How much uptime do your personal use systems get day to day... [Archive]

sonny

June 15th, 2005, 11:13 PM

My pc is a P4 that runs all through the day, when I'm at work my pc is on, when I get home I turn the AC on to lower the tempeture (sometimes it's around 65°C) but within 2 hours it goes own to 30°C, when I'm not playing Doom3 or UT2004 I'm here in the forums, when I go to sleep I leave it on, the sound of the fan makes me sleep, when I wake up I check all the downloads, get dress and go to school... so my pc is running most of the 7 days of the week.

Optimal Aurora

June 16th, 2005, 01:07 AM

Only when I am downloading files do my system stay on more than 24hours. I like my system even though it is an amd64 because it uses less power and my energy bill is considerably less than what my old amd duron was... I personally, don't like to leave my system on for extended periods of time... usually the most uptime I do a day maybe 10 hours when college is in session and 15 hours when it ain't...

Brunellus

June 16th, 2005, 01:44 AM

In the interests of saving electricity, I should probably power my box down from time to time....but the fact that I can keep it up and running for days at a time (as long as a week and a half, I think, once) is really neat.

rpgcyco

June 16th, 2005, 06:53 AM

If I'm downloading, then I keep it on most of the time. Usually for a week. Otherwise, I switch it on when I get home and poweroff when I go to sleep.

- Rpg Cyco

Sslaxx

June 16th, 2005, 07:17 AM

07:13:59 up 15 days, 10:49, 5 users, load average: 0.17, 0.38, 0.42
I'm quite happy to let it run 24x7.

nocturn

June 16th, 2005, 07:31 AM

I have the habit of booting my desktop when I first need it, and turning it off before I go to sleep.
That means 4-5 hours uptime on weekdays and 12-16 on weekends/holidays.

My home server is always up though. It has uptimes typically of 30-90 days. Most reboots are caused by things like power failures or switching it off for a holiday etc.

I also have a firewall (IpCop) at my parents house, it's top uptime was nearly one year.

Takis

June 16th, 2005, 08:04 AM

My PC's downstairs and I can't be bothered walking down with my breakfast, so I use VNC to check emails and that. As soon as I can get something similar to HP's iLO system on wireless that'll let me remote start my machine, it'll get turned off.

mrtaber

June 16th, 2005, 03:53 PM

Single machine (not including the PowerBook laptop), 24/7...a 3.2GHz P4, broadband connection. Perhaps a waste of energy, but I'm sure the cats like the pretty screensavers ;)

Mark :)

skoal

June 16th, 2005, 04:09 PM

I'm quite happy to let it run 24x7.
You're actually extending the life of certain hardware components by doing so. Just like with an automobile, most damage you do to your moving components comes from repetitive startup.

\\//_

sapo

June 16th, 2005, 04:11 PM

07:13:59 up 15 days, 10:49, 5 users, load average: 0.17, 0.38, 0.42
I'm quite happy to let it run 24x7.

same here:

http://img93.echo.cx/img93/2522/uptime5fj.th.jpg (http://img93.echo.cx/my.php?image=uptime5fj.jpg)

hardwarder

June 16th, 2005, 04:21 PM

Mine usually stays 24x7 unless my dad boots to windows.

jdodson

June 16th, 2005, 04:50 PM

i turn it off at night. its in our room so the box is slightly noisy, not really noisy that bad, just kinda noisy.

anyways, i run a AMD64, so "i believe" our power bill is not too high anyways. it runs all day, off at night.

jdong

June 16th, 2005, 05:11 PM

I keep it on 24/7 because I'm a on-and-off PC user and would like a box ready for me at any time.

in addition, I've noticed that after a couple of hours of usage, the Linux cache really does speed up future tasks considerably. (Of course, I have 1.5GB RAM, which helps out my situation!)

I'm not an uptime freak, though. If I need to test out a LiveCD or try a new kernel, I reboot without second thoughts. I'm not interested in an uptime contest.

