I have read conflicting opinions on this Q. Some "experts" recommend powering down any LCD/LED PC monitor overnight to save wear and energy, while other "experts" say modern LED monitors use much les power and are not as subject to "wear issues" being tuned off and on.

What to believe? Personally, I am inclined to use the windows 7 Power Options to shut my new LED monitor down after three hours of non use.

Most "experts" agree that leaving the PC on all the time(if you use it within any 12 hour period) makes sense due to "thermal sress" of shut down and booting up, but feel monitors are a seperate issue.

Any opinions on this topic ?

Thanks

I like to watch movies while I fall asleep, so I disabled the screensaver and set it go to standby after 45min. If I'm "away" for that long chances are I won't be using it for another several hours.

Not sure about wear and tear; I just do it to keep energy costs down.

I have windows turn mine off after 20 minutes of non use. Saves the back light. It's five years old now.

I believe in turning things off for the night, and if I leave for several hours during the day. Otherwise, during the day, my screen saver comes on -- but I assume that does not save the electronics -- merely prevents "burn in" (as a retiree, I'm home a lot).

My wife is less consistent about night shutdowns and often leaves her computer on 24 hours with the screen saver running. Her system is "traditionally" my previous system (she gets it when I upgrade).

So far, "wearout" has not been an obvious issue for either of us -- but our LCDs are relatively new.

Allen: Do you shut down your entire system at night(Monitor and PC- or just monitor) ? Do you think "thermal stress" on PC system components is a valid isue for modern day gaming rigs with varying temps cooling down and starting back up ?

I shut down the PC. The monitor then automatically goes into power save mode -- basically, its entirely off with a circuit waiting to get a "call" from the PC.

My information regarding electronics durability is dated -- I retired 10 years ago. However, back then, one had to "balance" between wearout due to "on/off" thermal cycles and wearout due to component aging (time at temperature).

Mainly capacitors aged in most devices -- which had a useful life measured in 10000 or a few 10000s of hours -- say 2 to 5 years of ON-time. I notice Gigabyte uses 50,000 hour capacitors in my motherboard -- and proudly advertises the fact (6 years ON-time).

Now, in the PC there is a lot of heat generated in the CPU and GPU and Chipset which could lead to aging, but with AMD "cool and quiet" the CPU doesn't stay hot if its not doing something. And, the GPU drastically cuts its MHz when not running games.

Up to date LCD monitors are advertised to go 50,000 hours (6 years ON-time).

On off cycles might be the worst stress these days. Thing is, I don't know. So, I safe side by only turning on once a day (most days) to minimize thermal cycling -- but turning off at night to prevent aging.

I think most of us upgrade before the lifetime (CPU, GPU, MB, Monitor) runs out regardless of our habits.

In fact, lately Nvidia has been counting on that because they run their GPUs "too" hot (to keep the FPS crown -- I'm not making that up, its a persistent rumor that they know what they are doing on that score). Apparently, they believe high end card buyers will replace their card every 2000 hours of gaming or so (a couple years of use) -- and design heat levels accordingly.

thanks Allen. I can always rely on you for good advice. I will shut down the PC when I go to bed and ot worry about the monitor. Will boot up in the morning when I go back to FSX and other gaming.

You got me by two years in the retirement area(I hit 8 years this June). Health still decent at 70 and always a new PC or XBOX 360 game to get(+ I inherit every 360 Madden NFL football 360 game each year when my grandson gets the newest edition-good stuff). I see Microsoft is coming out with a new flight simulator called "Flight" I plan to stick with FSX(+ all the software scenary, aircraft, etc. I have bought since I got my new rig) + I don't yjink I have the energy for another new version and the whole transition. I am actually surprised MS is bringing out one-I thought their whole flight sim developers disbanded after FSX.

My new PC(built to a large degree on your component recommedations) + this new monitor might outlast me for all I know.

Stay well and good gaming.

Stan

Mine shuts off after about 30 minutes. Good enough for me.

Personally I think it's mostly dependent on the quality of components you use (similar to what Allen said). I kept my old system running almost 24/7 for 5 years, unless I was going to be away for several days. Even having it OC'd the whole time I never had any issues with leaving it on. With my previous builds, I used to always power it off at night and turn it on once almost every day; and that's when I had the most problems (usually with PSU's). My old system lasted for 5 years with probably 3-4 years total of being 'ON'; and I didn't have those issues. IMO if you use your PC every day you might as well leave it on. Just know that you will have more dust buildup and you need to clean it regularly as air is constantly being circulated.
But like I said I always turn my monitor to standby/off when I'm not using it.

FWIW

Mine never shuts off unless i reboot it.I believe thermal stress is still a big problem today and would rather not turn it on and off repeatedly i have seen to many issues over my career in IT over thermal problems.