It's always good to at least restart sometimes. I let my computer go into hibernation. My housemate my Junior year of college was a computer science engineer and did the same. That way it's somewhat off but you can wiggle the mouse and it's right where you left it at a **** site, I mean, HCF of course.

On a side note, for cellphone, you should restart that once a week at least. Updates on your phone won't update unless you restart. Otherwise, I leave my phone on 24/7.

 

Computers really don't need to be shut down at all really. If you don't have enough fans to keep your comp cool overnight you should really look into getting more. There are a few reasons to shut your comp down.. If it thunderstorms a lot where you live you should definitely shut it down and probably unplug it from the wall every night. If your room is hot and balmy/lots of moisture in the air I'd suggest shutting it down overnight. But both climates would have to be more on the extreme end to warrent a shut down. You're more likely to have your computer parts go obsolete before they'll actually wear down from being on too much. I download a lot of stuff, so having mine on all the time is a must. I also, when I'm doing renders or compressing video, usualy let that go overnight. My last computer I had it was on pretty much 24/7. I had it for about 4 years and the only reason why I don't use it anymore is because I got a new comp.

If you don't use it overnight for any specific reason, you just want it to be on when you go to it I suggest you put it in sleep mode and turn your monitors off overnight. This will significantly reduce any electricity it'll use. A defrag and a restart always does good every now and again tho. Unless your majorly pressed on your electricity bill or live in a bad climate keeping it on shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

it's still a good idea to shut it down often, not necessary, but it helps performance ten fold if you run several high processing apps, it allows your memory cache to recollect and reorder itself to perform better

 

Depends on what you mean by often. I do run a couple programs like that and I usualy do a full shut down every week or two (usualy around 2). BTW doing a full shut down when retarting is better than just doing an actual restart.

 

I always shut it down at night, because it's too loud. 4 fans are FTL.

 

I leave mine on, but restarting everynow and then doesn't hurt. I have 4 fans on mine too but they help me sleep at night I leave mine on 24/7 Only time i turn it off is during a bad thuinderstorm(unplug it too) or when installing new hardware components

 

You don't really need to turn your computer off. There are really no moving parts in a computer (other than the fans and the hard drive). The hard drive isn't used much if your not actually using the computer. The computer's memory refreshes itself every 10ms since the basic cell is usually a capacitor. I never turn my computer off. I think its been years since its been off overnight.

 

Ok thanks for everyones input. I only use my computer for the internet and homework really. Ill just keep turning it off a night or at least put it on suspend,let it get atleast 12 hoursof rest lol.(how much I sleep).If I know in a couple hours I will turn it back on, I wont bother.

Thanks. My buddys computer is left on 24/7 and you can hear it overheating all the time, the extra fans kicking in. And his vents are dirty as hell, hes to lazy to clean it lol..o well for him.

 

Yeah, excessive dust is bad business. Clogs the airflow, slows down fans and, if bad enough, it can even act as an insulator keeping and generating heat inside the case. I always give my case and parts a thorough cleaning every few months or so. Moisture and dust are the 2 major comp killers people don't usualy realize or do anything about.

Comps are like cars man, regular matinence and minor upgrades and they can last for years, and crashing is still painful.

 

it costs money to keep it on when youre not using it