Question Leaving PC on overnight ?

[ScarfWizard]

Hey, so, I live in a rural place and have VERY slow internet. Because of this, in order to download large games and files I will leave my pc on overnight to download, sometimes for a few days in a row.

Since I have to do this quite often, I worry about wear and tear on my system. I was wonder if there are steps I can take to mitigate the damage of doing this. Maybe a gpu sleep or something like that?

I already unplug all my peripherals and the monitor, it's the best I could come up with. It's not an urgent issue, but I just have had experience with hardware failure and I get paranoid that I'm destroying my pc every time I have to leave it on for extended periods. I figure somebody here might have some tips.

Thanks for any help.

 

[boohoo2u]

I personally wouldn't worry about it, I have a PC that is on 24/7 for CCTV and only worry about the cost of electric!

Some people say that turning a computer on/off all the time can actually cause more problems than a computer that is left on all the time.

 

[DaleH]

Hey, so, I live in a rural place and have VERY slow internet. Because of this, in order to download large games and files I will leave my pc on overnight to download, sometimes for a few days in a row.

Since I have to do this quite often, I worry about wear and tear on my system. I was wonder if there are steps I can take to mitigate the damage of doing this. Maybe a gpu sleep or something like that?

I already unplug all my peripherals and the monitor, it's the best I could come up with. It's not an urgent issue, but I just have had experience with hardware failure and I get paranoid that I'm destroying my pc every time I have to leave it on for extended periods. I figure somebody here might have some tips.

Thanks for any help.

Many pcs are left on 24/7 in industrial environments. I don't perceive any harm in doing it.

 

[JeffreyP55]

Hey, so, I live in a rural place and have VERY slow internet. Because of this, in order to download large games and files I will leave my pc on overnight to download, sometimes for a few days in a row.

Since I have to do this quite often, I worry about wear and tear on my system. I was wonder if there are steps I can take to mitigate the damage of doing this. Maybe a gpu sleep or something like that?

I already unplug all my peripherals and the monitor, it's the best I could come up with. It's not an urgent issue, but I just have had experience with hardware failure and I get paranoid that I'm destroying my pc every time I have to leave it on for extended periods. I figure somebody here might have some tips.

Thanks for any help.

No problem leaving the PC on. It is better for longevity if you don't power cycle the PC frequently.

 

[punkncat]

First, let me say that I don't think leaving the system on is going to cause any specific issue in itself. With your download speed issue, it is likely the best plan as the OS can also update on regular basis without getting behind or having to spend some marathon session doing so.


On the flip side of that environment. I turn my PC(s) off every night unless I am going to be watching Plex. I have never had a system fail in a way that I thought was BECAUSE of turning it off every night. It makes sense, it saves energy, and less hours on the hardware.
Another aspect is that I also unplug my equipment when I am going to be away from the house more than a day at work type situation. If you are gone you have no idea if storm, power surge, other unknowns have caused issue in the case the system won't come back up.

 

[JeffreyP55]

First, let me say that I don't think leaving the system on is going to cause any specific issue in itself. With your download speed issue, it is likely the best plan as the OS can also update on regular basis without getting behind or having to spend some marathon session doing so.


On the flip side of that environment. I turn my PC(s) off every night unless I am going to be watching Plex. I have never had a system fail in a way that I thought was BECAUSE of turning it off every night. It makes sense, it saves energy, and less hours on the hardware.
Another aspect is that I also unplug my equipment when I am going to be away from the house more than a day at work type situation. If you are gone you have no idea if storm, power surge, other unknowns have caused issue in the case the system won't come back up.

I have. I don't leave mt PC's on 24/7 either. Only a matter of money.

 

[USAFRet]

No 'damage' issues at all.

My main system is on 24/7.
Has been for years.

 

[punkncat]

I have. I don't leave mt PC's on 24/7 either. Only a matter of money.

Please explain to me what damage you have seen as a direct result of powering a system down. Not knocking, just curious.

