Question Shutting down PC every night.. Bad idea?

[Rhaemond]

I've seen posts that a PCs lifespan actually deteriorates due to shutting it down overnight and turning it on in the morning... Is it really advisable to just leave it running 24/7 compared to turning it off when not in use?

Another, would temperature actually affect the PCs lifespan? I've read that if you shut down your PC, it cools the parts and then when you turn it on it heats em up again making the parts wear down... Is this true? I have an air conditioned room...

Thanks for any replies. I've been leaving my PC overnight to download games via Steam and Amazon and have seem to be experiencing no problems from it. But I'm hoping for an expert/experienced response. Thank you again!

 

[jankerson]

In reality no well used pc is ever on 24/7.
Whether its for system updates or program installation, a restart once in a while is necessary.

I dont think turning on and off a pc is bad, but running it 24/7 wont hurt it either.

I could see keeping the pc on 24/7 could hurt if you had malware thag could wear a hdd.

Only time one really has to shut down the pc completely is for hardware changes, other than that a restart is all that is needed.

So other than the occasional power outage and said hardware changes a lot of them are on 24/7.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I live near a large factory that i believe may have something to do with my ocassional power outages. So my router and computer get involuntarily shut down ocassionally.

I think a really cheap psu after a ton of "cold boots" might fail to deliver the amount of current it takes to power on a pc initially, but a really cheap psu would degrade over time with 24/7 usage, so... Just dont buy a cheap psu.

Really no benefits either way as i see it.

 

[jankerson]

I live near a large factory that i believe may have something to do with my ocassional power outages. So my router and computer get involuntarily shut down ocassionally.

I think a really cheap psu after a ton of "cold boots" might fail to deliver the amount of current it takes to power on a pc initially, but a really cheap psu would degrade over time with 24/7 usage, so... Just dont buy a cheap psu.

Really no benefits either way as i see it.

Not buying a cheap PSU goes without saying, or at least it should anyway, but as most know that's just not the case MOST of the time.

That's the 1st place people cut costs on either by being cheap (Or stupid) and or bad advice from the budget gurus that should never be giving any advice period to anyone ever.

 

[captaincharisma]

I've seen posts that a PCs lifespan actually deteriorates due to shutting it down overnight and turning it on in the morning... Is it really advisable to just leave it running 24/7 compared to turning it off when not in use?

Another, would temperature actually affect the PCs lifespan? I've read that if you shut down your PC, it cools the parts and then when you turn it on it heats em up again making the parts wear down... Is this true? I have an air conditioned room...

Thanks for any replies. I've been leaving my PC overnight to download games via Steam and Amazon and have seem to be experiencing no problems from it. But I'm hoping for an expert/experienced response. Thank you again!

and i bet most of those posts you have seen were from the 90's/ early 2000's. with how much tech has evolved this should not be an issue anymore. a PC is built to be left on 24/7 but there is no reason why turning it on and off will have any impact on a modern computer.

if you are still unsure then just remember that laptops are about the same as desktop PC's and they are powered off a lot

 

[AllanGH]

...a lot of people aren't old enough to remember when it was very true and very relevant.

I won't admit it very often, what with all these whippersnappers running around here, but I will concede to carrying a bag of tubes to Radio Shack or Thrifty to poke them into the tube tester, and pay my $1.79 for a new tube or two; and television wasn't color until I had already left home.

The primary problem was, back then, when you removed power from an amplifier that was on 24/7, for years at a time, you almost invariably had a popped filament in one or more tubes when you powered it back up. We usually kept bags with a full compliment of tube boxes in them, for those occasions--just swap tubes in, and back-out, until all the filaments lit up.

However, we live in the present, and that old adage is now relegated to the ritualistic observances that hold no truth any longer. Thermal stress is simply not the longevity consideration that it was in the 1960's.

 

[jankerson]

I won't admit it very often, what with all these whippersnappers running around here, but I will concede to carrying a bag of tubes to Radio Shack or Thrifty to poke them into the tube tester, and pay my $1.79 for a new tube or two; and television wasn't color until I had already left home.

The primary problem was, back then, when you removed power from an amplifier that was on 24/7, for years at a time, you almost invariably had a popped filament in one or more tubes when you powered it back up. We usually kept bags with a full compliment of tube boxes in them, for those occasions--just swap tubes in, and back-out, until all the filaments lit up.

However, we live in the present, and that old adage is now relegated to the ritualistic observances that hold no truth any longer. Thermal stress is simply not the longevity consideration that it was in the 1960's.

Things tend to be better these days as you said.

However it depends on the actual parts like the PSU mainly that has been brought up also.

When people shut down the PC's all the time and or disconnect them from the power and turn them back on the low quality units don't handle that very well over time. That is what MOST people tend to have, lower quality PSU's, that's the main thing they cheap out on.

Other than that as long as the PC has quality parts it should be fine for the most part either way, especially with the good SSD's.

 

[AllanGH]

That is what MOST people tend to have, lower quality PSU's, that's the main thing they cheap out on.

A very frustrating aspect of being handed a killer system to repair, which was built on top of a crap power supply.

All too often, pretty-much everything in the cabinet is toast.

 

[USAFRet]

Even a theoretical good one, from a known manufacturer.
Corsair CX600 killed one of my motherboards.

 

[AllanGH]

Yeah. While I have been fortunate in never actually having a PSU nuke itself on me, I won't use anything other than an AX on my personal builds.

The bad cap plague of 2006, on the other hand....I really got beat-up with those.

 

[zodz77]

I have one i5 machine that has been running 24-7-365 since April 2013....

Just changed the PSU and swapped out the case, other than that it's been on all the time. Added an SSD as the main boot drive also.

