Poll: Which is Better: Shut Down or Sleep Mode?

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  1. #21
    I knock it out every night when I go unconscious.

  2. #22
    I usually shutdown my PC like once a month for updates or if I'm gonna open it up for a cleaning. Rest of the time I just let it auto sleep after idling, sometimes it wont even auto sleep so it's just on most of the time.
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  3. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by monkfailz View Post
    Let your computer rest sometimes
    >.>

    Why?

    Quote Originally Posted by chazus View Post
    I think it should also be worth mentioning again and again... By default clicking 'shut down' doesn't shut down anymore, and doesn't go through the process of clearing cache, ram, and the like. Thanks fast boot.
    Yeah if you want all that you need to "restart" by default. Worth knowing that in win 10 they have very different functions if anyone here is ever troubleshooting. Restart will do what shutdown used to do.
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  4. #24
    Shut down of course. Because I want to give my computer total rest.

  5. #25
    For personal computers, that are only for self-use and no server-related stuff etc?

    Sleep mode if you're impatient or have a slow-to-boot computer. Shut down otherwise.
    Shut down if you're going to be gone from the computer for more than 2-3 hours, or need to move / want to change hardware.

    Ignore anyone who tells you that reboot cycles damage your components, that's outdated information and literally is not a factor on modern computers.
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  6. #26
    Pit Lord rogoth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unlimited Power View Post
    I always shut down the computer before going to bed. Why leave it up? Takes about half a minute to reach the desktop anyway.
    unlike in years past when things had a much shorter lifespan (specifically hard drives), it was usually seen as good practice to power down a PC when not in use to keep components as 'fresh' as possible, however fast forward to modern day and you can look up the studies on this or the techtubers who have done pieces on this, it's actually better to leave your PC running even if it's in sleep mode for a multitude of different reasons, some of the main ones being that as hardware has developed to draw more and more power, when starting up a PC the massive power surge can actually cause damage to components and reduce lifespan, not only that but the power surge from turning it on can cost almost as much (depending on where you live obviously) as leaving it running in sleep mode for a few hours, so unless you have really high electricity costs or have a metered supply then leaving it on is actually better for long term use.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryzeth View Post
    For personal computers, that are only for self-use and no server-related stuff etc?

    Sleep mode if you're impatient or have a slow-to-boot computer. Shut down otherwise.
    Shut down if you're going to be gone from the computer for more than 2-3 hours, or need to move / want to change hardware.

    Ignore anyone who tells you that reboot cycles damage your components, that's outdated information and literally is not a factor on modern computers.
    if you are constantly shutting down and rebooting then this is true, but it's been proven that from a cold start booting up causes degradation of components over time more so than would otherwise be seen, especially for those still using mechanical hard drives, or older components that are overclocked (like older generation CPU's etc), where sudden surges in current can cause potential system failure.

  7. #27
    The Patient vincink's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Temp name View Post
    It's a myth.
    Shutting it down once in a while is actually pretty healthy since it allows your PC to clear out RAM
    From an electrical standpoint, it is not a myth. Turning electrical components on and off does wear them down very slowly. It is part of the reason why old filament light bulbs burn out so quickly compared to LED bulbs. Platter (spinning) drives will experience more wear and tear since they must spin up and down, which eventually wears down the bearings, the platters, and the motors.

    With all that said, if a person has non-mechanical components (except for fans), the problem of shutting down and starting up causing damage is significantly reduced.

    And like you said, shutting down periodically is actually helpful especially if the shutdown is a full shutdown of all electrical components on the computer. It used to be, up into the 2000s, that it was better to just leave the computer on. I had a family member who left his computer on, non-stop, for 3 years in the 1990s. He only turned it off to replace a part after that 3 years.

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by rogoth View Post
    if you are constantly shutting down and rebooting then this is true, but it's been proven that from a cold start booting up causes degradation of components over time more so than would otherwise be seen, especially for those still using mechanical hard drives, or older components that are overclocked (like older generation CPU's etc), where sudden surges in current can cause potential system failure.
    Constantly is the keyword here people always seem to miss. Booting your computer up every day is not going to cause any remotely noticeable damage anytime soon. No more than leaving it on 24/7 constantly exposed to heat would. Restarting/rebooting your comp 30 times a day? Sure, that's gonna be problematic but that goes for literally any piece of electrical equipment. It's a very strange argument for people to make.
    Last edited by Ryzeth; 2021-12-24 at 02:28 PM.
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  9. #29
    Sleep Mode made a lot more sense in the past when considering the state of computer hardware. In terms of speed of access, computers are so blazing fast compared to the past that cold boots today can potentially beat the wake-up time from Sleep Mode from years past. If you were using your computer to literally suspend activities/apps and restore them to your last working state... again, back in the day this loss of time was palpable, but now it's mostly negligible with current hardware. In the end, the only remaining purpose of Sleep Mode is if you *need* to keep applications open and running else you lose significant down, but outside of work applications most people probably don't need this functionality.

