Associate
Only turn mine on when it’s going to get used, and is nearly always off overnight, has to be something specific to leave it on for
How often do you turn off your PC?
- Thread starter Hostile_18
- Start date
Soldato
Off when not in use or away from the desk for an hour to so.
I'd suggest that if it's generating enough heat that it is noticeable in the room, you are drawing more power than you think. Otherwise people would be fitting idle PCs into rooms instead of radiators.
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The heating and cooling due to powering on and off causes thermal expansion that over time will degrade some components slightly faster than leaving them on 24/7. On the other hand, leaving the PC on when not in use costs electricity. Finding the balance of which option saves the most money depends on equipment costs, electricity cost, and how many hours a day you use the machine.
In covid when my PC was in use for work and pleasure, easily totalling 16-18 hours per day, I would just leave it ON all the time. Now I'm not working from home and the PC is in use maybe 6-8 hours per day at most I turn it off when not using it.
In covid when my PC was in use for work and pleasure, easily totalling 16-18 hours per day, I would just leave it ON all the time. Now I'm not working from home and the PC is in use maybe 6-8 hours per day at most I turn it off when not using it.
Associate
Off when not needed, but not at the socket. Away from home for several days then off at socket.
Associate
Off whenever I'm not actually doing anything, but I'm often encoding so it does stay on a lot. 
Surely running the pc for weeks on end is more strain on the parts than turning it off when not in use?
I always turn mine off at the end of the day.
When I was younger I'd put it in sleep mode but for some reason it would randomly wake up and be on when I came home from school or woke up in the morning etc. It was annoying enough that I just stopped doing it.
When I was younger I'd put it in sleep mode but for some reason it would randomly wake up and be on when I came home from school or woke up in the morning etc. It was annoying enough that I just stopped doing it.
Soldato
My new work laptop apparently doesn't shut down when I select shutdown.
I have to restart it every few days to stay on top of updates, even though I close all programs and select shutdown at the end of the day.
It's annoying.
I have to restart it every few days to stay on top of updates, even though I close all programs and select shutdown at the end of the day.
It's annoying.
I put mine into sleep mode when I'm going to sleep. All's I have to do is move the mouse and I'm right back where I left off. I do occasionally reboot though,as memory leaks tend to happen over time.I was reading a thread on another computer forum and most kept their PCs on for days/weeks/months at a time? I generally turn mine off when not in use. My thinking is saves on power draw (money), allows updates to be applied and increases the lifespan of the LEDs.
Am I the odd one out?
Yes. Running things 24/7 definitely burns them out faster. This is why there is enterprise-grade hardware designed for 24/7 use and datacentre-grade hardware designed for 24/7 cloud computing. Standard desktop hardware worked hard around the clock would burn out in a few years. Jeez, even the lifespan of most servers are 3-5 years as that's when their manufacturer support ends (excluding purchasing extended support which sometimes results in there being very little of the original server left if you're unlucky!).
However, a machine that is on 24/7 isn't the same as a machine that is actively being used 24/7. A desktop PC that is left in idle 90%+ of the time is not going to burn out in a few years by any stretch of the imagination. With how fast modern boot times are, I can't see any reason to not power off and on as necessary.
85-150watts idle for a PC, will be almost nothing if the pc goes into proper sleep mode
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IIRC, a desktop PC powered off with ErP enabled will consume less than 1W, reducing power usage by 70-100+ times over idle consumption.
I just tested it and my UPS shows 0 watts power draw after I sent windows to sleep
thats with the power led blinking too, probably using less than 1 watt
Idle is as I said 85-150w
Watching youtube is about 120 I guess the frequency of the cpu being more stable stops the spikes to 150
12700k & 4090.
It might even be lower power draw on more modern cpus when idle or minimum use.
4090 idles around 30watt with 1 monitor, and about 45watt with a second monitor plugged in, even if that monitor is powered off.
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