Turn computer off, leave on, hibernate, what?

[tuffluck]

i am building a new computer this week. my current build is 4 years old and has literally been on 24/7 in that time. i had it overclocked for a while, but it eventually didn't like that clock and slowed itself back down to stock speed. i don't know if that was a product of leaving it on all the time or just having it for 4 years.

so my new system will have an SSD, 2500k, 8gb RAM. i use my PC for only a couple of hours per day. during the work day and during the nighttime, i don't use it. i'm wondering if i need to leave it on all the time, turn it off when not in use, or put it in hibernate. what is your opinion? i know this is a pretty debatable topic, but i'm just curious what others think.

 

[treefrog07]

Do whatever you want. I use my 4 year-old system 6-8 hours a day, some nights I turn it off and some nights I leave it running (no hibernation). I once had a security system on it, so it was on 24/7. Just clean the intake fan dust filters once a month and the CPU cooler every few months. Maybe re-seat the CPU with fresh thermal interface material every 6-8 months.

 

[rocknrollz]

Since you will be getting an SSD, start up time shouldn't be a problem. I highly suggest turning it off every time you plan to leave it alone or not use it for over an hour.

 

[Chainzsaw]

For me this is how I do it now:

If i will be away from my computer for say 6-12hours - I will just leave it on and let my computer idle. You could even just log off the computer and let it idle - this will allow the TRIM command to go through your SSD and keep your SSD speedy.

If I will be gone for more than 1-2 days I will shut it down for the chance of a brown out killing my computer.

Your computer really doesn't use that much electricity - maybe in the upwards of around 100$ a year. Possibly more if you use very high end equipment.

 

[Hawkeye22]

I leave my one computer on 24/7 since I remote desktop in from work and do lots of work on it. My other computer I just put to sleep when I'm not using it.

As mentioned, SSD's have quick boot times so I'd either shut it down or put it to sleep. I don't like hibernate because it creates a fairly large hiberfil.sys file.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Depends on the OS. The consumer OSes, the ones without "Server" in their name, were not meant to be on 24/7 and some people have problems after a week or two.

OTOH, idle time means that the SSD can do garbage collection.