XDevHald

June 16th, 2005, 05:17 PM

12:16:05 up 4 days, 18:47, 2 users, load average: 0.62, 1.35, 1.31

Usually longer than that, but I am doing a lot of kernel updates and more, so I would say atleast 6 days a week all day in those 6 days with no reboot.

Optimal Aurora

June 16th, 2005, 05:43 PM

Please tell me you all don't be using it that long, What do you all be doing? Helping Seti@home or what...

Sslaxx

June 16th, 2005, 05:46 PM

Whatever really takes my fancy. Sometimes leave BitTorrent running overnight, sometimes not.

jdong

June 16th, 2005, 08:36 PM

Please tell me you all don't be using it that long, What do you all be doing? Helping Seti@home or what...

I'm always seeding something via BT. Recently, it's been CentOS 4.1 because their CD version has been fairly low on powerful seeds.

I don't like running Seti or other intensive apps, because I don't trust the ventilation in my computer room. It's small enough that on a summer day, the room can get up to 90 degrees F when sealed off. Add some CPU work into that, and it could be the end of my computer.

Rule

June 16th, 2005, 09:19 PM

I leave both my desktops on 24/7, the only time they seem to go down every 7 days but once past the 7th day they can be up for a month or so. damn grow-ops :mad:

my laptop is only on when needed :D

sapo

June 16th, 2005, 10:19 PM

Please tell me you all don't be using it that long, What do you all be doing? Helping Seti@home or what...

Downloading anime in bittorrent while idle... a have to burn several dvds per week :grin:

ubuntu_demon

June 17th, 2005, 12:03 AM

I run a p3 24/7 it runs samba,azureus and I use it occasionally to work on from remote.
My p4 desktop is only on when I'm at home whenever I'm not sleeping.

I'm thinking of running folding@home but I'm wondering .. does it cost more electricity ?

jdong

June 17th, 2005, 01:09 AM

I'm thinking of running folding@home but I'm wondering .. does it cost more electricity ?

Yes. An active CPU does use more power (and therefore generates more heat) than an idle CPU (whipping though NOP commands). How much more? I don't know.

Another concern is that many home consumer oriented midline and lowline systems ("budget" systems that computer stores have those massive discounts on) are NOT designed for 24/7 operation, or sustained loads. I burnt out my neighbor's Athlon trying to install Gentoo, for example, and it was only 4 hours of sustained full load. If you built a decent computer on your own, and have nice case air flow and cooling, you can disregard this. Otherwise, check the system/CPU temperature after making your computer do something intensive for an hour.

As much as I'd like to contribute to mass-computing projects, I'm not willing to shorten the life of my PC. I invested about $1000 USD into my self-built desktop up to now, and I want it to last for years to come, minus a few hard drive replacements or video card upgrades :).

ubuntu_demon

June 17th, 2005, 02:20 AM

Yes. An active CPU does use more power (and therefore generates more heat) than an idle CPU (whipping though NOP commands). How much more? I don't know.

that's the biggest issue for me. It will cost my mum extra money. Also I don't like to pollute when it's not "necessary".

Another concern is that many home consumer oriented midline and lowline systems ("budget" systems that computer stores have those massive discounts on) are NOT designed for 24/7 operation, or sustained loads. I burnt out my neighbor's Athlon trying to install Gentoo, for example, and it was only 4 hours of sustained full load. If you built a decent computer on your own, and have nice case air flow and cooling, you can disregard this. Otherwise, check the system/CPU temperature after making your computer do something intensive for an hour.

I've got an antec sonata case ... the power supply is of very high quality and my videocard doesn't take too much power (geforce 3).

My p3 has a decent power supply. Nothing fancy. But good quality stuff.

