On 19 Apr 00, at 1:42, Ryan McGarry wrote:
> I suppose my question is whether or not it's more of a risk to your
> processor in allowing it to cool off regularly than leaving it on 24/7?
CRT monitor is definitely better OFF when not needed. The electron
beams definitely age, and the very high tension circuitry contained
in a CRT does represent a (small) fire risk which is eliminated by
having it switched off. Power-saving "snooze" mode may reduce
electricity costs but has no effect on fire safety. I strongly
reccomend using the front panel power switch on a CRT monitor.
LCD monitor, & most other electronic components, are definitely
better left switched ON.
Hard disk drives seem to last much longer if they're left running
continously. I'd reccomend disabling "power saving" modes on HDD
unless power consumption is critical (e.g. a notebook computer when
running on internal power). However, HDDs often fail if they've been
running continously for years, then switched off & left off long
enough to cool right down. I think the heads get "glued" to the
platters. The best advice for HDDs which must be turned off is to
turn off, wait for 2 mins, turn on, wait for 10 mins, turn off, wait
for 10 mins, turn on, wait for 2 mins & finally turn off. The idea is
to dissipate the "glue" which accumulates with constant use.
Power supply units seem to have a life which is governed primarily by
the number of times they're turned on & off. I've never heard of one
failing in service whilst being fed a clean mains supply, but, given
a mains glitch, it's common to have to replace a proportion of PSUs.
(Like light bulbs, they seem to fail at the instant power is applied)
I find the commonest failure in PC systems is _cooling fans_. Like
HDDs it seems to be the case that the bearing will "glue up" if an
always-running fan is switched off & left to cool right off.
Sometimes this makes them very noisy for a few minutes when power is
restored, sometimes they just plain fail. Broken cooling fans are
definitely very bad for the reliability of PC systems!
Regards
Brian Beesley
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