Should I turn computer off at night?

emmiemac

DanW wrote:

If you're leave it on over night is it going to be used for anything? I left mine on last night to do some cancer research only to wake up at about 6 to notice it hadn't uploaded the result so it might have been sitting there for 2/3hours doing nothing, which IMHO is a waste of money. At least if your downloading or doing some computing then it might out weigh the cost.

Don't use it for downloading or anything overnight so I reckon I'm probably best leaving it off. The fire risk is the biggest consideration if this is the case.

GreenNotM

emmiemac wrote:

Hi

Just wondering... I use my computer for most of the day so it is on all the time during the day, but am unsure as to whether or not I should be turning it off at night. Think I once read that it uses so much power turning the computer back on that you're just as well to keep it on at all times.

Any advice please?

If you leave it on you are wasting power and hence money

If you are worried by power problems get a UPS or surge protection - it is possible you may get a power surge during the night - you are tripling your chance of this happening 24 hours on not 8 ...

For security reasons - If you have broadband yor PC is left on & connected to the internet - it can be attacked - so even turn off the router as well and this will not attacked.

Turn the PC off correctly ( not standby ) and you will not have any problems - you will also release resources being used by the operating system. Add these to the reason above for turning it off :beer:

rdwarr

Think about how much power it uses in the 8 or so hours you leave it on. Then imagine what would happen if it really did draw that much power in the two minutes it took to turn it on.
There would be fuses blowing from your house all the way down the street!

tigermatt

I always turn computers off at night except the server here which is needed for various different tasks on my network. It does all of its healthchecks during the night, virus scans, updates etc. so it is free in the day to serve the network. At least then I know it isn't just sitting there doing nothing.

Computers are usually switched on and off throughout the day here, but the client workstations are always turned off at night, because they aren't doing anything so it would be a waste of electricity and they would keep everyone awake. :rolleyes:

mynamesnotdave

I leave on for weeks / months without turning it off.
I even leave it on when I go on holiday.

sra

Remember, whether or not you leave your computer on, monitors take a great deal of electricity and also pose a fire risk.

You should set your screen to switch off after being inactive.

I have a screensaver come on after 10 minutes of inactivity, and the screen switches off 10 minutes after that.

ticktockhouse

If you're running a server 24/7, I think it's also a good idea to go for the lowest power draw you can. I have an 8 or 9-year old P-III 550 on which I believe the power draw is 28 Watts. I haven't actually measured the power draw of the entire system, but I would suggest it's a lot lower than any modern system you're likely to find. The monitors on it are off 99% of the time since I hardly sit and use it any more - i do everything remotely.

I have one other computer at home , a P4 2.8 Ghz machine on which I believe the power draw is over 100W on the CPU alone. That definitely goes off whenever I'm not using it (generally overnight etc.).

There are a few modern low-power CPUs, most notably the Via C3 which is often used in small, quiet homebrew PCs (mini- and nano-ITX), however they tend to perform quite poorly (though they should be adequate for most people, really) but for those wanting a bit more horsepower than these there is Intel's new Pentium-M, descended from their laptop CPU's, and probably set to take over in most desktops in a few years time...

There's an article about a 37-watt computer (that's *total* power draw) here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/06/21/the_next_generation_of_cool/

Hope this helps

Jerry

: )

thewizard

Turning it off is the best thing to do, dont put it onto stand by as it takes up almost as much energy, but if you have windows xp you can put it into hibernation. Leaving it on especially laptops or CRT monitors are very big fire risks!!!! Trust me Ive seen what a computer can do!! Turn it off!

Backbiter

if this maths is correct, and if I understand correctly the poster's point that leaving a monitor on constantly costs £234 a year :

Over a month that would be £19.50 onto you electric bill,
£58.50 a quarter and £234 a year

Then my entire lighting bill for our 4-bed house, our dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, TVs, VCR, stereo, heating pump etc etc COMBINED come to around £400. That cannot be the case!

thewizard

computers do use alot of energy, but I think that figure comes from your computer being left on 24/7.