Comments by "Paul Frederick" (@1pcfred) on "Question: Should You Leave Your Computer On All the Time?" video.

  1. Thermal stress from off and on cycles, heating, and cooling the system is a real issue. This was especially true when RoHS hit a few years ago, and the industry did not have the expansion rates of the board, and solder, worked out at all. Virtually all of those first RoHS systems are dead today. BGA ICs just popped right off motherboards. Now if you plan on getting new hardware every couple of years then thermal fatigue will probably never catch up to you anyways. But if you want a system to last as long as possible then just leave it on. Although if you run all the time you stress the filter capacitors with more line ripple, and they will wear out sooner. But that wear is easier to deal with. Just replace the PSU at regular intervals. 5 years is about right there.
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  2. Zed orda thermal stress occurs when temperature changes. Like say, going from cold, to hot. Then expansion occurs, and materials are put under a strain, due to temperature differentials between dissimilar materials, and different rates of expansion. While a computer is on, once operating temperature is achieved, the temperature remains relatively constant. Then there is no movement. Things reach a state of equilibrium. So perhaps you can explain how a constant temperature leads to thermal stress?
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  3. Zed orda I have temperature sensors in my systems that I monitor. The temperature does not vary that much. Thermal sensors are far more accurate than a laser thermometer is too.
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  4. lyco mania you run 20 year old computers? Why?
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  5. lyco mania ah so you've had more than one computer in the past 20 years. I was wondering how you got one to last for so long. I had one run for 14 years for me. But about a year after I retired it I tried to start it up again, and it is toast now.
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  6. lyco mania thanks for the laugh. Yeah it is a simple fix. Replace the system. Because repairing it isn't worth it. Every cap in it is shot, and the chipset is too.
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  7. lyco mania I was going to use it as a networked PDF reader. Just so I didn't have to turn around to view files. Being as that PC is dead now though I'm still turning around to read files while I am working at my desk workbench.
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  8. +Trenzinho da Alegria I leave all of my computers on all of the time. I've had systems last 15 years. This one is 9 years old now, and still going strong.
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