How long does your computer stay on every week?

**jazzedup** · October 9th, 2007, 11:32 PM

I keep it on for at least 6.5 days!

**HelenaP** · October 9th, 2007, 11:58 PM

Never off.

**Boomer The Dog** · October 10th, 2007, 02:54 AM

At least 16 hours a day, not usually running while I sleep. That's not just one machine sometimes, since when there's video going on, there could be a couple of others running for a few hours. With all of this use, I hope that the companies are working on 'green' lower power chips.

When did every house pretty much get a PC, I guess it was soon after the Summer that Windows 98 came out. What would be interesting is to see how much electric power usage has gone up in that time too.

Now I know that there were computers in the decades before that, but not everyone had one, and they didn't do all of your business, entertainment, and communications tasks for you, so there would be less of a reason to have one on constantly.

**Sexytkat41** · October 10th, 2007, 03:59 AM

I keep my on all the time, so if I have a sleepless night I can just come down stairs and it's always waiting on me.

I know I have a problem!

og45ty · October 10th, 2007, 06:16 AM

Earlier for 12-14 hours. Now at work I situated at the computer for 8-9 hours. 1 hour rest on a road home. And at home about 6-7 hours. It`s every day. At weekend this time may be longer or not. :)

**lezwez** · October 10th, 2007, 06:22 AM

Do computers have a turn off button?:icon_scra

og45ty · October 10th, 2007, 06:25 AM

Originally Posted by lezwez

Do computers have a turn off button?:icon_scra

lol ^^^ :icon_thum

**Mels_Smileys45** · October 10th, 2007, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by lezwez

Do computers have a turn off button?:icon_scra

They do unless you want to burn out a power supply. I use to keep my PCs running (uploading/downloding) 24/7 non stop but got tired of buying 2 power supplies a year. I have 650 true power antec now but I still give my PC some downtime. Its also very hard on your harddrives if you upload/download 24/7. Sooner or later they will pop and you will lose everything.

I also save about 20 bucks a month on my electric bill by turning off my PC while Im at work.

**RACKnRAIL** · October 10th, 2007, 07:25 AM

Mels...I have that same PS, but I rarely turn off my computer. I will turn it off if a storm is brewing or if I'm going away, which is common sense. I was told once that turning your computer on and off all the time was hard on your hard drive. I am not sure of the logic behind that. I just keep mine on. I have not had a PS die on me since my old win98 box, that just had a 200 watter. I was lucky though, as it didn't take any hardware or data with it.

**Lord_of_the_Dense** · October 10th, 2007, 09:13 AM

Does the Standby button count? I have mine in a desk cubby with a door. Times like now the door is open, but when I sleep, it goes into standby with the door closed, mostly due to the bright blue flashing power light (standby mode). That and the modem lights flickering. I just prefer it to be dark and quiet. If I leave it on and shut the door, it doesn't get enough pass-through ventilation.

Mels, I sincerely doubt you're paying 20 bucks on a PC alone. I've read many times these things consume very little juice overall, but that it can wreak havoc on the components over time. I'm going on my thind year with no replacements, only upgrades. I may have the same tower and power supply 10 years from now if all goes well.

**carpefile** · October 10th, 2007, 11:21 AM

Man, I've got 10 that run 24/7, unless I'm going out of town, then my 7 get shut down. If the whole family goes than all of them get shut off, cept the OFF node.

I wonder how much juice that uses?

**drtoker** · October 10th, 2007, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Mels_Smileys45

They do unless you want to burn out a power supply. I use to keep my PCs running (uploading/downloding) 24/7 non stop but got tired of buying 2 power supplies a year. I have 650 true power antec now but I still give my PC some downtime. Its also very hard on your harddrives if you upload/download 24/7. Sooner or later they will pop and you will lose everything.

I also save about 20 bucks a month on my electric bill by turning off my PC while Im at work.

Wow, your power supplies must suck!
I keep my pc on 24/7. My last computer lasted 3 years, just retired it cause i got a new one, it was still fine.
My current computer has been on 24/7 for about 2 years with no trouble.
All my friends keep 'em on all day too, never had to replace a power supply yet.

**Signa** · October 10th, 2007, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by RACKnRAIL

Mels...I have that same PS, but I rarely turn off my computer. I will turn it off if a storm is brewing or if I'm going away, which is common sense. I was told once that turning your computer on and off all the time was hard on your hard drive. I am not sure of the logic behind that. I just keep mine on. I have not had a PS die on me since my old win98 box, that just had a 200 watter. I was lucky though, as it didn't take any hardware or data with it.

i thought it had to do with the expansion and contraction of the warm/cooling parts that can cause it to get out of sync or something.

as for me, i never do turn it off. i only lost one power supply once. it was a cheep one so that explains that. i have lost a few hard drives, but i think only one was to torrents, and it was pretty old. i did manage to get all my stuff off of it before it went kaput.

**lezwez** · October 10th, 2007, 03:24 PM

I have not lost any computer hardware yet touch wood and everything in my computer is stock only the gfexcard is different i never built the pc so its shop made. good thing is i have 3 copys of everything which is important to me laptop exturnal and my normal computer. i be honest only time i turn it off is when i hover out the fans and the inside for big dust balls getting stuck i tend to notice this when the room gets kind of hot its strange the pc can heat up a room say every three months of so this gets done other then that theres no off button.

the only thing i have lost is a pc TFT monitor stay away from viewsonic good quality but very very very poor crappy crappy coustomer services

and i do have quite excesive download habbits any time i get hard driver errors i can't seem to format or even if i do format and still get errors i run dariks nuke and boot it sorts it out for some strange reason which i have done on a number of occations when i install windows it worked but kept getting error messages i run this this install again and no problem but this is also very rare twice now in two or three years not sure which

**nicolasavru** · October 10th, 2007, 03:30 PM

Yea, the connectors expand and contract every time they heat up and cool down, which in the long term, causes "chip creep". You have to open up your case and just check all the connectors if that happens.

I also keep my comp on 24/7, and have never had problems with my power supply or my torrent hard drive. I have a 250GB Western Digital external drive which I use for active torrents, (among other things of course) and two 400GB Western Digital external drives where I keep redundant copies of everything I download, with the exception of movies, which I burn onto DVDs.