    Power consumption is less with shutting down your system versus Sleep Mode, however the difference between the two will vary on your settings. IIRC, the power spike concerns between the two modes were mostly due to old hardware reliability issues and battery life concerns. Not sure if the battery life concern is still an issue with laptops, but hardware reliability shouldn't be an issue for the average person anymore... unless you're doing some insane overclocking and pushing power specs.

    In essence, there's basically little difference between shutting down your system and Sleep Mode nowadays, especially with Fast Boot/Startup. If you need to maintain the state of your folders and apps, Sleep Mode. If not, shut down your system and save some power. Also, unless things have changed, I think restarting your computer with Windows will perform the same 'wiping' function of RAM, temp files, etc. as the non-Fast Boot/Startup shutdowns do, so that's always an option if you have Fast Boot/Startup enabled.
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  10. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by monkfailz View Post
    The only time I really shut down my pc is to clean out the case, take my can of compressed air and blast out all the dust balls that's been living inside for so long. Which I need to do right now lol.
    When do you sleep?

  11. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Temp name View Post
    It's a myth.
    Shutting it down once in a while is actually pretty healthy since it allows your PC to clear out RAM
    It also allows you to run Windows updates easier, since you don't have to remember to reboot.

    I never use sleep because I don't care. I do shut it down when I go to work every day, though, just because there's no reason to leave it on sucking energy all day while I'm not here.
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  12. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by vincink View Post
    From an electrical standpoint, it is not a myth. Turning electrical components on and off does wear them down very slowly. It is part of the reason why old filament light bulbs burn out so quickly compared to LED bulbs. Platter (spinning) drives will experience more wear and tear since they must spin up and down, which eventually wears down the bearings, the platters, and the motors.

    With all that said, if a person has non-mechanical components (except for fans), the problem of shutting down and starting up causing damage is significantly reduced.

    And like you said, shutting down periodically is actually helpful especially if the shutdown is a full shutdown of all electrical components on the computer. It used to be, up into the 2000s, that it was better to just leave the computer on. I had a family member who left his computer on, non-stop, for 3 years in the 1990s. He only turned it off to replace a part after that 3 years.
    Components are designed for a lot of power cycles before they see degradation. A number that gets thrown around as an industry standard is 40k. If it were your full time job to power cycle a computer every 5 minutes, it would take you ~2 years to reach that 40k mark.

    OT: I sleep my computer if I'm not going to use it for a good chunk of time, otherwise I shutdown for overnight. Mainly has to do with my computer being a technicolor nightmare and its distracting to see the rainbow when I'm not actually using it.

  13. #33
    by default windows has fast boot, so shutdown actually goes into a sort of hibernate, where as a restart is a proper cold reboot.
    https://www.windowscentral.com/how-d...0-fast-startup

    something to read up a bit if your bored.

  14. #34
    My computer is 5 years old now, but it was a high-end gaming rig 5 years ago. I haven't turned it off since June when I went on my road trip, and I have only restarted it 3-4 times since then. It runs perfect. No issues. I have it set to sleep after 2 minutes of inactivity. It restarts in like 10 seconds, but I just never really need to.

  15. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Afrospinach View Post
    >.>

    Why?



    Yeah if you want all that you need to "restart" by default. Worth knowing that in win 10 they have very different functions if anyone here is ever troubleshooting. Restart will do what shutdown used to do.
    Umm… did that in 7 too, bucko. Not new.

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    Quote Originally Posted by StillMcfuu View Post
    Components are designed for a lot of power cycles before they see degradation. A number that gets thrown around as an industry standard is 40k. If it were your full time job to power cycle a computer every 5 minutes, it would take you ~2 years to reach that 40k mark.
    Amd that should be /endthread at least as far “shutting it down is bad.”

  16. #36
    Mine never shuts down, nor sleeps, not even monitors on my gaming PC, couple of laptops will go to sleep, and work laptop will sleep. Gaming PC restarts for windows updates, but outside of power failures (rare) or a long vacation (hasn't happened since last BlizzCon), it's never shutdown/powered off.
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  17. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    Umm… did that in 7 too, bucko. Not new.
    It was a new feature with windows 8.
    The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

  18. #38
    Personally I prefer Hibernate - sleep in window is no longer how it used be and the machine will still use more power than necessary.

  19. #39
    The Unstoppable Force Bakis's Avatar
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    My Windows 11 just make the computer reboot randomly when in sleep or hibernate mode so I'm forced to always shutting it off.
    Blerghh... checked the advanced log of windows but they all come down to some stupid error in kernel.exe.
    Checked RAM etc. but couldn't fix it, no clue what is causing it
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  20. #40
    Linus made a video about this awhile back personally I usually always keep my computer running. I read awhile back it actually puts more stress on the parts when you start it up and shut it down then just leaving it run.

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