I have 3 PC's, 2 run 24/7 and the other I turn on only when I use it.

you been very lucky with no power surge's

 

[jankerson]

you been very lucky with no power surge's

Nope, I just don't buy garbage PSU's.

 

[jankerson]

A very frustrating aspect of being handed a killer system to repair, which was built on top of a crap power supply.

All too often, pretty-much everything in the cabinet is toast.

Happens all the time, more so than not.

Expensive lesson for the idiot owners, but one that needs to be learned one way or another.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Even a theoretical good one, from a known manufacturer.
Corsair CX600 killed one of my motherboards.

This. Even “good” ones can fail badly just not as likely

 

[jankerson]

This. Even “good” ones can fail badly

The CX series is not and never has been GOOD.

The good ones from Corsair start with the RMX and go up from there.

It's extremely bad advice to recommend any CX or CXM for anything other than the more basic systems.

Something a lot of people have learned the hard way over time.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Even your Rmx are not invincible. Lol. Stop deluding yourself. Everything can fail. I’m done with this. Bye

 

[USAFRet]

The CX series is not and never has been GOOD.

The good ones from Corsair start with the RMX and go up from there.

It's extremely bad advice to recommend them for anything other than the more basic systems.

Several years ago (2010-2012?) the CX series was considered "OK". No worse than medium grade.
And, it comes from an otherwise good manufacturer.

 

[jankerson]

Several years ago (2010-2012?) the CX series was considered "OK". No worse than medium grade.
And, it comes from an otherwise good manufacturer.

And they were WRONG about it too.

Dead wrong with a lot of fried PC parts and PC's left in it's wake.

The Politics of the PC industry misleading people, sad but true.

It wasn't Corsair fault however, it was bad advice putting them in PC's they never should have been in.

That is nothing new however and it still goes on today and on a daily basis.

 

[USAFRet]

Now that this On/Off thread has gone completely around the bend....

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Modern CX power supplies (<650 watt) are good for their pricepoint. A lot of times you can find modern 2015 or 2017 model CX power supply with a rebate that cuts its price in half. The CX units are not the best at all, but much better than the no name units you find at that pricepoint.

Back in the green label days, failing cx psus were common. Of course Corsair would be easy to deal with for rma, but they cant change that your psu killed other components.

 

[Karadjgne]

Everything has a shelf life. When products are first designed like Tv's or SSDs for instance, you can expect a much shorter shelf life. As time goes on, and things are refined, tweaked, understood, production processes are streamlined etc then that shelf life gets longer.

Unless subjected to abuse beyond the design parameters. Like the Corsair CX. Corsair even stated as much on their website, that the CX were designed as an OEM replacement. You didn't even see the word 'gaming' until hitting RM series or higher. That was the entire problem in a nutshell, buyer ignorance. JG reviewed a CX and it did pretty good. For what it was. What it wasn't was designed for the abuse a high draw gpu would put it through, so they averaged 18months before smoking. And at $30ish, you can bet not many got rma, mostly just thrown in the trash.

Shelf life of a cpu that's kept within parameters is over 20 years. There's ppl with working pc's that are close to 40 years old. The only thing I've ever seen related to on/off periods that was of any use happend not to be the pc, but a Seagate hdd, some of which use platter parking. That was a hair brained idea to start with.

 

[jankerson]

Unless subjected to abuse beyond the design parameters. Like the Corsair CX. Corsair even stated as much on their website, that the CX were designed as an OEM replacement. You didn't even see the word 'gaming' until hitting RM series or higher. That was the entire problem in a nutshell, buyer ignorance. JG reviewed a CX and it did pretty good. For what it was. What it wasn't was designed for the abuse a high draw gpu would put it through, so they averaged 18months before smoking. And at $30ish, you can bet not many got rma, mostly just thrown in the trash.

Some of us tried to tell people that only to get flamed etc.

But in the end those whom did the flaming had to eat crow.

Sadly a lot of people paid for it with fried parts.

That is something I try and avoid when I recommend parts to others, I recommend quality 1st over all else.

 

[USAFRet]

And again...this offroad discussion into good/bad PSU's is offtopic for this thread.

We can start a new thread on PSU capability, or we can glom onto one of the hundreds of previous PSU threads.

 

[jankerson]

And again...this offroad discussion into good/bad PSU's is offtopic for this thread.

We can start a new thread on PSU capability, or we can glom onto one of the hundreds of previous PSU threads.

Your are right as usual.

Back on track.

I think today it doesn't matter as much as it used to as far as Turning it off or on goes.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Discussion - What is the minimum power supply you would reccomend for a gaming pc?

This discussion stemed from a different thread after talking about how cheap power supplies degrade after restarts. What would be the cheapest power supply that you would reccomend for a budget gaming system with dedicated graphics and a higher power draw? Also, what do you think is the best...

forums.tomshardware.com

Done...
For a decent pc with adaquate cooling and adaquate power supply, it doesnt matter if you shut down and power on yiur pc daily. If you do shut down your pc often, you may waste less energy.

 

[USAFRet]

For me, the $120/year (actual calculated value) it takes to leave my system, my wifes system, and my NAS box on 24/7 more than paid for itself.
Leaving the systems on and idling lets them run their automated backups at 1, 2, 3 AM, all unattended.

This paid for itself last year after the sudden death of a 1TB SSD, taking 605GB data with it.
Nightly Incremental backup was at 4AM, click click click...recover 100% of the 605GB data from that.

Lacking that automated nightly, the last manual 'backup' may have been the previous week. Or month. Because no one ever does a manual backup every day.
Losing some of the intervening data.
The typical data recovery tools were null and void, because that drive was dead dead dead. SanDisk agreed. Dead.
A data recovery service would have been Infinity$$. Dead is dead.