Windows 10: How long to keep computer switched on?

" By de-rating, the life expectancies beyond 15 years can be achieved. When life expectancies exceed 15 years the expected life of the capacitor should be limited to 15 years mainly due to the sealing materials deteriorating over time."

I stand by my statements. When applied to the home PC environment, 10,000 hour (2-3 year) capacitor life is hooey.

 

so bottom line you get 2 ~ 4 years are guaranteed lifetime of a capacitor , then any time above is just subjected to give and take ?
meh , cheers

 

I've always turned my computers off at night and never have I had any sort of issue.

 

Yes I was relating all this to PSU's in the main.

The failure mode of electrolytics used in switching supplies can be insidious. Small value caps often abound, and some are used for really critical processes within the power supply, not just cleaning up the final voltage rails produced. The result of that deterioration can be destructive to the power supply, even though outwardly all is well.

The point I was trying to make is that these parts do have headline lifetime figures that seem very low, but that when used below their maximum ratings see that lifetime increase dramatically.

 

Most of my computers always run 24/7 with even restarts only when updates or other SW demands it. There's nothing that ever broke that could be attributed to non-stop running. On the other hand, even as they are all overclocked to safe, stable maximums, they are always properly (and over)cooled and kept clean. I pay exceptional attention to PSUs and power supply to it. I also put good ground in house wiring with safety equipment at the mains. I shut it down only when I'm leaving home for longer periods, like whole day or longer.

 

MY! What a lot has come from a simple question from a non-tecchie! I have a lot to digest indeed.

 

That's because people are lazy. Too much effort to switch the appliance off and pulling the plug out. Just to prove a point,..people were/are upset because their Xbox console machine does not have a facility in the software that ejects a disc from the hand controller,..they actually have to get up and press the little button on the machine. Oh how inconvenient. lol

 

@ runnerbean
I leave things on, because my vintage does not take kindly to much bending to pull plugs.*Biggrin More importantly some ( though rarer now) some items lose their settings too easily if powered off. My PVR's updating of channel, firmware and erasure of stale files is done @ 3 a.m.
Like most I like my sleep.

 

I used to work for a company( from 92 to 2016) that had hundreds of desktop pc's and everyone was left on 24/7 and never cleaned ever and the tech's would only do something when one broke which was not very often......And personally knowing the tech's they told me the most replaced parts were PSU,memory,hdd and alot of keyboards.

Personally myself of all the pc's I have ever had(Built my first desktop in around 2000) I put them in sleep mode when not using them.....And for me the only things that ever went bad on the probably 10 pc's I have owned over the years was 1 keyboard and some old memory I actually got from work.

Currently I have 4 pc's at my house 2 HP's that were bought cheap and then modified and 2 home builds.

 

I can't believe how many of you are content with the fire risk, being unkind to the planet and the damage to your wallets!

 

Fire risk is on a level of light bulb. Damage to wallet, negligible, I heat house on electricity and US president canceled world saving climate control treaty.

 

As a pro I have a need to have my PC's accessible remotely 24/7/365 so leave them running ( as headless units as the Monitors are switched off when I'm not sat in front of them ),

I regularly reboot all systems, generally Immediately before and after an update or new software is installed, and also If i feel the system needs it .

The Reboot before an update is a system that I was introduced to many years ago, and is there to prove that the system is in a bootable condition before the application of the update,and that any boot problems after the update are due to that update. The reboot after the update is also something that is mandatory, even when Microsoft deems a reboot unnecessary just for peace of mind that there is not any potential issue lurking ready to appear on the next reboot

 

On the matter of saving the planet, I have my doubts that a lot of figures quoted by the ecological warriors for power usage are kept u.t.d. A convenience for them, indeed; of course one never hears from them about deforestation, which does as much, if not more to aid climate change disastrously e.g. the Sierra Leone mudslide, which killed 1000+.
I'm careful, but desire some comfort in my few remaining years

 

I tested this once with a kill-a-watt meter and for more of a gaming rig, I was estimating about $20-$25 a month to run it around the clock.

 

This may have been true in the 90's when there were no SSD'd and with PC's purchased at Wallmart but modern computers will not be damaged when turned off and on. Do you leave your TV on 24 X 7 probably not. I put my PC to sleep when not in use for more than a few hours and when I go to sleep so does my PC.