Will a PC burn out if left on all the time?

FTSEBOY

Member
Messages
87
Likes
0
Hi all,
This is probably a silly question but I am looking to use CMS Forex to auto-execute trades based on certain arguments being agreed with certain technical indicators. It is my intention to stay in the market all the time, be it long or short trading the the 4 major pairs i.e GBP/USD, EUR/USD, USD/JPY and USD/CHF. I am still waiting for a reply from CMS technical support, but I seem to recollect reading on a forum dedicated to CMS Forex that in order for entries to remain 'live' your PC needs to be kept on. Does that mean that if my indicators identify a trading opportunity in Asia overnight i.e when I'm catching zzzz's my PC has to be left running effectively 24/7? The PC I am using is a Sony laptop. What would therefore happen if I left my PC on all day apart from cranking up my leccy bill?

Cheers
FTSEBOY

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
I leave my PC on all day without a problem, some Operating systems and Applications can leak memory, which will mean you have to reboot occassionally. Never left a laptop on 24/7 so I dont know how it would cope.
 
I have my laptop on around 16hrs each day for a number of reasons. Its just over a year old and it performs fine, but I expect it is taking its toll slowly.
 
As with a lot of electrical items turning them on / off frequently can shorten it's lifespan whereas leaving them on for days / months / years will mean they last longer due to less stress. It should be no different with your laptop.
I'd be more concerned about the PC crashing or my ISP dropping my connection just after a trade had been executed though.
 
I leave my pc on all the time except weekends. Can it create a house fire?
 
I installed PCs at 35 locations around the UK 15 years ago.

These PCs were left continually on and were an integral part of a communications network.

They are still in use today. After 8 or 9 years the Hard disks started failing (20 Meg hard disks!!!) as the bearings/spindles became worn.

Apart from that they are still all up and in use as is the communications network.

As long as you clean the insides out now and then to remove fluff and allow sufficint ventillation around the PC then you should be alright assuming a normal household location and not a Greenhouse or Bathroom!

JonnyT
 
Only if it has an electical fault and bursts into flames. In fact, computers are better left on all the time imho - esp if you have an LCD or TFT monitor that wont get burned in if you forget the screensaver. If you have a CRT monitor, use a screensaver or turn the monitor off when not actually in use.

Hope this helps.

osho67 said:
I leave my pc on all the time except weekends. Can it create a house fire?
 
I leave my gang of pc's on all the time, only turning off the monitors when I go to bed or go out! All ecommerce companies leave there servers on 24/7 year in year out. The last company I worked at even left the workstations on, hundreds of them. It doesn't seem to cost that much to run them, I remember hearing somewhere that the monitors take more electricity than the pc's themselves.

But I would set up energy saving features though... like turning off the harddrive and switching off the monitors.. some energy features even step down the cpu when its not doing much. I'm not too sure that its a good idea for a laptop to be left on though. My experience of laptops is that most have ventilation problems being so compact. My previous laptop use to get very hot and start crashing. If I were you I'd use your desktop PC for the constant monitoring of the exchanges. If you haven't got one, get a big tower with plenty of space inside and bung in a few fans: one to extract heat blown out from the cpu fan, and one or two to suck air in. Also, get the biggest meatiest CPU fan and heat sink you can get! It really makes a difference! I overclock my games pc and have such a big heat sink it hardly fits in the case :D but it keeps it cool!
 
Agreed, with the exception that unless you are using a laptop on battery, there is no point running standby or hibernation mode... Yes, a CRT monitor will use much more power than a LCD but not as much as the computer. Most PC's have PSU's at 240w minimum, which is 1 amp. Most LCD screens wont use anything like that but LCD/TFT power use is pretty much negligiblke. Unless as I say, you are running a laptop on battery.

Bottom line - most PCs are designed to be left on all the time nowadays...






pkfryer said:
I leave my gang of pc's on all the time, only turning off the monitors when I go to bed or go out! All ecommerce companies leave there servers on 24/7 year in year out. The last company I worked at even left the workstations on, hundreds of them. It doesn't seem to cost that much to run them, I remember hearing somewhere that the monitors take more electricity than the pc's themselves.

But I would set up energy saving features though... like turning off the harddrive and switching off the monitors.. some energy features even step down the cpu when its not doing much. I'm not too sure that its a good idea for a laptop to be left on though. My experience of laptops is that most have ventilation problems being so compact. My previous laptop use to get very hot and start crashing. If I were you I'd use your desktop PC for the constant monitoring of the exchanges. If you haven't got one, get a big tower with plenty of space inside and bung in a few fans: one to extract heat blown out from the cpu fan, and one or two to suck air in. Also, get the biggest meatiest CPU fan and heat sink you can get! It really makes a difference! I overclock my games pc and have such a big heat sink it hardly fits in the case :D but it keeps it cool!
 
You will incurr problems, more with the operatering system i.e WINDOWS than with the hardware. Look at Linux !
 
I have to leave one of my computers on all the time anyway and have done so for years. It does need a spring clean every so often and I do that with all my computers. The only reason I turn some off is in really hot weather... I must get more fans.. one has 3 case fans and an extractor.

Just make sure the ventilation is okay and also check your graphics, cpu and power fans are working.
 
Never had problem running 24/7 on an Intel P4 (N) CPU. (Unless I've overclocked it)
With AMD's I've had to up grade the cooling to keep things in check, but once this is sorted the AMD's (athlons) have been rock solid.

CJ
 
Thanks everyone for your contributions. There was me thinking that this was probably one of the silliest questions I've ever asked. Thats put my mind at rest. Short term I'll just use my laptop then as my account grows I'll re-invest some of the money in a desk top perhaps.
Cheers
FTSEBOY

:D :D :D :D :D
 
Oatman I have had problem with graphics card and power supply fans so think they did 'burn out'.. so it pays to watch them and give them a clean out.

but be careful when you clean things, static kills computer parts
 
Keep clean ;)
A can of compressed air now and again does the trick.
Hold the fans so they don't spin too fast.
I Hoover mine :cheesy:
 
Some people change their computers more frequently than I get mine repaired! When I day traded (given it up now) my computer stayed on twelve hours continuously and, even now, I don't bother to switch off often. Two years ago my ventilator burned out and I had to replace it plus a new hard drive. They saved all my data and I got tons more memory and got it back within 24 hours for about 140 euros . I would not worry about it.

Split
 
Top