Whats its best shutdown or sleep?

[FreaKk]

Hi, i recently came with a doubt, which option will be best for hardware, shutdown the PC or put to sleep, i use 3 or 4 hours a day, always shutdown and set the switch of the psu to OFF, rarely i put it to sleep. I hope someone will throw some wisdom to this worry. Best regards!!

[gustmi4]

I agree with you Code_Frenzy. Having a computer idling isn't too much of a stress factor for a psu. When it comes to power on spikes, it's all up to the quality of the psu.
Old psu's is a story of its own, but modern Quality psu's doesn't give much, if even much of detectable, spikes.

I am not sure about spikes when it comes to waking up from sleep compared to cold boot. After all it's just rudimentary power that is on during sleep (ram). So sleep doesn't draw too much power, but it could give spike when the computer is waken up. As said, if you have a quality psu you don't need to worry about spikes nowadays anyway; sleep or cold boot.

My old psu, which is a quality Antec, is now 15 years old and I was using it for my main computer until this spring when I got my new system. It's still in my secondary computer and I have never had a problem with it, even at high power drain.
For the first three years I had a server running on it and had it on 24/7 and from then on only turned it on while using it.

Mechanical hard drives do indeed take the biggest hit when spinning up. You would have to make sure you don't have any power saving features turned on though, which would turn it off when not in use. Like Code_Frenzy: "only had the screen set to auto off", though you could also let other components than the screen go into power save. At the end of the day I guess it's up to how much you use your computer (hard drive usage ie. do you run a server on it, do you sit at your computer most of the day).
If you're only using the computer for a couple of hours a day, the question arises; do you benefit from the hard drive spinning 24/7 or hours, versus some spinups a day?
Nowadays if you have a SSD for daily programs and files and a mechanical drive for storage and files (ie. movies) which you don't use all the time. Then I would argue that letting the mechanical drive spin down while not in use is the better option, but that's just my view.

I understand that budget plays a role when choosing a psu, but ask yourself. Put out some bucks now, have a psu with some headroom and quality components, which will last for years. Or choose a cheap psu which could burn your pc, could stop working and which won't have adequate power in a couple of years. I myself see that the psu is the only component you can, at least to some degree, have as a future proof component. Changing the whole ATX system or having components that draw multiple times the power they do now isn't a feasible future (just my opinion, some will say there's nothing that is future proof). Remember, promised wattage doesn't always mean that's what you get. Overall I would just advice to look at a tier list and read some reviews from reliable sources. Then you don't have to worry about it (at least I don't). Myself I favour Jonnyguru reviews, if the psu has been reviewed there.

Here's two examples of good/bad psu and with a look at the power on spike at this specific page of the review:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=380
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=379

(I chose my own psu as an example, just because it was easy and I am lazy)

When it comes down to having the switch on/off on the psu while shut down, I still can't see it having any actual bearing on the lifespan and quality over time on the psu.
If you would want to protect your psu from really high surges, such as those from a lightning strike the switch wont do much. You would have to pull out the cable. Or get a good power-surge protector, if it isn't already taken care of in your fuse-box. Even better, again, UPS if you want to go all the way.

I don't seem to be able to make short posts, now am I? 😉

Oh, and when it comes to how I do it: I let it go to sleep while I know I will still use it and shut it down when I go to sleep or away for a longer time. I don't really think too much about it though.

[FonzieBulldog]

Not using the computer.Shut it down and save power in the same time.

[Yozsh]

Sleep mode does not shut down the computer... it means a transition into a low power consumption mode. So a portion of the unused devices are turned off,
but the computer is not completely off. So..the answer is obvious;) Shutdown

[qwertz]

Code_Frenzy wrote:
My last PC (a Dell Dimension 9150) was never switched off except for rare occasions like updates or to clean the case and fans. It's lasted me 9 years and is still working to this day, although it's no longer left on as it's not my main PC.
The reason for doing this was two-fold, first of all I like my PC to be instantly ready and so only had the screen set to auto off but the PC left idling 24/7. Secondly, I've worked with PC's for a long time and most 'hardware' faults have occurred during power up, whether that be because of thermal stressing or electrical spikes at switch on, I do not know. Older hard drives were also susceptible to failure after a high number of power-ups. Therefore I just chose to keep my PC running, and considering its a Pentium D (notoriously renowned for running hot), its lasted me very well.
My latest PC is running on a M8 Hero Alpha with i7-6700k and liquid cooled. The fact that it is liquid cooled has made me wary of leaving it switched on 24/7. Only time will tell how long this system lasts me. I'd be very happy if it lasts me another 9 years!

Worst case scenario maybe:
For example if pc gets put to sleep or hibernate while still performing 100% cpu task under highly overclocked condition.
Then ambient room temp droped all pc components to 10c or less and on power-up suddenly 100% load comes in, probably plenty of stress.
I have turned pc on like this sometimes, so far no problems but 1000 cycles maybe problems unless cpus developed to handle those conditions.
But regular condition probably no problems.

