to leave it running or not

[Scar]

"was wondering how many of you ppl out there leave your computers running 24/7 and what the benefits and/or disadvantages there are for doing so"

Yes, the advantages/disadvantages for THE COMPUTER, the hardware that's inside. Not the ethics or conservation of the world economy. don't play antics.
thank you everyone else for your simple yet intelligent answers. it seems some of us have a propensity to over analyze things.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Such is the nature of the internet at times... along with forums like these. If we didn't over analyze things, we would be average computer users.

 

[Papier]

I leave mine on all the time, 24/7.

As for the economy and stuff, hmm... deep thoughts.

A car is used for transportation only (let's just focus on need for now. I'm not bashing any racers ). Let's say it's efficient that all cars are used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now most people would say "TRAFFIC WILL BE HORRIBLE. F#$%$# YOU PAPIER!" (Added @$% for more dramatic effect), but we're putting the consumer good to best use by 24/7 usage. Of course, oil prices will sky-rocket and so on. Not really the best scenario. Not only that, but the car's only purpose is to transport. That is only good for logistics, which is good and needed, but it doesn't exactly provide us with technological advances (especially if you have more transportation than goods or people).

Computers on the other hand is a versatile resource. Computers is pretty much a filling cabinet, stress reliever (hmm... CoD), an education tool and much more. Alot of people say that folding is needed to advance research on cancer, aids, and so on. They're right. But this is the only first step. We'll have folding for other things, like maybe physics, the nuclear field and so on. So what does the computer does exactly? It advances technology. More advance our technology is, more efficient we can become. Like say fighter craft. With limited resources from a rare metal (as an example), we can make 5,000 aircrafts. Then someone figures out that they can combine two metals to make cheaper, stronger alloy. So they are able to make 10,000 fighter crafts. That is what technological advance can do.

Yes, even though it is inefficient to have the average joe's computer on 24/7 doing nothing, in the end it's called opportunity cost. We trade electricity and oil (and whatever resources we use to creat electricity) to make sure computers can stay on 24/7. Why? Because computers can teaches us stuff (how do most people learn to overclock? someone will say ocforums and that is on the computer ), and with this knowledge we will become more technological efficient with the economy. As you can see, it's not limited to just folding, it's alot more. We trade electricity to future-proof ourselves and to hope we can make a better fuel source for electricity or better fuel alternatives that we can make use of now. Which in the end will provide more electricity. Alot of people aint happy now, but they will be in the future.

I have alot more thoughts, but my brain is fried from college, working out, 6 hours of sleep, and being sick. Maybe I'll post later.

 

[obsolete]

Sometimes the analogies or theories/explanations by people are more then irritating.

 

[enduro]

My brain hurts after reading all of those analogies Not to mention that I just bombed a Linear Algebra test. My teacher absolutely sucks. You know all of the proofs in the beginning of the math books? Yeah, my prof. copies those out of the book, and doesn't do any examples in class. NOT to mention that the books problems were completely different from what he had on the test. Go figure.

 

[MadSkillzMan]

im sure no one has addressed this.

Leaving the harddrives on 24/7 decreases head spinups which can be harsh on the motors. Also, turning it on and off you get whats called Chip Creek, meaning the expantion and contraction of the hardware around chips lets them slowly walk out of their place..but i dontthink thats any issue with todays hardware is it?

The thing im afraid of leaving my dually on, is the fact i have...2 PSUs, and some crazy total of 13 fans in the whole thing including PSU and VGA card...well what if onea those fans happens to crap out? or the whole PSU? i aint around and my dually goes down and well im not up for that.

I have left it on, rendering huge videos for skool projects. Somewhat hard to fall asleep to, but i hardly sleep on weekends as it is...so if some alarm wer to go off i could deal it

I do leave my junker rigs on, but only if theyre busy...downloading usually or if friends want a private quake server throughout the nite...and ill leave AIM on then....otherwise i dont....the junkers are much quieter than the dually. id leave my old mac on, but if the PSU blows im never gonna find another one

 

[enduro]

Yeah, I can't blame you for worrying about your rig. I'd worry about mine, except for the fact that it's dying all ready anyway. My onboard sound is toast, and my overclock is gone as well. So it's just a matter of time before my board dies anyway.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Sometimes the analogies or theories/explanations by people are more then irritating.

Analogies - cars to computers and vice versa especially - are certainly spawns of the devil. If it can just be said clearly and accurately, it is much better than using an analogy.

Sadly though, for a top-level understanding analogies are often easy ways to quickly explain (don't mind other inaccuracies they might raise).

 

[speed bump]

If I didn't leave my computer all the time it would take forever to get anything done. Becuase I would turn it on and say i'll bet I could get my oc even higher. Then spend an hour trying.

 

[enduro]

Yeah, no kidding. You see that BIOS prompt and you just have to mess with one more setting to see if it will give you 300 magical fsb. And then you're still stuck at 255. I know how you feel man.

 

[orion456]

My brain hurts after reading all of those analogies Not to mention that I just bombed a Linear Algebra test. My teacher absolutely sucks. You know all of the proofs in the beginning of the math books? Yeah, my prof. copies those out of the book, and doesn't do any examples in class. NOT to mention that the books problems were completely different from what he had on the test. Go figure.

Had a linear algebra prof like that, come to class, read out of the book, then gave tests that didn't match the book. I guess he figured we might actually do the problems in the book and pass the tests so why not get different problems out of another book. Some profs shouldn't be.