 

[ScarfWizard]

I personally wouldn't worry about it, I have a PC that is on 24/7 for CCTV and only worry about the cost of electric!

Some people say that turning a computer on/off all the time can actually cause more problems than a computer that is left on all the time.

Never heard that before, that makes me feel a lot better. Thanks :3

 

[sonofjesse]

You will be fine.

 

[JeffreyP55]

Please explain to me what damage you have seen as a direct result of powering a system down. Not knocking, just curious.

Motherboard died. No reason to leave my PC on for 24 hours. Power down once a day. No documentation about the longevity either way so it is assumed nobody really knows. Maybe you have your reasons for leaving the PC powered up. Your choice, your money.
All theses years and never had a PC failure?

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

All theses years and never had a PC failure?

In 35+ years of Amiga and PC ownership I've had one failure.. a month ago when my Ryzen CPU and board imploded due to the 7000 series voltage issues. All has been well since the rebuild and BIOS updates.

I've never had any issues outside of that on any component... and yes... I leave my systems on 24/7.

 

[punkncat]

Motherboard died. No reason to leave my PC on for 24 hours. Power down once a day. No documentation about the longevity either way so it is assumed nobody really knows. Maybe you have your reasons for leaving the PC powered up. Your choice, your money.
All theses years and never had a PC failure?

There might be some misunderstanding or confusion. I don't leave any of my PC on 24/7, not even my servers unless I am actively using them. I do keep a NAS on all the time unless gone.

Certainly have had failures over the years, various causes. Couple of power supplies over the course of time, a motherboard that I killed from having a really heavy old style ThermalTake tower cooler (full copper build) that I think broke some of the traces around the CPU area of mobo, strange CPU failure, and of course the aforementioned storm/lightning strike. Aside from that, the only notable failures I have had over the years have typically been HDD, and a couple of SSD early on. I haven't had a failure in that dept. since quitting using Sandisk drives.

 

[bill001g]

I have had a number of pc on 24x7. The main one I do this with run the security cameras so it is constantly busy with cpu and disk and most the time I leave even the monitor on....it is just tv so I don't care as much. It has been running almost 5 years now. This disks are designed for constant write use but so far they have not failed. I have also had a machine run for almost 10 years I was using as a firewall/router before I upgraded my internet to 1gbit and it was too slow.

 

[USAFRet]

Knowing the idle power consumption in watts, and extrapolating that out for times when I am not actively using the system...say 16 hours per day.
A year of 24/7 costs me about $50-$60 per year, for my main PC.
Less than half that for the NAS or little HTPC.

What does that $50 a year buy me?
Unattended backups to the NAS in the wee hours when I'm not using it.
OS updates.
What is "boot time"? lol The monitors sleep after 30 minutes, but on in < 3 secs of activity.

 

[JeffreyP55]

I have had a number of pc on 24x7. The main one I do this with run the security cameras so it is constantly busy with cpu and disk and most the time I leave even the monitor on....it is just tv so I don't care as much. It has been running almost 5 years now. This disks are designed for constant write use but so far they have not failed. I have also had a machine run for almost 10 years I was using as a firewall/router before I upgraded my internet to 1gbit and it was too slow.

I use my smartphone for the security system cameras. Smartphone is on most of the time. Really don't care for smartphones and prefer a PC.

 

[JeffreyP55]

Knowing the idle power consumption in watts, and extrapolating that out for times when I am not actively using the system...say 16 hours per day.
A year of 24/7 costs me about $50-$60 per year, for my main PC.
Less than half that for the NAS or little HTPC.

What does that $50 a year buy me?
Unattended backups to the NAS in the wee hours when I'm not using it.
OS updates.
What is "boot time"? lol The monitors sleep after 30 minutes, but on in < 3 secs of activity.

Did you calculate power consumption at idle for a 5950x and RTX 3080ti FTW3? I monitor my power usage with a provider provided graph. I can tell when I shut the PC down at night. Over a year? You bet!

