Shutdown, Sleep or On

Saul Farrell · 26 Aug 2020 at 17:36

So I have a gaming PC that I game on for around 2 hours a day, then sometimes I web brows etc... I normally just shut it down between uses but I end up turning it on and off around 5 times throughout the day. What are your opinions on this?

Mr Evil · 26 Aug 2020 at 17:52

I generally put my PC into S3 sleep unless I'm going to be away for hours. It's quicker to start up again, and the power used is negligible (a couple of watts).

Rroff · 26 Aug 2020 at 17:54

I only shutdown if I'm leaving my PC for a couple of hours or more - I have it set to drop into a low power state but not sleep as desktop systems and sleep never seems to work quite right.

JohnG7 · 26 Aug 2020 at 17:57

Cannot remember the last time it was off even overnight as its on 24/7 mostly idle mode but I use it thoughtful the day/night and its sending media to my TV Shield TV via Emby.

Plec · 27 Aug 2020 at 11:25

Rroff said:
I have it set to drop into a low power state but not sleep as desktop systems and sleep never seems to work quite right.

Similar to above and has been my forever experience with sleep - so my systems are powered on in the morning and turned off as i go to bed. Since lockdown and working from home i don't even presume to work out possible idle times that warrant a power off.

neepheid · 27 Aug 2020 at 11:40

I tend to use Sleep for all downtime, I haven't had any issues with my desktop machine - it does what I ask - goes to sleep, wakes up when I press a key or the power button. I give it a restart when Windows nags me to.

I only fully shut it down when I know I'm going to be removing the power.

Saul Farrell · 27 Aug 2020 at 16:03

Mr Evil said:
I generally put my PC into S3 sleep unless I'm going to be away for hours. It's quicker to start up again, and the power used is negligible (a couple of watts).

What is S3?

Toothy1911 · 27 Aug 2020 at 16:05

Work PC I sleep mon-fri and turn it off at the weekend. Gaming PC I turn off, at the plug too, as I'm only on it a few hours in a day max.

neepheid · 27 Aug 2020 at 16:05

Saul Farrell said:
What is S3?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface#Power_states

Delta3D · 27 Aug 2020 at 16:05

Saul Farrell said:
What is S3?

S3 is regular Windows Sleep I believe. S4 is hibernate.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/kernel/system-sleeping-states

Saul Farrell · 27 Aug 2020 at 16:08

neepheid said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface#Power_states

Delta3D said:
S3 is regular Windows Sleep I believe. S4 is hibernate.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/kernel/system-sleeping-states

Ah okay thanks. I'm kinda new to the pc world

Mr Evil · 27 Aug 2020 at 16:16

Rroff said:
...but not sleep as desktop systems and sleep never seems to work quite right.

I used to have all sorts of peculiar problems putting PCs to sleep, but it's improved a lot over time. It's been many years since I had any trouble.

Shante · 28 Aug 2020 at 22:26

Less than an hour, then sleep

Blue160 · 1 Sep 2020 at 10:14

I shut down when I’m not using it. Boot times are so quick these days I don’t see the point in doing anything else.

Randomface74 · 1 Sep 2020 at 10:46

I shut it down overnight, otherwise usually on. Don't trust sleep.

Saul Farrell · 2 Sep 2020 at 19:41

billysielu said:
I shut it down overnight, otherwise usually on. Don't trust sleep.

Can I ask why you don't trust sleep?

Randomface74 · 2 Sep 2020 at 20:10

had issues with it not waking up before

Saul Farrell · 2 Sep 2020 at 20:40

billysielu said:
had issues with it not waking up before

Ah okay. I normally have mine on sleep if I'm using it throughout the day...

stuie · 2 Sep 2020 at 21:15

Shutdown.

With SSD's and such the additional 2 or 3 seconds saved makes no difference to me

heatonpkmassive · 3 Sep 2020 at 00:40

stuie said:
Shutdown.

With SSD's and such the additional 2 or 3 seconds saved makes no difference to me

Same.