Is it more energy efficient to keep your computer powered on or to shut it down after every use?

Most power consumption: c) The computer is being actively used for 3 hours, but stays powered on for 24 hours. Moderate power consumption: b) The computer is being actively used for 3 hours, but stays powered on for 6 hours. Least power consumption: a) The computer is being actively used for 3 hours, and stays powered on for 3 hours.

Leaving the computer on all the time will definitely consume more power than booting it up only when needed. I have a UPS which shows my real-time power consumption, in watts, at all times. By far, the most power consumption occurs when I am actively using the computer, playing games.

Booting it up doesn’t even come close to using the amount of power that I use while playing. Idle, I use between around 200 watts. Booting up, closer to 250, so slightly more than idle.

Actively using the computer I use over 350 watts. However, there is another reason you MIGHT want to leave it on (off and on causes stress to components), but the reasoning for that is equally shaky. Is it better to turn my computer off when I am not using it or leave it on all the time?

This is one of those questions where there is no single right answer. In other words, it depends on how you use your computer. * You are on a network, and the network administrators back up files and/or upgrade software over the network at night.

If that is the case, and you want your machine backed up or upgraded, then you need to leave it on all the time.