Who leaves their PC on all the time?

Associate
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3 Jun 2005
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We have 4 pcs running 24/7 in our house and the electric bill is stupidly low.

We probably use more electricity using our microwave (which doesnt get much use) over a month then we do leaving all 4 pcs on for a month solid.

Obviously this is figurably speaking but its not that far from the truth.
 
Associate
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All these 24/7 downloading rigs could be doing something useful with their electricity like Folding@Home and not clogging up the net for everyone else.
 
Soldato
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I turn my PC off anytime I know I wont be using it again within 1 hour, and in 20+ years of computing, I've only ever had 1 PSU fail during power up, and no other serious faults to report. A few bad sectors on hard drives, and a few faults caused by overheating and failed fans etc, but nothing to be concerned about.

If an average PC uses 150W of power (Most people totally overestimate their PC's power requirements.) then it will use 1KWh (1 unit) of power every 6.6 hours. Thats 3.6 units per day, or around 1300 units per year per computer.

True thats not a 'huge' power requirement, but it still adds up. Around £120 a year depending on your unit cost.

Those costs will increase if the computer isnt idle ie folding/boink etc, although downloading uses very little CPU power, so a download rig is pretty much minimum power.


As I have 3 computers at home, its worth my while to switch them off when not in use. And I dont believe Im just being 'cheap' I leave all my Hi'Fi amps powered up 24/7 even though I know that its using 140W of power just to 'heat' my home. Thing is, the hifi doesnt quite sound right until its warmed up for an hour, whereas the computer is ready to go 1 minute after I turn it on.
 
Soldato
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MK45
I leave my PC on all the time - I just turn the monitor off when I'm not using it. I never used to with my old one but with this one I do, as it is meant to be better for HDD (not having to spin up and spin down all the time - which is when most wear occurs) ...








and I can get lots of Folding@Home done :D:p!
 
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Eating PI
keogh said:
Someone mentioned to me on another post that they left their PC running all the time and didnt turn it off.. said its better for the PC.

But not for the local powergrid, especially if you're running a 600w+ PSU.

I tend to leave mine on for days on end downloading stuff but I must admit that the leccy bill changes somewhat :(
 
Man of Honour
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In bed with your sister
All four desktops and the laptop are folding 24/7.

I have 2 in the bedroom and 2 + the laptop in the living room .

I intend building a folding farm which will be in the bedroom - I'm looking at starting with 3 or 4 machines (on top of the two already there) and building up as I go along. The noise doesn't bother me as I work on oil rigs which are not quiet places anyway.

Stan :)
 
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CurlyWhirly said:
I never leave my PC on 24/7 :eek:

I turn it off before I go to bed and so in my opinion turning it off once or twice a day doesn't do it any harm.




I'll second that, once or twice a day doesn't do it any harm
and i have 3 pc's thay all go on then off at night.
 
Man of Honour
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I always leave my pc on, despite having one that burst into flames in the past. Too lazy to wait the 10 seconds or so it takes to boot, although if the computer was in the same room i slept in it'd go off.
 
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