What are the risks for a home computer when using it daily for 24 hours?

Question

I have a home pc with brand new computer parts. I'm just curious of what will happen to my computer if I used it for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.. Don't include the Electric Bill increase lol...

Answer 1

The experts say (and I've built and sold PCs since '83 so I am one!) that the benefits of leaving the PC on generally balance with the benefits of turning it on and off several times a day.

If you leave your PC on all the time, the moving parts will tend to wear out sooner - the hard drive, the processor fan and the power supply fan. Turning it off and on tends to put pressure on the solid-state components and the same parts above, since applying power to a device is the most likely time for it to fail.

Like advised elsewhere, set the computer to power down the monitor after 30mins to 1hr and the hard drives to 2 hrs. I don't much care for the power-saving options built into the hardware or Windows, so leave them disabled.

I keep my own primary computer on all the time. The others I only turn on when needed.

And regardless, I would soft-boot (restart) your computer every couple of days to clear the RAM and reduce chances of program faults.

Answer 2

Well, there have been some studies that whether it would be better for a computer not to shut it down at the end of the day and leave it on the entire time. There are some risks with\ using it 24/7, one, it could overheat and crash, two, running programs 24/7 could cause errors, and three, moving pieces of the computer could wear down over, which may happen anyway.

Answer 3

The computer should not have a problem running all day long, 24-7. Just make sure it is located in a cool climate controlled spot and most importantly. Keep the dust out of your computer. Clean it with a vacuum. Also make sure that the fans in the pc are working.

Heat is the only issue that you must watch out for. Heat and dust could result in a lethal combination. (fire)

Answer 4

Nothing much. You should configure your screen to go to sleep after a while, as they get worn out over time. The rest of your hardware may age a little faster, but most of it does not age much unless you put some load on it.

EDIT: Just thought I would add that you should reboot your computer now and then to increase performance. This is true on Windows far more than *nix (basically any other operating system).

Answer 5

I have a Dell, purchased in 2001 that stays on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It still runs like a charm.

Answer 6

Nothing, if you maintain the standard security measures.
The most important is do not open any e-mail if you don't know them or where it came from.
I have 3 computers that have been on 7 days a week 24 hours a day for in access of 5 years.
No problems.
Don

Answer 7

Assuming it's not overclocked and you keep the inside dust free... not a damn thing.

Parts may fail, but that happens to all computers. A buddy of mine had the harddrive die in his brand new MacBook Pro, but his 5 year old Dell is still working perfectly. Does that mean that Dells are better than Macs? No... Sometimes, **** happens..

Answer 8

How about stopping her from hitting your girlfriend by getting in the way. Or put up a fence, and stay on your property. This whole situation sounds completely avoidable, or you aren't telling the truth of why she is hitting her. She got into fights with her before? Maybe she (your girlfriend) should just stay away from her, problem solved.

Answer 9

Most power supply and cpu fans are not meant to be run 24/7. You'd want to replace them with heavy-duty ones.

And make sure you have data backups and image copies so that when your hard drive goes south you can replace it and your system quickly.

Answer 10

my computer is always on, I have no problems. I am not actually using it but it is on and linked to the internet at all times