People shut down their computers?
Are there places in the world where people have to actually care about the power consumption of their computer so much that this is a thing? Any examples?
Are there places in the world where people have to actually care about the power consumption of their computer so much that this is a thing? Any examples?
From a hardware perspective, it seems to be high temperature for a long time (>70C, >55C if it's passively cooled) and thermal cycling are the two mechanisms that cause hardware to fail. Neither of these are true for a computer left on when idling.
Where I am from, 1 W 24/7/365 is approximately one dollar per year (~10 cents per kWh). I have a Mac Mini M1, now, but I used to have an Intel MacBook Pro and before that, a 300W workstation.
The MacBook Pro took about 30 watts idling, so about two dollars a month. I probably lose more than that on exchange rate fluctuations.
The 300W workstation took about 300 watts idling, so about 20 dollars a month. This is rightfully significant, and due to this concern, that computer was replaced. However, if I did not have the option, 20 dollars a month is a perfectly reasonable price to pay considering the hundreds of tabs, programs, daemons, and other misc things that I always had going on. I treated the computer as an extension of my mind that doesn't sleep, and I would pay $20 gladly for this feature.
Now I have a Mac Mini M1. I haven't measured the wall power but "powermetrics" says the CPU, which is the only actual part in the computer, taking 600 mW (0.6W) idling. Absolutely no reason to shut this down ever. Why would I even consider that.
Unless you have a GPU, and a relatively modern system, most desktop PCs (dell, etc) probably take about 15-20W to run. A GPU adds about 20-30W of idle drain. Depending on what you do with your computer, the question is simple: Would I pay $1/W/24/7/365 per year to keep all my stuff open? If it's too high, can you reduce the idle power consumption?
with average california cost/kwh (.35)
raspberry pi ~ $1/month
200w server ~ $50/month
also, more time on might mean more disk wear and greater chance of hardware failure. (there is probably some sort of heat shock, so leaving things on might be good too)
I live in California. Electricity is not free, or even cheap.
I have 4 computers. 1 out in the garage that's my "off-site" backup system, complete with LTO tape drive. It's also got an 8 drive RAID10 array. I don't need it running 24/7. I need it on when I have a backup job for it to do, and off when I don't need it on.
I have a workstation that I only use when I'm developing personal code. I don't need it running 24/7. It also has 8 spinning disks, video card, and a massive CPU. It consumes about 300W of power, so that adds up.
My laptop is off when I'm not using it, but even that I wake remotely from time to time when I'm out in the garage and need a file from it.
I have 1 server that runs 24/7 and handles Plex, security cameras, and 6 virtual machines. It's a workhorse, but it's got a 65W CPU in it and barely uses the video card.
My electric bill is $600/month in the summer months, mostly due to AC but I don't need to make it any worse by running 4 computers continuously when I don't need to.