QOTW: Do you shut down your PC?

[KN1GHT]

I turn it off when I don't use it.

When I mine though I keep it on.

[Dashers]

I have a NVMe SSD so boot times are good, but I still use sleep.

In fact, I use Hybrid sleep as it's ideal for a desktop scenario. The power button on my computer is bound to sleep but it'll also go after 30 minutes idle.

Hybrid sleep dumps the memory (all 32GB) to disk in the same way as hibernation, but then puts the computer into sleep - which uses next to no electricity. If the power goes in this state, everything is safely on disk and your session resumes after power on.

Sure it takes a little time to save data to disk if it's full up, but less time than closing down all those applications! And who cares, you've walked away by then.

Laptop is similar. Screen close puts it into sleep, but power button hibernates it to avoid parasitic drain.

Work workstation, always on. Just lock my screen and walk away. No way I'm going through shutting down all the stuff I'm working with at the end of the day.

Computers get shutdown if I need to pull hardware inside, or rebooted if there is an update. Maybe shutdown if I'm going on holiday or something.

[cam]

I don't use my pc every day so I shut it down at the end of the day.

[Saracen]

I didn't say that off wouldn't consume less power during that state. But did you consider the costs of the hardware running at its full capacity for a few minutes during loading into those calculations?

Even if its still less, it reduces the perceived difference by a lot. More energy can be easily saved elsewhere. I'm happy to pay the little extra for the convenience personally and I'm already on a 100% renewable energy plan so that's not really a concern to me.

The powering up and down was in the averages, yes, but my decision to piwer down reflects my PC usage. Seversl ywars ago, my 'main' couple of PCs would have been on mord or less all working day. A few years before that, probably 24/7.

But now, I use the PCs less and less every year. It 's far from uncommon to not have any powered up for days on end. Partly, this is because I can check Hexus and a couple of other sites on a tablet, and have been known to not use a PC for weeks at a time. Then I nay use it for a couple of hours a day for several days then not at all for a week. Regardless of the extra hardware loading of powering up, turning off when not using a machine is a no-brainer for me, as it could be a week before I use it again.

But I'm not suggesting whether that suits anybody else - merely that for me the cost difference is significant. Very significant. I'd no more leave my PC running than I would leave my car engine running jyst so it's warmed up faster when I need it. When I want a PC, it's not for a frivolous minute or two, but for a real job. So it's no probkem that boot up takes a minute or two. It takes me more than that to make the cuppa I take with me.

[peterb]

The energy saving argument doesn’t take into account the overal heating effect on the home. Every watt of power going into a PC ends up as heat, which ends up in the room the PC is in, so it is contributing to the net heating effect of the house. So logically to maintain a room at the given temperature there will be a net reduction in the heat (and therefore energy) from other heat sources.

How significant that depends on many things, whether the room is heated when it is unoccupied, the outside temperature (heating may be undesirable in the summer) the degree of insulation in the home, how effective the heating controls are, the cost/kWh of the primary heating fuel ( gas is cheaper than electricity) but in winter, when other heat sources on on, the contribution by a PC to heating the house will be offset by a reduction in heat input from the primary heating source, so the savings aren,t quite as clear cut as it first appears.

[tinbin]

my pc gets shutdown every time i finished using it ... used to use sleep or hibernate years back...

[Saracen]

The energy saving argument doesn’t take into account the overal heating effect on the home. Every watt of power going into a PC ends up as heat, which ends up in the room the PC is in, so it is contributing to the net heating effect of the house. So logically to maintain a room at the given temperature there will be a net reduction in the heat (and therefore energy) from other heat sources.

How significant that depends on many things, whether the room is heated when it is unoccupied, the outside temperature (heating may be undesirable in the summer) the degree of insulation in the home, how effective the heating controls are, the cost/kWh of the primary heating fuel ( gas is cheaper than electricity) but in winter, when other heat sources on on, the contribution by a PC to heating the house will be offset by a reduction in heat input from the primary heating source, so the savings aren,t quite as clear cut as it first appears.

