Maximum PC

I'm wondering, is it better for my computer to leave it running 24/7, or to shut it down when I sleep at night? Or I could shut it down BOTH when I sleep and when I go to work.

Obviously there's less wear on moving parts when it's shut down, but doesn't the power surge on startup cause some stress too? Interested to hear peoples' thoughts on this.

The amount of power "surge" on start up is minimal. Go ahead and shut it down.

Whatever you want to do. Power consumption-wise, it'll use less power if you shut it off overnight, and it'll put less wear and tear on the parts. I keep my machine on 24/7, mostly because I fold with it, but its also nice to have your machine at the ready whenever, especially since my SSD-lacking machine takes a while to boot.

I leave mine on all the time. Only time I turn it off is if I have to bring it somewhere with me.

This has become an age old question.

The surge at startup is only part of the issue. There is also thermal cycling. Both will eventually cause failures.

However, in this day and age parts are pretty robust and folks upgrade so often it doesn't seem to be an issue.

So, why not save some money and fossil fuel and shut down?

I'm oldschool - my systems have up times measured in months - not hours (except my lap book and kindle and what not). AT work I have systems that have "Years" on their uptime meter (although, I doubt they have ever counted past 1). That said, I still pay the bills at home and have uber low power standby settings. If you can't drop the idle usage to <20watts - I would turn them off. ANd just so you know - your system while "Off" still pulls 7-9 watts out of the wall. Unless you pull the plug, they are never actually "off". SO, if you can choke down to 20 or so - you have best of both worlds.

MOst wear comes from surges and thermal cycling. Leaving your system on actually keeps this to a minimum. However, how much it matters is up for debate. Does it save you money to leave it on and avoid the wear? Most folks say no.

But there was a time not too long ago when this was true.

Personally, I would just leave it on. Computers are machines, work-horses and are meant to be running 24/7. Damage in anyway isn't that high of a factor. You just have to figure out the best solution. Ask yourself, is it doing anything why your not using it? Do you mind the extra electricity it pulls?

If your still on edge, put it in hibernation and unplug it. The next time you start it up, it will resume where you left off.

Also depends what you do when the computer isn't in use... I fold with my machine when I'm not using it.

Thanks for so many replies, yeah....sounds like no consensus. Sometimes I seed torrents at night, but that's all it does when I'm not on. I'm not concerned with electricity, or saving money, just making this thing last longer: it has a long way to go before it needs to be replaced. (Core i7 920, haven't even overclocked it YET).

I suppose I brought this topic up because my old PC, which I built myself, had the power supply explode one day right when I turned it on. My roommate suggested it was because I was always turning the thing off and on, it finally had enough. But in retrospec it was a cheap-ass generic power supply. My currect machine is an Alienware, which I presume has somewhat-decent parts.