As much as I'd like to contribute to mass-computing projects, I'm not willing to shorten the life of my PC. I invested about $1000 USD into my self-built desktop up to now, and I want it to last for years to come, minus a few hard drive replacements or video card upgrades :).

good point. I'm a poor student :p I can't live without my 2 pc's :)

matthew

June 17th, 2005, 03:24 AM

3 systems:

Home P4 desktop (the family minivan): on 24/7
Work/play laptop (dad's hotrod): on whenever I am in one place for more than an hour or two and off when I am asleep. Averages 15 hours/day
Old P3 laptop (mom's "learn to use a computer" toy): on when being used

benplaut

June 17th, 2005, 07:06 AM

the family WinXP desktop is on about 8 hours a day, and in standby (suspend-to-RAM) the rest of the time

my laptop is on about 16 hours a day, and i turn it off during the night

skoal

June 17th, 2005, 07:27 AM

Unless you're playing video games all day, the average cost of leaving the computer on 24x7 =

~150W x 24 hr/day = 3.6 kWh x 6.12 cents/kWh (Dallas TU Electric) = ~ 22 cents/day = less than I spend on shampoo, soap, and shaving cream/day = 365x24x7 computer usage = streaming GoFM music on Beep Media Player 24x7 = rock-n-roll all day all nite bay-bee = I for one welcome my new coal burning overlords!

\\//_

jdong

June 17th, 2005, 01:38 PM

Unless you're playing video games all day, the average cost of leaving the computer on 24x7 =

~150W x 24 hr/day

Whoa, boy, an idle computer uses 20W of power, usually. A non-idle system could use a lot more.

knathraak

June 21st, 2005, 12:48 PM

My RH9 fileserver/Samba PDC:

07:43:21 up 61 days, 18:59, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
And that's only because I issued init 6, not realizing I was still SSH'd into it. Doh!

All machines stay up 24/7. Especially MythTV;)

fng

June 21st, 2005, 01:47 PM

sudo apt-get install uptimed

and then when typing uprecords, you'll get this neat little overview :)

fng@butters:~$ uprecords
# Uptime | System Boot up
----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
1 25 days, 19:31:08 | Linux 2.6.10-5-k7 Wed Apr 27 23:26:06 2005
2 11 days, 17:07:47 | Linux 2.6.10-5-k7 Tue May 31 22:13:21 2005
-> 3 8 days, 13:41:11 | Linux 2.6.10-5-k7 Sun Jun 12 20:36:19 2005
4 6 days, 04:49:29 | Linux 2.6.10-5-k7 Mon May 23 18:57:49 2005
5 3 days, 01:01:11 | Linux 2.6.10-5-k7 Sun Apr 24 18:29:26 2005
----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
1up in 3 days, 03:26:37 | at Fri Jun 24 13:44:06 2005
no1 in 17 days, 05:49:58 | at Fri Jul 8 16:07:27 2005
fng@butters:~$

poofyhairguy

June 21st, 2005, 07:19 PM

. I burnt out my neighbor's Athlon trying to install Gentoo, for example, and it was only 4 hours of sustained full load.

That is funny as all get out.

darkoptix

June 21st, 2005, 09:34 PM

Just checked out my freesco router:
1:39pm up 82 days, 15:19, 1 user, load average: 0.01, 0.00, 0.00

My computer has been:
13:48:42 up 1 day, 14:59, 2 users, load average: 0.66, 0.74, 0.55

I usually restart it to go into windows to play games...

knathraak

June 22nd, 2005, 02:35 AM

Just checked out my freesco router:

Oh yeah! forgot about freesco...

8:35pm up 68 days, 0:03, 1 user, load average: 0.16, 0.03, 0.01

Actually I think my wife's M$ box has the best uptime of all at our house, but of course she pretty much just uses it for web browsing and never breaks it;)

Optimal Aurora

June 22nd, 2005, 02:41 AM

Don't you all believe in giving your systems a break?... especially with 1 to google months of uptime...

jsimmons

June 22nd, 2005, 01:24 PM

Unfortunately, I have to bboot into Windows frequently because I sim race, and I have to practice for each race.

As soon as Wine gets to the point where it will run my racing game (Nascar racing 2003 Season), I'll be able to switch completely over, but not until then.

