We've got a Dell 2300 Poweredge server that I bet has only been turned off for no more than 10 hours total since it was new, about 4 -5 years ago. But that's what servers are designed to do.
My workstation has been on for about a month straight many times, with the exception of a couple of reboots during that time.
I've kept a dell on for over a month before, with the original fans inside, no water cooling or anything.
However, leaving it on longer just makes the parts wear out faster, and if you're gonna keep this computer for a long time and still want it to perform well until you want to switch, you should shut it down when you're done using it for the day. However, you can leave it on for a long time, days, if you wanted to. No damage done to mine, I just leave it on cause I'm really lazy and I have to code or do whatever really fast.
Either way, don't worry about leaving it on for 100 hours, it'll be fine.
I don't really think anything will be frying. These parts are rated to operate for 10s of thousands of hours these days, and it's really hard to tell what could be the first to go if something went wrong. It depends on what the part is and how well it was made. If it's defective, it can fry really easily.
The Dells we use at work are never turned off. The two in my office have been running for almost 3 years straight, aside from being rebooted once in a while. If you use the computer a lot it's better to just leave it running. Turning it on and off causes more wear and tear.
Forever, and there is no answer as to what will go first if it does fail! Leaving run for mouths, probably the spinnning hard drive would wear out after 10000 hrs,,,maybe. A waste of electricy and money though!
I always leave my computers on all the time (server and desktop). I agree turning the computer on and off causes more wear and tear. The only thing I turn off is the LCD monitor.
I've had 3 different Dells since about 1990 and I don't recall ever shutting any of them off at night. I bought my current Dell 5 years ago, and other than shutting it down for 5 weeks about 3 years ago, while I was back-packing in Europe, I have never shut it off, ever. There really is nothing to wear out, other than the power surge experienced when you turn it off and on. I also have a cable connection to the net that is always on as well, but with Zone Alarm & Norton Anti-Virus always running in the background, I don't even worry about that.
Moving parts are likely to wear out first... although current hard drives, and CD readers are usually rated 100,000 hours MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) or about 40 YEARS ... most likely dust, pets, lightning, or kids using it for a _______ will cause it to fail before then...
but not terrorists.. you've got a better chance of being struck by lighning, and then going on to win the lotto, the same day. (note: lightning strikes are not always fatal)
yeah, I know I'm a smart*ss but I'm bored, and I know things :-p
The CPU has probably the best "chance" of frying, but ONLY due to failure of the fan. Before the CPU fries though, the system will crash anyway.
I had a Dell do that a few years ago. After working on it, I forgot to plug the fan back in. It crashed from "heat stroke" within an hour. At first I didn' t realize what had caused it..... I thought it was a typical Win98 thing, so I rebooted it after a few minutes, and it crashed again a few minutes later. That's when I opened it up and discovered what the problem was. Fortunately, nothing was apparently damaged, as it booted up and ran fine after hooking the fan back up.
If only cars were that forgiving when they overheat......
The CPU has probably the best "chance" of frying, but ONLY due to failure of the fan. Before the CPU fries though, the system will crash anyway.
Recent Intel processors are designed to shutdown automatically if overheated, before there is any damage. This is not true of AMD processors which will actually melt!
autocadder
61 Posts
0
April 20th, 2003 23:00
We've got a Dell 2300 Poweredge server that I bet has only been turned off for no more than 10 hours total since it was new, about 4 -5 years ago. But that's what servers are designed to do.
My workstation has been on for about a month straight many times, with the exception of a couple of reboots during that time.
BillLeeLee
58 Posts
0
April 20th, 2003 23:00
However, leaving it on longer just makes the parts wear out faster, and if you're gonna keep this computer for a long time and still want it to perform well until you want to switch, you should shut it down when you're done using it for the day. However, you can leave it on for a long time, days, if you wanted to. No damage done to mine, I just leave it on cause I'm really lazy and I have to code or do whatever really fast.
Either way, don't worry about leaving it on for 100 hours, it'll be fine.
Zeppelin2002
1 Rookie
•
56 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 00:00
One other thing, if i left my comp on for over 100 hours, what part of the computer will fry first? Would it be my motherboard or vid card?? Thanks.
Zeppelin2002
1 Rookie
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56 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 00:00
All,
Thanks for the information. I won't worry about it now.
BillLeeLee
58 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 00:00
Trixx
2 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 01:00
The Dells we use at work are never turned off. The two in my office have been running for almost 3 years straight, aside from being rebooted once in a while. If you use the computer a lot it's better to just leave it running. Turning it on and off causes more wear and tear.
Jake02324
579 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 01:00
Zeppelin2002
1 Rookie
•
56 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 01:00
AnthonyL88
123 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 03:00
MKO
148 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 20:00
The critical moment for a PC is the switching of the power!
At that moment there is a current-peak from drives that are spinning up and a PC booting at full power.
As long as the fan's are spinning the PC will run nice and warm (not HOT) and will so for years...
(check the PC regulary for dust, spinning fan's and room temperature)
My PC at work runs for over 3 years now (with Windows
) and my PC at home for over a year now (as a server).
Your PC is more likely to crash from a software-virus than a hardware error....
If you want to be safe, don't use the internet.
SavoyBrown
12 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 21:00
I've had 3 different Dells since about 1990 and I don't recall ever shutting any of them off at night. I bought my current Dell 5 years ago, and other than shutting it down for 5 weeks about 3 years ago, while I was back-packing in Europe, I have never shut it off, ever. There really is nothing to wear out, other than the power surge experienced when you turn it off and on. I also have a cable connection to the net that is always on as well, but with Zone Alarm & Norton Anti-Virus always running in the background, I don't even worry about that.
Works for me!
Zeppelin2002
1 Rookie
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56 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 21:00
All,
Very good comments!!!!!!! Keep them coming!!!!!!!!
charles767
5 Posts
0
April 21st, 2003 22:00
Moving parts are likely to wear out first... although current hard drives, and CD readers are usually rated 100,000 hours MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) or about 40 YEARS ... most likely dust, pets, lightning, or kids using it for a _______ will cause it to fail before then...
but not terrorists.. you've got a better chance of being struck by lighning, and then going on to win the lotto, the same day. (note: lightning strikes are not always fatal)
yeah, I know I'm a smart*ss but I'm bored, and I know things :-p
Charles
autocadder
61 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2003 00:00
The CPU has probably the best "chance" of frying, but ONLY due to failure of the fan. Before the CPU fries though, the system will crash anyway.
I had a Dell do that a few years ago. After working on it, I forgot to plug the fan back in. It crashed from "heat stroke" within an hour. At first I didn' t realize what had caused it..... I thought it was a typical Win98 thing, so I rebooted it after a few minutes, and it crashed again a few minutes later. That's when I opened it up and discovered what the problem was. Fortunately, nothing was apparently damaged, as it booted up and ran fine after hooking the fan back up.
If only cars were that forgiving when they overheat......
talmy
1K Posts
0
April 22nd, 2003 01:00
Recent Intel processors are designed to shutdown automatically if overheated, before there is any damage. This is not true of AMD processors which will actually melt!