pc on or off

[peterr]

Hello
Below is a sentence I pasted from an article on the question about turning a pc on or off when not used.

We have a laptop and a deskktop and are home all day. My wife goes to the laptop about 6 times a day and I am on the dektop for hours at times.

Should we be powering up and turning off about 6-8 times a day?

"Well times have changed, hardware has changed, and cost has really changed! It just doesn't make sense to leave a system on if it will be left, unattended, for more than an hour."

[Shane]

I wrote this a while back
http://www.pcwintech.com/should-i-turn-my-computer-most-commonly-asked-question

What I do is I turn my system on in the morning and turn it off at night when i go to bed. leaving it on 24 hours a day is pointless. But shutting it down half a dozen times a day is just silly.

Turn it on for the day, do your work, if your going to be gone for a while (Like sleeping) then turn it off.

Shane

[peterr]

Common sense I guess.
We are always checking in at the pcs;my wife at the laptop and I at the desktop.
We let them sleep while we are away then turn off at bedtime.

I checked and your Beta v0.9.7 is out which I'll guess means the finished product is getting closer.
I can't wait to study the video and tutorial so I'll know what it is all about. As Ztruker said,"You can't have enough backups."
I read where even normal people will be able to access the program if it is not available via Windows.

I think what you are creating is wonderful.
You should make your donation jug a bit more visible because I have a feeling a lot of people will be using the program.
Peter

[Shane]

I have no clue how the program will do.

I just do my best and help people when they ask for it. Let word of mouth spread

Shane

[umpio]

I think the sleep, stand by mode is good solution if the computer is left unused more than 1h or more.

About that article what you think about folding? People often leave their pc to fold (use their computer's computing power for scientific research) which means that their cpu, gpu or both are running at 100% load at all the time. How much this might decrease the lifespan of the pc? I have considered doing this and already tried it for a while but I don't like to have a broken pc in near future because of this. The electric bill is the other drawback.

[Shane]

When you run the computer at max you use more energy and it creates more heat.

it is the heat more than anything that will wear out a system faster. This is why there is some crazy cooling options lol.

This is also why super over clocked cpu's only run stable with liquid cooling.

When it comes to computers heat is the enemy. The more power they use the more heat is made that fast things wear out. You will also notice this if you keep an eye on cpu temp.

I have my system set to under clock the CPU (AMD Cool & Quiet) my cpu temp gets nice and low, say about 33 C. I am on an 8 core 3.6 GHZ over clocked to 4.1 GHZ. When I run anything like a game the cpu speed goes backup and my temps hit around 46 C.

This is with a 3rd party 120 MM cpu fan. This are good temps.

But if you are running a system with stock cooling you may want to see what your temps are running at. Same with the video card as well

Shane

[umpio]

it is the heat more than anything that will wear out a system faster.

Interesting! Explains a lot why good cooling systems are popular

hmm maybe I'll try to set the folding program to use only 60% or less on my cpu or gpu, that it would then produce less heat. My gpu runs super hot if at max usage, but it's quite cool with less work on it. Idle temps are at 43C. But I would never leave it to do it for 24/7 only during day time while I'm at home or using my pc. Then the raise in the power consumption wouldn't be high either as the computer would be still on.

[Shane]

Slower the cpu/gpu runs the less power it needs and thus less heat

Shane