why is nobody folding eh?? save the world and what not? we have 2 PCs and both are on constantly folding away!
My computer is almost always on at night. Trying to download as much anime as possible. I am a freak . LOL
Starting my car (van actually) is hard on the engine (esp in the cold Canadian winter) but I still turn it off when not using it. HTPC hibernates, other 2 computers get full shut down when not in use.
i got 3 pc and 1 laptop doing folding 24/7 i could make it 2 laptops if i can get my dell inspiron 8500 to clock right plus keeps the bed room warmish
SETI@Home here on 2 and sometimes three computers (depends on if I remember to turn the printserver back on after a power outage)
I'm very surprised that nobody has pointed out the weakest link to keeping your system on all the time. It's the fans folks. You're lucky to get 2,500 hours from an average fan. That means that if you replace all yours fans, at the same time, then you will be doing that every 3 months. I know that may be a bit overstated, but they are the most likely victims of long term abuse. As your computer gets noisier and noisier, replace the fans and see how quiet it gets.
104 days is the average lifespan of a modern fan? Rubbish. I've had 4 fans running near continuously for 2 years, not a single one dead. I've had a further 11 running for about 6 months now and also not a single one dead. I don't expect any of them to die in the next 2 years. Maybe one might go, two if something freaky's going on. Thats maximum though. Certainly they aren't all going to die.
My PC and my download box stay on 24/7 unless for maintenance etc, wifes PC, kids PC and the 2 family laptops go off at night though...
That fan lifetime is rubbish. At work we have PCs on all day long for 12 hours a day and fans hardly ever die.
you're only looking at 2-3 dB at the very most. if you can do it, you just oil the bearings/sleeves. peel the sticker back and plug out if you have it, and a few drops of lightweight oil in there makes the noise disappear. tedious, but i also re-lube my skateboard bearings every 3 months. works a treat and they spin better than new. why replace when you can maintain? it costs a fraction of the price of replacement, you learn how something works and most of us a practical people anyway with the case modding and so on?
PC in the living room is on 24/7 which is my download/file server and record tv as its my PVR machine too. Its not been switched off for 15 months now. My laptops, I just close the lid and it goes into stanby I think. I dont think i shut my laptop down for 3 weeks now. My game pc is off when not in use as its in my bedroom and there is no way I can sleep because of the case lights. Light keeps me awake.
I shut mine down, but I have set the BIOS so that it boots itself up in the morning and then runs a scheduled AV scan, so its ready to go when I get up. As for hardware failures I built this pc about 6 years ago and have replaced the hard drive and the psu (upgraded to higher wattage, better quality). A decent quality psu should be designed to take some punishment anyway.
"Hibernate" works well too and saves messing with the BIOS. Though, for quite a while, I had my work PC setup to wake in the BIOS (ancient but large CRT needed 15-30 minutes warm up time or else it flickered really bad). were you on vacation or in a coma?
nope.... just ive been doing lots of work on my laptop, and have had no need for my big desktop. its really cold in my room tonight, to ive got it on, as it acts like a big a$$ radiator.....!
My server/HTPC is on 24/7 and has been for over a year (with the exception of last weekend when the front 120mm exploded (literally exploded) when I was away so my brother had to do an emergency shutdown). My PC however I shutdown for two reasons - save leccy and reduce heat.
