I only use my computer at home at night for maybe 4-5 hours.Is it better to leave it on full time or shut it down for the other 20 hours.I have heard opinions both ways.It is a new systam.Thanks,Ron

My opin is to shut it down, but at work we advise leaving them on.Leaving them on does (statistically over many years) cut down on power supply failures, but there are of course downsides to this, too.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Thanks,We leave ours on at work also.Ron

I vote for leaving it off. Mine is usually on 4-5 hours per day except on weekends when 12-16 is more average. I have never ever had a hardware failure from the on/off routine over 20 years.The Greens would be all over you for leaving it on.:-hah

My computer is on 24/24Hours...!!!I shut it down only when I install new programs or randomly...No problems with hardware or software untill today(4 years have passed now on...):()

So,it is still a divided opinion.Some do,some don't.Thanks,Ron

I have three computers, my work laptop, a Mac, I basically leave on all the time, but put to sleep when not being used actively, or obviously it does so when closing 'the lid'. (My Mac at work I also 'put to sleep', and never actually turn it off).My 'second PC' which I use for internet, charting flights, etc. (which I am using right now), I hibernate when I'm not using it.My 'first PC', or my flight sim rig, I shut down when not in use. I have an auto page file defrag program that runs before booting into Windows, and then I almost always run my defrag program once I enetr Windows/prior to flying. Don't ask me why, but I always 'feel like' my computer runs 'cleaner' when I start it, and I am somewhat picky about my flight sim computer being as defraged as possible prior to entering FS.

4 hours active, 20 hours inactive? Power down. The likelihood of doing wear-and-tear damage is slim to none. I'd probably recommend a full power down too. Turn off any powersaving options to save wear and tear on the drives during your usage (keep those drives spinning!), but power her completely off when done. Personally, I leave my computer *on* nearly all the time in the winter. Why?I have electric heat in my wee little apartment. Even though one could say I'm "wasting" electricity by keeping the computer on when not in use, most of the computer's power use is being converted into heat. When you get down to it, I'm adding the computer's heat to the room, one little BTU at a time, LESSENING the amount kwh usage needed of my actual heating system.The fact the computer is in the smallish bedroom helps, as the computer's ventilation actually stands a chance at providing a modicum of warmth to the room. During the summer I power it off much more often. Don't need any extra heat then!-Greg"No honey! It's not a COMPUTER upgrade, it's an upgrade to my heating system in the bedroom!!!"

Power it down. It has the added advantage of purging your RAM and pagefile so that on the next boot up you'll have better performance.Try it. Leave your PC on for a day, do some FSX, then reboot, and go straight into FSX again. I bet you picked up a frames or two per second...

Thanks,I nver liked leaving it on but then my wife started using it occaisonally during the day and it was easier leaving it on than having her calling me because she couldn't get it to boot or something.Now I have a new unit and she has my old one which I leave on just for that reason.Ron

I vote a strong, Power it down. It's a flat waste of power to do otherwise, same goes true for leaving it on night. I have used PCs heavily since 1990 and my systems last as long as the next for sure, and I off and on them regularly. If I'm going to be away more than 2 or 3h, I turn it off. They say when a HD typically blows up it is at power up as it's a bit "stressful." I have 4 enterprise class 15K scsi's whose MTBF rates are based on them staying on pretty much 24/7. I've run 3 of my drives for 5 years in this on/off model, and so far knock on wood they are hunky dorey. I bought the 4th one 6m ago. Rarely do components fail before they become . . . obsavsicent!Noel

I have mine on all day if off work, but I turn it off when not home (saves money), unless I'm going out for a little while, then I leave it on