The reason I do this is because after working with computer hardware for so long I have noticed that the hardware that lasts the longest is the stuff that spent either most of it's life fully on or fully off and not in between. I believe this is because as a computer is turned on and off, each chip, capacitor and resistor goes through a thermal cycle where it expands and contracts ever so slightly and over time this causes cracks in solder joints rendering the computer part useless."

So keep sleep mode?

wardog wrote: PH........ You're alive still.

Asingo wrote: " rel="nofollow - On Linus forum I found this theme: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/809034-do-you-leave-your-computer-on-all-the-time-or-turn-it-off/#comment-10159369 "Just wondering do you guys leave your PC on all the time, or do you turn it off at night? For me personally, I leave my PC on all the time. I just checked task manager and my computer has been on for a solid 22 days and 16 hours without any shutdowns. The reason I do this is because after working with computer hardware for so long I have noticed that the hardware that lasts the longest is the stuff that spent either most of it's life fully on or fully off and not in between. I believe this is because as a computer is turned on and off, each chip, capacitor and resistor goes through a thermal cycle where it expands and contracts ever so slightly and over time this causes cracks in solder joints rendering the computer part useless." So keep sleep mode?

It is true that thermal expansion and contraction will affect the lifetime of computer parts. Whether this makes any real difference to you depends on how long you are planning to keep your current hardware and how high are your highest temperatures, but in theory it is indeed better to keep the computer on at all times (unless you care about how much electricity you waste by doing so). While there are different levels of sleep mode, the general idea is that the system would not consume any more power than it absolutely has to in order to be able to wake up quickly and let you resume your work from where you left off. This means that the temperature difference between sleep mode and actually shutting the computer down should not be that big, which in turn means that sleep mode probably won't extend the lifetime of your components by any meaningful amount.