JPatrick

July 8th, 2005, 11:39 AM

I turn mine off when I sleep.

opi

July 8th, 2005, 01:44 PM

My server runs 24/7/365 but that's Pegasos PPC (http://www.pegasosppc.com/odw.php) and eats less power. My laptop gets hibernated if I'm not working on it. Desktop will be turned off if I'm not going to use it for a hour or two.

kleeman

July 8th, 2005, 02:01 PM

From another (locked) thread:

8:57am up 198 days, 15:30, 9 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

I leave my work system up permanently as I often work from home and need access all the time. I haven't noticed anything odd about the hardware (or software) after leaving this long (record for me was 300 days). Leaving unix boxes running is pretty normal at Universities or research labs....

Kvark

July 8th, 2005, 02:05 PM

I'm too lazy to close down all the programs, then reopen them next time I come around. So the computer is usually on 24/7. The electricity bill is bundled into the rent, which means it's the same every month regardless of how much energy I use.

WirelessMike

July 8th, 2005, 02:39 PM

I, too, access my machines remotely on a regular basis. Cooling isn't a problem, and the OS is stable, as are all apps running in the background, and a nice router along with additional firewalls and periodic surveillance keep me protected, so I don't have any realistic incentive to shut them down.

Oh sure, it's probably tough on some of the hardware, but hardware continues to become more affordable every day and evolve at such a rate that I really don't mind replacing some of it when the time comes. Heck-- Shopping at Newegg almost makes me look forward to having to replace some of it.

CoriolisSTORM

July 8th, 2005, 03:53 PM

Mine is on all the time unless you count the times I reboot to change from Windows to Linux or Linux to Windows. I put it in suspend when I'm asleep though, or set it to defrag or download stuff for me.

mcpish

July 19th, 2006, 01:34 AM

Electricity is included free with my condo (I pay a flat fee for condo fees which include electricity regardless of usage), so I leave everything running 24/7

WildTangent

July 19th, 2006, 05:43 AM

Mine is usually up 12-16 hours a day, I only turn it off while I am asleep. My server on the other hand...

http://www.w1ldt4ng3nt.net/cgi-bin/uptime.pl

Recently rebooted due to a power outtage, but it displays the record.

-Wild

jpkotta

July 19th, 2006, 05:45 AM

23:36:12 up 41 days, 1:26, 3 users, load average: 1.24, 1.31, 1.26

Last time I rebooted was to install Dapper. It's much more convenient to keep it up all the time, and better for the components (I think). I've had mine up nearly continuously (like not off for more that a couple of days a month) for over two years now. Plus I fold (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FoldingAtHome).

Skia_42

July 19th, 2006, 06:25 AM

Probably to much. I wake up at 5 AM, work 'till 7 AM, Go back to sleep. Wake up at 2 PM use off and on untill 2 AM and repeat.

Christmas

July 19th, 2006, 09:45 AM

My system runs non-stop for about 1 year and 2 months and gives no signs of tiredness. In the beginning I used it to keep trivia on two channels on Undernet (actually it ran trivia for about 1 year non-stop) and now I'm so used with the cooler's sound I don't turn it off even when I sleep. I was thinking of creating a personal web page and run an apache server on it.

jordilin

July 19th, 2006, 09:56 AM

If I'm downloading with amule, then 24x7. If I am not, then I switch it off when sleeping and when I go to work. The rest of the day is on.

fluffington

July 19th, 2006, 10:12 AM

My server only goes down for kernel/hardware upgrades. My desktop gets turned off while I sleep.

richbarna

July 19th, 2006, 01:04 PM

I have got a server and a box for ipcop firewall that are on 24/7. My Personal computers are normally running all the time as well (depending on what is downloading). Due to the heat here in Spain (and expensive air conditioning) I try to shut the computers down once or twice a week to let them cool down a bit.

djsroknrol

July 19th, 2006, 03:00 PM

I was letting mine run 24/7, but since I got the laptop online I mostly turn it on for needed files and shut it back down again...saves a little on the electric bill.

BWF89

July 19th, 2006, 04:36 PM

My parents make me turn the computer off whenever were going to be going somewhere for a couple of hours and usually when they go to sleep. I tried explaining that it's not going to hurt anythign to leave it on for a few days streight but they think its wasing power.