That's all true, but in my case, my PC's are in two home offices, neither of which require much heating .... whether PCs are on or not. One, radiators are set to off, and the other, to the "frostguard" setting. And, in my case, as I said, not using the machines either regularly or consistently makes it moot. If I needed either room warming, it'd be far faster, and I've no doubt far cheaper, to use the CHS to do it.

As a result, I discount the room-warming effect as being of nominal, or non-existent, benefit to me.

[Rad77]

Mine is set to sleep after 15 minutes but I use the hybrid sleep mode and usually switch off at the mains overnight (mainly so that all the ancillary bits on the same socket are off but also so that it doesn't decide to switch back on in the middle of the night as has happened).

Agree somewhat with the "room heater" argument, as my PC is the main heat source in that room - however if I'm not using the PC then I'm generally not hanging about in the room, plus I definitely don't want any extra heat in the summer.

[peterb]

That's all true, but in my case, my PC's are in two home offices, neither of which require much heating .... whether PCs are on or not. One, radiators are set to off, and the other, to the "frostguard" setting. And, in my case, as I said, not using the machines either regularly or consistently makes it moot. If I needed either room warming, it'd be far faster, and I've no doubt far cheaper, to use the CHS to do it.

As a result, I discount the room-warming effect as being of nominal, or non-existent, benefit to me.

Oh yes, individual circumstances vary. I was just making a general observation rather than specifically responding to your post.

The same observation applies to “energy saving” appliances in general (maybe not refrigerators!) too.

However, energy saving appliances to have a beneficial impact on the wider electricity distribution infrastructure which is important in the wider picture, rather than to the individual.

[Saracen]

Oh yes, individual circumstances vary. I was just making a general observation rather than specifically responding to your post.

The same observation applies to “energy saving” appliances in general (maybe not refrigerators!) too.

However, energy saving appliances to have a beneficial impact on the wider electricity distribution infrastructure which is important in the wider picture, rather than to the individual.

Yup, andI understand the 'general' point. Threads like this start out asking "Do you ..... something or other". I answer them as :-

- what I do, and often ...
- why I do it.

But because it'scright for me doesn't mean, necessarily, that it's right for someone else, or even that I think it is.

Yet, they often drift into arguments, in the polite sense, over what's right. Usually, there is no "right", just "right for each person".

Case in point .... smartphones. For many probably most, they're an essential component of modern life. Yeah, there are privacy implications but it's part of the price.

For me, they're not only not essential but most of the time not even desirable. However, on occasion, yes they'd be useful. But just as for many/most, the balance is that the upside justifies the impact on privacy, for me, the occasional usefulness doesn't even come close to justifying the loss of privacy.

Similarly, but more quantifiable, store "reward" cards or the more modern variant, voucher/cashback sites .... sure you (genersl, not you personally) can save money but at the cost of providing data that can be stored, mined and used about each individual. Anyone who uses them therefore either does so in ignorance of that, or as I choose to assume, because they value go money amount higher than their privacy. Because I choose to value my privacy very highly, I deliberately forego such monetary inducements and will not, on principle, use such cards, vouchers and codes. If and only if they can be completely anonymous would I give such things any consideration at all.

So where any thread asks "Do you....." my answer will always reflect my personal circumstances, lifestyle and value judgements.

When someone asks "Should I ...." my answer will usually be what I would do, and why, with the caveat that the questioner isn't me and my choice might not be right for them. So at most, consider the "why" and how it relates to them, their circumstances and value choices.

Moreover I'd bet my circumstances are not those of most, and neither I suspect, would be many of my priorities. So many of my choices may not be either.

[Tyrannosaur]

I normally shut down my PC at the end of everyday. However for some reason it's been shutting down and restarting on it's own these last few days.

[roger that]

24/7; I'm helping to save the planet by wiping our species out in a extinction event, caused by global warming. Unfortunately there will be no Nobel prize given for my heroic endeavors.

[Fluffy624]

Stays on approx 24/7/350. Only turned off when i'm away for more than 2-3 days. Usually running Einstein@home and LHC@home. Costs approx £9 per month.

[pumpkin]

Main PC runs Friday to Sunday 24 hours, during the week it's shutdown around 21:00 and then restarts at 5:30.
Two raspberry Pi's run 24x7, running various flight tracker software, and an nginx server