Sleep good if planning soon to use pc ,but under power failure working data get lost if no ups device.
Hibernate good if pc gets unused for longer period and with hibernare after power loss still working programs are preserver.

[riambo]

FreaKk wrote:
Hi, i recently came with a doubt, which option will be best for hardware, shutdown the PC or put to sleep, i use 3 or 4 hours a day, always shutdown and set the switch of the psu to OFF, rarely i put it to sleep. I hope someone will throw some wisdom to this worry. Best regards!!

Sleep mode is not resets your computer to default seting, wish must be at windows new start. Sleep mode its just saves pc power energy. So, you better restart your computer.

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[riambo]

For hardware beter restart your pc

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[Nate152]

Hi FreaKk

The cooler master 1000w PSU is plenty for your build and then some. 🙂

It has good reviews from Newegg and Amazon.

[gustmi4]

Here's the long version of what nate said and I totally concur,

Nate152 wrote:
The cooler master 1000w PSU is plenty for your build and then some. 🙂

Just don't run it near max load all the time if you get something like SLI/Crossfire configurations, overclock and have a big light show in your case in the future. Even if you get SLI and overclock, it shouldn't be at the limit.
It's a decent psu. Not super quality, but more than enough and the build quality is average. Does what it is meant to. 😃
The power on spike ain't optimal, but nothing to be worried about. There's no risk it will harm your components even in the long run.

_____________________________________
Power consumption calculated roughly on your PC specs:
Load Wattage: 384 W

Amperage (combined)
+3.3V +5V +12V
9.5 A 9.8 A 29.4 A
_____________________________________
This is the amperage table for your psu:

_____________________________________

So you are ok, even if you would double your power consumption. You are only using roughly 38% of your wattage.
On the amperage side you're only using 37% on the 12V line and 33% on the 5V line.


The review for it looks good too (for the 850W, but from what I did read on forums they're comparable):
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/Silent_Pro_M2_850W/10.html

As mentioned at the start of the post, the power on peak is also ok:
"At 5VSB, we measured a voltage overshoot, which, however, was far from the limit. The +12V rail, on both tests we conducted, also registered a spike which, at worst case, reached 12.6V. This is a high reading, but is still away from the 13.2V limit that the ATX spec sets for this rail – posing no threat for the system that this PSU will power."

It's a Tier 3 PSU:
"Still safe to use and stable, just lower quality components. Not really ideal in serious overclocking or super-high load situations, such as a Bitcoin mining rig or a high end gaming system."

So a good, but not great psu. If you would be asking if you should buy it I would probably recommend another one, but I do absolutely think it's good to keep and that it's an ok psu.
It will suffice your needs well and if used without keeping it at it's limits constantly or make it too hot it should give you a decent lifetime expectation.

-Mikael

[FreaKk]

gustmi4 wrote:
Here's the long version of what nate said and I totally concur,
Just don't run it near max load all the time if you get something like SLI/Crossfire configurations, overclock and have a big light show in your case in the future. Even if you get SLI and overclock, it shouldn't be at the limit.
It's a decent psu. Not super quality, but more than enough and the build quality is average. Does what it is meant to. 😃
The power on spike ain't optimal, but nothing to be worried about. There's no risk it will harm your components even in the long run.

_____________________________________
Power consumption calculated roughly on your PC specs:
Load Wattage: 384 W

Amperage (combined)
+3.3V +5V +12V
9.5 A 9.8 A 29.4 A
_____________________________________
This is the amperage table for your psu:

_____________________________________

So you are ok, even if you would double your power consumption. You are only using roughly 38% of your wattage.
On the amperage side you're only using 37% on the 12V line and 33% on the 5V line.


The review for it looks good too (for the 850W, but from what I did read on forums they're comparable):
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/Silent_Pro_M2_850W/10.html

As mentioned at the start of the post, the power on peak is also ok:
"At 5VSB, we measured a voltage overshoot, which, however, was far from the limit. The +12V rail, on both tests we conducted, also registered a spike which, at worst case, reached 12.6V. This is a high reading, but is still away from the 13.2V limit that the ATX spec sets for this rail – posing no threat for the system that this PSU will power."

It's a Tier 3 PSU:
"Still safe to use and stable, just lower quality components. Not really ideal in serious overclocking or super-high load situations, such as a Bitcoin mining rig or a high end gaming system."

So a good, but not great psu. If you would be asking if you should buy it I would probably recommend another one, but I do absolutely think it's good to keep and that it's an ok psu.
It will suffice your needs well and if used without keeping it at it's limits constantly or make it too hot it should give you a decent lifetime expectation.

-Mikael

Thanks Mikael, that its outstanding info right there, now i came with other problem,today update the bios (1905) because cannot set the normal freq of my ram to 3000mhz, well that its solved. The new problem its that when i switch on the psu and start the pc, it turned on 2 sec, shutsdown and start again normally, this occurs only when i turned off the psu switch. if i left it on, that problem dont happen.

now i am worried, can be the ram? or something faulty with other component?.

Thanks to everyone!!.

[BearCat]

Windows likes being restarted.