Is Running Your Computer 24/7 Safe? Can It Be A GOOD Thing?

Before I started working for myself, I worked as a software developer for a decade. And pretty mucheveryonekept their computers on overnight (and over the weekends, too). It was just too much effort to constantly close down a dozen or more programs a night, only to open them back up the following day.

Equally I have a couple of computers at home that I run 24/7, including a ‘test PC’, my Synology NAS and my Chromebook. Confusingly though, I then have a desktop PC that I shut down every night. Why do I do this? Since we’re in the midst of a global energy crisis, shouldallcomputers be turned off nightly? Let’s find out.

Why Would Anyone Want To Keep Their PC On 24/7?

There are a number of reasons why people might want to keep their computers on overnight:

Is It Safe To Run Your PC 24/7?

A well-built and well-maintained computer can easily run 24/7 or overnight, with no real issues (apart from the increased electricity costs!). Modern computer systems are designed and tested to be run 24/7, and so you shouldn’t have any issues doing this yourself.

This answer should hopefully make sense because a server runs 24/7 (it wouldn’t be ideal if your favorite games and websites shut down every night, after all!). And a server is pretty much a computer, albeit one in a smaller case so that it can fit ontoserver racks.

So there’s no reason at all why your computer (which might also act as a server, running VMs or media server software) magically needs to be shut down, when servers don’t need to be.

But having said that, consumer hardware can be a bit more brittle than server-grade hardware – and PCs are also run in homes, not data centres. This is worth noting because homes have:

So while itisfair to say that“servers are computers too, and servers run 24/7”, you must be concious that your PC is running in a different environment. If you want to run your PC 24/7, you should make sure that you:

Also remember:many PCs run Windows, and there are often quite a few software updates to install. Some are mundane, optional updates – but many will be important software updates. You should alwayscheck for such updates, and install them straight – even if this does mean that you need to reboot your PC.

Benefits To Turning Your PC OFF Nightly/Regularly

While it is (often)safeto keep your computer running all the time, there can be some benefits to turning it off regularly. So I wanted to play devil’s advocate and cover these benefits:

Running Your PC All The Time Can Be GOOD For Your PC

Right, now that I’ve covered all thoseboring(I mean – totally valid) reasons why you could turn your PC off at night, let’s discuss the benefits to running a PC 24/7:

Side note:this point is similar to the debate about whether EVs are good for the environment. While EVs are much cleaner to ‘fuel up’ (i.e. because you can charge them from clean electricity), the manufacturing processfor EVs isn’t great for the environment. Ultimately the more we all consume, the morestuffmust be produced by factories – and the greater the effect on the environment. Sorry if I’m sounding like an ‘eco-warrior’: I do happily upgrade my PC when I want to, but I feel that it’s worth re-iterating this point (that new manufacturing can be worse than ongoing running/fueling costs of older products).

How Much Extra Electricity You’ll Use (If You Run Your PC 24/7)

Every computer is different, and how much power your computer uses will vary depending on what you run on it, and your actual hardware. For example, a 16-core, 64GB workstation that encodes video 24/7 will use a lot more power than a 2-core Chromebook that is left on overnight.

So it can be hard to calculate exactly how much extra electric you’ll use when running your PC all the time. But thankfully I have tested a few PCs with some energy monitoring plugs, and I knowroughlywhat to expect for a typical PC. Let’s assume:

Electricity pricesare varying alotright now (many states saw less than 10¢ per kWh prices in 2020, but they are now averaging closer to 15¢ per kWh), but let’s go with a price of 12¢ per kWh for now.

Keeping your PC running on idle overnight (without hibernation or sleep mode) will use 0.96 kWh of electric per day, costing you $42.08 per year. Whereas if you turned your PC off for 12 hours a day, you would only use 0.48 kWh of electric – costing you just $21.04 per year.

A saving of $21 per year doesn’t sound like much, but the difference becomes a lot clearer when you look at the 500 watt calculations:

Actively using a PC 24/7 will use 12 kWh of electric per day, costing you $525.96 of electric each year. Whereas if you turned the computer off for half of the day, it would only use 6 kWh per day – costing $262.98 per year instead.

That’s a whopping $262.98 saved each year.

Of course, you have to balance this with two facts:

I am sounding a bit like a politician now – saying one thing (“it’s good to turn your PC off regularly – you’ll save money!”), but concluding something else.

Really this debate depends on what you use your computer(s) for. As I mentioned in the intro, I keep some of my computers/NASes on 24/7 – while I turn my gaming PC off each night. However there might be another option open to me for my gaming PC.

How Hibernation (Or Sleep Mode) Can Offer The Best Of Both Worlds

Instead of completely shutting down your computer, you might want to exploreWindows’ hibernation and/or sleep mode features(which you can access by hitting the Windows key and searching for “power”, and then click the “Power & Sleep Settings” option):

Sleep mode can seem as though your computer is shut down: your display will turn off, and your PC will become much quieter. However when you wiggle your mouse, your computer will come back on – leaving all your applications open.

Windows’ sleep mode (and hibernation, if your PC has this option) can save you lots of electricity while your PC is in its sleep state, but you also can start back up much quicker because all your programs stay as you left them.

Linus done agood video on thisback when he worked at NCIX:

I am personally still happy to fully shut down my gaming PC at night, since I can start it back up again quickly. However if I am developing and have loads of IDEs open, Windows sleep can be a great option.

Tristan has been interested in computer hardware and software since he was 10 years old. He has built loads of computers over the years, along with installing, modifying and writing software (he’s a backend software developer ‘by trade’).Tristan also has an academic background in technology (in Math and Computer Science), so he enjoys drilling into the deeper aspects of technology.Tristan is also an avid PC gamer, with FFX and Rocket League being his favorite games.