How bad is it to keep my PSU powered on?

[Nabeel Farooqui]

Hey there TH. I've kind of a stupid question.

My PSU is plugged in to the wall at all times. The switch in turned on at all times. The switch on the back of the PSU is turned on at all times. And AFAIK the LED on my Strix 970 and that orange LED for the LAN port on my mobo stay on.

Is that bad? This is a new PC and when I realized that this was happening I started keeping the PSU's small back switch off when not is use.

I will be getting two new case fans which will be connected directly to the PSU via Molex. Will they also be on at all times if I don't turn off the PSU itself?

 

[Saberus]

It's not bad, it's called standby power. There's no harm in leaving the PSU switched on and plugged in. It can convert the small amounts of power it needs for standby without needing active cooling. The PSU won't supply standby power to anything that isn't powered by the mobo, which is the only place the standby power goes. So your Molex-connected fans won't run while the system is off.

 

[Math Geek]

yup no problem at all. same as your stove running the clock even though it's not on or the coffee maker or microwave clocks as well. little bit of power used but not bothering the rest at all nor effecting it any.

only time i bother turning it off is when i leave for a week or more. then i unplug it juts in case something screwy happens while i away. otherwise i never touch it.

 

[Nabeel Farooqui]

It's not bad, it's called standby power. There's no harm in leaving the PSU switched on and plugged in. It can convert the small amounts of power it needs for standby without needing active cooling. The PSU won't supply standby power to anything that isn't powered by the mobo, which is the only place the standby power goes. So your Molex-connected fans won't run while the system is off.

Wait, so how would the PSU know to give power to molex fans?

 

[Saberus]

It's not bad, it's called standby power. There's no harm in leaving the PSU switched on and plugged in. It can convert the small amounts of power it needs for standby without needing active cooling. The PSU won't supply standby power to anything that isn't powered by the mobo, which is the only place the standby power goes. So your Molex-connected fans won't run while the system is off.

Wait, so how would the PSU know to give power to molex fans?

When you hit the power button on the PC, it sends a signal to the PSU to turn on, and then the PSU comes up and supplies power to everything, not just the standby power.