 

[enduro]

I know. I was talking with people after the test, and even the local math nut is stumped with 3 of the chapters that we've gone over. This guy is a terrible teacher. I have this Romanian Einstein for Diff. Eq. and that class is easy compared to this. And from what I've heard, Linear is supposed to be one of the easiest courses to take.

So are you in college right now Orion? I'm going into Electrical Engineering, but I'm going to be focusing on the computer side of it, so it's really a computer engineering degree. I'm a sophmore right now, and up until Linear, math classes have been a breeze (except for Calc II, that was tough).

 

[socket7]

I leave my computers on 24/7. My moms old G3 has stopped working 3 times due to cards working their way loose from their sockets because of thermal expansion. I also leave them on because my room is very cold (3 story house, I live on the 3rd floor, the only thermostat lives on the first), and the computers raise the temperature 2 or 3 degrees.

If you are looking for a general rule for when you should turn off your computer, I would turn it on when you first want to use it during the day, and then turn it off when you're done using it for the day. This reduces problems with thermal expansion, disk wear, etc, while still saving power.

As for power/pollution concerns, I'm not. The more energy I use, the sooner someone will discover cold fusion or something equally useful, and end our energy crisis forever. The simple sad fact is: Humanity as a whole will not change their ways unless forced. If I reduced the amount of energy I used, someone else would just take it anyways. I suppose you could say that someone in a third world country could use the energy more, but the problem is a lack of any viable means to distribute it so it would go to waste, or get lost in transmission.

/no guilt that he leaves his computers on.

 

[MadSkillzMan]

my dually heats this place like 7F...with all the monitors on its ALOT more than that..house will generally be about 85 on the hot summer nites..in here its 96-98F. i feel bad for my fish in my comp already

 

[I.M.O.G.]

AFAIK, thermal expansion/contractions occurs on microscopic levels. It will not walk cards out of PCI slots or actually physically loosen chips from their mountings.

If you have cards working themselves loose, you should examine the metal PCI slot cover on the card and ensure it is not bent in such a way that it tends to torque the card out of place.

 

[Xenocide]

I leave my computers on 24/7. My moms old G3 has stopped working 3 times due to cards working their way loose from their sockets because of thermal expansion.

who exactly told you that....

a computer, especially a g3 doesn't generate enough heat to make metal expand and contract at a noticable level

 

[orion456]

I leave my computers on 24/7. My moms old G3 has stopped working 3 times due to cards working their way loose from their sockets because of thermal expansion. I also leave them on because my room is very cold (3 story house, I live on the 3rd floor, the only thermostat lives on the first), and the computers raise the temperature 2 or 3 degrees.

Ummm, heat rises so if you are up there, it should be hotter than down there. Either that or physics is all wrong....again.

But, ok if it keeps you warm at night I won't begrudge you the extra heat for a cosy sleep....umm you could find someone to share with you and tell them its saving energy and the world...that might work too. Two are always warmer than one.

The simple sad fact is: Humanity as a whole will not change their ways unless forced. If I reduced the amount of energy I used, someone else would just take it anyways.

I dunno about that, look at all the people who are recycling and reusing things, they aren't being forced to do that. I think people want to do the responsible thing they just need some encouragement and a pat on the back......so I'm encouraging you to save energy when you can. It might not seem like much, 20 watts, but it really represents the Hoover Dam for heaven sakes.

 

[socket7]

Ummm, heat rises so if you are up there, it should be hotter than down there. Either that or physics is all wrong....again.

That is part of the problem actually. I have to turn my radiator off (cast iron steam radiator converted to forced hot water) to keep the temp in my room from skyrocketing to 93 degrees. I've never been able to find a sweet spot on the valve. It's always either pours out heat or is cold.

umm you could find someone to share with you and tell them its saving energy and the world...that might work too. Two are always warmer than one.

Yah. Unfortunately she's in Oakland and I'm in Boston. Only time in my life I fell asleep easily was next to her. ;_;

I dunno about that, look at all the people who are recycling and reusing things, they aren't being forced to do that. I think people want to do the responsible thing they just need some encouragement and a pat on the back......so I'm encouraging you to save energy when you can. It might not seem like much, 20 watts, but it really represents the Hoover Dam for heaven sakes.

I save where I can, all my light bulbs are the 3 year low draw ones. (15-35 watts rather then the 60-100 watt ones I'd normally use) Those suckers are a really good Idea actually. If you're a homeowner, you could easily save 300 watts on light bulbs alone and they last a LOT longer.

I guess the biggest reason I leave my rig on is that it has a spiritual significance to me. Sounds weird I know, but the warm glow of a monitor and the whine of the drives helps me to meditate. I'm sure I'm personifying it a fair amount too, I always think it looks sad somehow when it's turned off.

 

[enduro]

You know, it's kind of strange, but I can understand where you're coming from on that last statement. It's not a spiritual thing for me, but if I see my computer off, it just feels wrong. I just have this need to let it run and fold, because my room is too quiet when it's off. I can't even think clearly if it's not running.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I save where I can, all my light bulbs are the 3 year low draw ones. (15-35 watts rather then the 60-100 watt ones I'd normally use) Those suckers are a really good Idea actually. If you're a homeowner, you could easily save 300 watts on light bulbs alone and they last a LOT longer.

Yeah, those funny looking light buld's are great power savers... unless you overclock them and then they can really suck some juice.

But seriously, they are a good idea to use, a great power saver... If you try them and don't like the light they give off, remember that each bulb emits a slightly different color of white light, so you might try swapping out bulbs in different rooms to find one that works best in a given room - one color might work well in your wash room, while it looks kind of off in your living room.