 

[Anon#1234]

Hey, so, I live in a rural place and have VERY slow internet. Because of this, in order to download large games and files I will leave my pc on overnight to download, sometimes for a few days in a row.

Since I have to do this quite often, I worry about wear and tear on my system. I was wonder if there are steps I can take to mitigate the damage of doing this. Maybe a gpu sleep or something like that?

I already unplug all my peripherals and the monitor, it's the best I could come up with. It's not an urgent issue, but I just have had experience with hardware failure and I get paranoid that I'm destroying my pc every time I have to leave it on for extended periods. I figure somebody here might have some tips.

Thanks for any help.

If power consumption is a concern, you can turn off your monitor (make sure in settings you have it so your pc doesnt go into sleep mode after a certain time) and just have it run with the monitor off.

 

[USAFRet]

Did you calculate power consumption at idle for a 5950x and RTX 3080ti FTW3? I monitor my power usage with a provider provided graph. I can tell when I shut the PC down at night. Over a year? You bet!

I read the actual usage at idle for my particular system via a Kill A Watt device.
80 watts at 16 hours per day = $56.10 for my current electricity cost.

My little Beelink HTPC idles at 11 watts (I just looked). Running 24/7, that is $11.57 per year.

 

[bill001g]

I use my smartphone for the security system cameras. Smartphone is on most of the time. Really don't care for smartphones and prefer a PC.

My phone would likely melt if I tried it. I have multiple cameras some are 4k constantly streaming data. I keep about a months worth of data. I doubt a phone could hold even 1 days worth much less keep track of when motion is detected and mark the video.

 

[USAFRet]

My phone would likely melt if I tried it. I have multiple cameras some are 4k constantly streaming data. I keep about a months worth of data. I doubt a phone could hold even 1 days worth much less keep track of when motion is detected and mark the video.

Same here.
I save 45 days from the 2, soon to be 3, house cameras.
Running/recording 24/7, no "motion detection" nonsense.
Each camera is 2.1TB for 45 days, saving a new file every 15 minutes.

 

[sitehostplus]

Hey, so, I live in a rural place and have VERY slow internet. Because of this, in order to download large games and files I will leave my pc on overnight to download, sometimes for a few days in a row.

Since I have to do this quite often, I worry about wear and tear on my system. I was wonder if there are steps I can take to mitigate the damage of doing this. Maybe a gpu sleep or something like that?

I already unplug all my peripherals and the monitor, it's the best I could come up with. It's not an urgent issue, but I just have had experience with hardware failure and I get paranoid that I'm destroying my pc every time I have to leave it on for extended periods. I figure somebody here might have some tips.

Thanks for any help.

Since about 1998, I have run every desktop I have ever owned 24/7/365. About the only problem I have found is you use a lot of power.

The only precaution I have is just make sure you're using a surge supressor or UPS to keep the power spikes from damaging anything, especially during an electrical storm.

Other than that, don't worry about it.

 

[JeffreyP55]

My phone would likely melt if I tried it. I have multiple cameras some are 4k constantly streaming data. I keep about a months worth of data. I doubt a phone could hold even 1 days worth much less keep track of when motion is detected and mark the video.

You obviously have different usage requirements then I do.

 

[JeffreyP55]

I read the actual usage at idle for my particular system via a Kill A Watt device.
80 watts at 16 hours per day = $56.10 for my current electricity cost.

My little Beelink HTPC idles at 11 watts (I just looked). Running 24/7, that is $11.57 per year.

My total electric bill is $60-100 with the PC on maybe 8 hours a day. Of course the bill goes up in the summer months. Arizona is not Alaska..

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

Did you calculate power consumption at idle for a 5950x and RTX 3080ti FTW3? I monitor my power usage with a provider provided graph. I can tell when I shut the PC down at night. Over a year? You bet!

So what did you save over the course of a year? Was it enough to feed a family of 4 from the McD's $1 menu?