Turn off their laptops and PCs to everyone who has not yet read the chip with a convenient sleep mode. And in general, it is interesting to know: how can a daily shutdown affect the life of the PC? Or none at all?
Let’s plunge into the times far, far from us, when dinosaurs were still running around the planet, the Egyptians were building great pyramids, and personal computers were loaded at a speed similar to a couple’s string in your Univer. The long-awaited launch was met with such jubilation, a rocket was launched into space, and the Soviet Union overtook the hated Americans in the space race!
In short, this story is not comparable to modern PCs, which have faster processors and solid-state drives, which is why it takes a matter of seconds to load. Therefore, it does not cost us anything to turn off the computer in the evening and turn it on in the morning. But how does this process affect the technique? The question is very controversial…
Turning off the PC exposes it to additional wear, only we are talking about a natural process of inclusion. So how can a device with solid-state electronics wear out during startup? The catch in the inrush current: Electronic circuits consisting of inductor coils, capacitors and transformers consume a huge amount of current when started.
A level higher than the power consumption in standard operation. Power supplies have all these components, and modern power supplies are equipped with Active Power Factor Controller (APFC) capacitors that consume an inrush current of 30 A. We recommend that you refuse cheap power supplies altogether.
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Conclusion: frequent off-on cycles hurt computers because the internal elements wear out due to the charging of capacitors – there is no way around it!
And on the other hand? Modern PCs are designed for 40,000 of these cycles. Consequently, the computer will safely survive shutdowns at night. Taking into account the fact that users tend to update the equipment every 5-7 years, shutdowns will not have time to cause such harm to the equipment that would make further operation impossible.
And if we rush to the option of a permanently turned on PC? And this option, it turns out, is no better! A computer turned on 24/7 will also wear out, which is due to the weakest link of a typical computer printed circuit board – a capacitor with a finite service life (often about 32,000 hours / slightly more than 3.5 years).
We can make an elementary conclusion that the useless operation of the computer has a much worse effect on it than the daily use of the shutdown cycle.
Salvation is – in sleep mode! Sleep mode suspends all system components except RAM, allowing them to enter a low-power mode, which significantly reduces wear on important components.