idle rather than sleeping?

[Zeebedy]

hey guys,

if i go out for a period of time or at night i shut my system down..

but if im on and off through the day, say for a break or food, is idling OK? or should the PC be put to sleep?

 

[Donnie Fisher]

Idling is fine. a modern computer drops its power use to low values at idle... providing that it is actually idling and not churning a task in the background.

sleep is a bit better for power use and quick restart. Easily set in the power settings.

 

[Zeebedy]

Thanks, its not for crazy long times, but good to know, as an alternative to sleep.

 

[Cooler running]

Make sure to set your monitors to turn off after 30 minutes or less if you're going to do this, but otherwise it's not a huge deal

Hibernate vs Idling is more of an argument, although I'm not certain if it still works well in modern windows.