that it's better if you are a frequent but intermittent user during the day is to leave the machine on (switching off the components I've mentioned) rather than have it off and on seven or 8 times during the day.

If it's only say twice a day you use it then power off.

Most electrical kit like computers don't like being switched on and off very frequently . Laptops too -- continual re-charging of laptop batteries can cause them to wear out quicker -- the charging circuits are always engaged when a laptop is connected to the mains and powered on.

My car 3 litre BMW probably uses less Gas idling at 350 RPM than a much lower powered car idling at 1000 RPM and certainly when driving at 140 -160 kph on a reasonably clear highway the engine is running at only 2800 - 3000 RPM which gives it much better fuel consumption than a small car doing over 4200 RPM trying to cruise at a constant 160 kph and toss the driver out of the window with its vibrations.

What this means is that having a smaller power unit won't necessarily save power. Of course with things like a decent BMW the fuel consumption suffers when accelerating or Stop Start driving in big towns / crowded roads etc - but on a long trip a big engine running at low revs can be surprisingly fuel efficient -- I'm an Engineer -- and I've had more than my fair share of tussle with so called Greens and Eco warriors !!! most of whom don't pay like the rest of us for Energy as they are often on Social Security too.

( I did mention also that if you don't need computer on at nights - for example not downloading or seeding torrents - then DO switch off overnight - that makes sense. - Note also some decent backup programs can be scheduled to run at night - and they have an option to automatically shut down the computer after the job finishes -- so set the option to automatic shutdown if you also want to do your backups after you've finished your normal use of the computer).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[KentC]

I'm A+ Certified and will tell you, if you can avoid running current through it, then you are prolonging it's life cycle. It's best to leave it running, but if you run it in a bad enviroment, then you are shortening it's life cycle due to monitor, hard-ware, and if you are not wearing latex gloves or ESD wristband, then you run the chance of shocking it causing deterioration. So my weigh-in, powering down does infact hurt your PC more then help if it's more then once a day for maintenance reasons. Remember the PSU has to heat up and down just like the processor, it's not good to keep those enviroments fluxing, you want to keep them a cool, clean stable temp. It's like an engine of a car, same concept.

 

[lhorwinkle]

It might be that shutting down preserves the computer. Or maybe it's the reverse. But to me it doesn't matter. A computer will last longer than I need it to. (Last year I disposed of three working computers: a 1998 desktop running Windows 98, a 2000 computer running Windows XP, and a 1999 computer running Windows XP. All were working, but who needs them? Small disks, small memory, slow CPUs.)

Conclusion: I have no need to make computers last longer. They already outlast their usefulness.

Instead, I power down (or not) depending on the need. The print-server computer stays on always, ever-ready to accept print jobs from any other computer. My work computer is always on, too. But I put my piano computer into standby overnight when I'm not using it. I can always bring it up from standby in seconds, faster than the piano will boot up. So standby works just fine.

The need/use-case (not life-span preservation) determines whether I keep them up or not.

 

[Der Snoober]

hi Der Snoober (i thought you where a german).

Your PC is consuming 20-30% of your energy bill. Whaw do you have a mainframe? Hihi.

When you computer goes to sleep, i can hardly imagine it consumes that much at all.

Overhere we only have electricity, no gas or mazout (diesel) or gasoil, whatever.

One can save even more. Throw out your 800 W or 1200 W power supply and replace it with a 500 W. Throw out your videocard (as i did) and ust the one on the board.

If not overclocking and or no gaming, one can Always throw out his cooler as well. I did in 1 of the 4 computers here.

So Der Snoober if you are a serious gamer......then there lies your problem? since i do not game, i leave them on.

Even though i overclock, i am thinking of throwing out every cooler there is and see what happens.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I don't have a mainframe running no, lol! And you are right, when the pc is at sleepmodus it is using only a little bit of energy (but since I have a SSD I might as well shut it down because there is no benefit anymore versus sleepmodus). But for years I never turned my pc off or even in sleepmodus. And in that case it costs 20-30% of my energybill.

Since a year now (after yet another taxraise) I turn the pc off when I go to sleep and it is no longer 20-30% of my energybill.