Players often discuss whether one should turn off hardware. One player now says: His PC has been running for 5 years straight and nothing bad has happened. This has led to much debate.
There are regular discussions about whether one should leave their PC running overnight. Critics argue
- a continuously running computer or gaming PC would consume a lot of power and that would also be seen on the electricity bill.
- the installed hardware would wear out more quickly over time than if one regularly turned off the computer.
A user recently explained on reddit: He tested it for 5 years and nothing happened. If you’re still looking for reasons why you should turn off your PC, check out the following article on MeinMMO:
Two computers: One has been running for 5 years, the other is always turned off
The user explains on reddit that he owns two computers: He turns one off every night and the other has been running for 5 years straight. There is really no difference between the two systems:
I have tested this as anecdotal evidence over the past 5 years. I have one PC that sleeps every night, and one that is shut down every night. There is absolutely no difference, except that one costs more.
But even the additional electricity costs of a sleeping PC compared to a “turned-off” PC are negligible. It’s about 4 cents per month.
By the way, any well-made and maintained server literally stays online forever (yes, with reboots for updates), so, you know, they are built for that.
He himself explains, “that any impact it [keeping the PC on] could have on the health of your PC is so overwhelmingly negligible that it doesn’t matter.” There should neither be greater wear nor significantly higher costs. At least the 4 cents per month are irrelevant to him.
RAM only clears when the computer is turned off
Are there critics as well? Yes, there are. For example, one user explains that there are good reasons to properly shut down your PC. Because only during a proper shutdown can the RAM clear (via reddit.com):
Issues like memory leaks can slowly deplete your usable RAM over time, and the only way to free up this RAM is to restart Windows. Dead threads can sit there and consume system resources while the parent program has “forgotten” that thread.
But Windows also restarts the computer in sleep mode during an update, even without user consent. However, that can also be quite annoying. This recently happened to a player who was woken up at night by his gaming PC because the system restarted overnight.
Generally, there is also the option to disable this feature, but that requires diving deep into the system’s registry. Alternatively, one can also simply turn off the PC properly.
Properly shutting down the PC: Many users have their PC connected to a power strip. But does it harm the hardware if you turn off the power outlet at the end of the day? Can it harm to turn off the power strip at the PC?
