On Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:30:43 -0400, Nicholas Dreyer wrote:

I was leaning that way, but my only question regarding that approach
would be: Is there any risk to the motherboard from regularly turning
back on the low-level 5v "soft power"?

You will get different answers depending on peoples prior experiences.

My preference is to leave all electronics running 24/7, with
something like boinc running, to keep the cpu at 100% usage, all
of the time.

That way, everything stays at the same temperature.

My cpu (with a 14" fan blowing into the open case) runs at a steady
49C when clean. When it hits 55C, I clean the cpu heatsink, without
having to shut the system down.

My two hard drives run at 36C and 34C. They were running in the
high forties, before I started using the big fan, with the case
cover removed.

While the bearings on my hard drives may fail sooner, the
circuit boards do not undergo any thermal expansion/contraction,
so the rest of the computer should last longer.

As always, make sure all critical data is backed up offsite.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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