Old Question: Shut-down / Standby / Hybernate

[Penti]

Sorry if this has been posted somewhere, but all post I found are old and some refer to 'new' motherboards that basically just made everything even more complicated.

 

So I just got a new, $ 4k Gaming Rig for myself, and considering that it's one hell of a big investment, I'd want to get the most of it. So, my question is, should you leave your PC on when you're not using it (just have the monitor go on standby), turn it off, place it on standby, hybernate?

 

Most post I see say that you shouldn't turn off since the constand turning on-and-off can cause surges in power that may damage the mobo and everything that's connected to it. Then someone went on to say that new, quality motherboards no longer suffer from the same problem. So what is it really? I currently just leave mine on and it's been 5 years already with no noticable problems.

 

P.S. I have the PC connected to a UPS to protect it from power surges from the outlet, so it should protect it from those, but not necessarily surges in power when turning the PC on and off.

[Waco]

Power surges aren't an issue (unless you buy a TERRIBLE PSU).  The temperature swings can cause problems in the extremely long term but it doesn't make a huge difference.

 

I shut my rig off when I'm not using it even though it barely uses 80 watts at idle.

[d6bmg]

As you have invested 4K in your rig, I can assume that there is a very good PSU inside your rig. So power-surge won't be an issue at all.

My personal choice is to shut down the rig when I'm not using it. Although this choice varies from person to person. Some prefers to shut down their PC and some prefers to put their PC in standby mode.

[Penti]

So, considering I've got myself a nice Corsair 1200w PSU (plus a UPS to esure good supply), I shouldn't have to worry about the power surges. So, that leaves heat / normal wear and tear then, so it'd be better to shut down / standby to stop components from being in a stage of constant heat?

 

Also, is it the constant heat that deteriorates components or as Waco puts it, temperature fluctuations?

[d6bmg]

Also, is it the constant heat that deteriorates components or as Waco puts it, temperature fluctuations?

 

Whatever you do and regardless how much precaution you take, all the parts will deteriorate with time.

In my opinion, to maximize the lifetime of every component, shut your PC down when you are not using it.

[Waco]

Both constant heat and temperature swings cause issues over time.

 

If you don't mind the heat in your room or the cost of power I'd leave it on and set your HDDs to never spin down as well. Temperature changes are far more likely to cause issues than constant heat IMHO.

[paulktreg]

Your PC or rather your power supply is probably stressed more by being turned on and off all the time rather than running constantly. Having said that I don't think it matters, good quality power supplies will last for years either way. I've folded for a few years now and that really stresses the GPU but they seem to take it in their stride. I've no doubt that damage is being done over the years but before it becomes apparent you usually find its time for a hardware change anyway.

[Penti]

Thanks for all the inputs.

 

I guess that, with quality components, the question whether to shut down / stand by / leave on would barely make much difference to the life of the PC in its normal time frame, esp for those of us who change / upgrade parts every 4 - 6 years at the very least. Thinking this applies more to those who buy PCs and expect them to last forever..