Sleep vs Hibernate vs Shutdown for DESKTOP

Hey guys, I was wondering which option is the best for my desktop to be in when I'm not using it. Which one is the best for my hardware/best for power consumption?

Sleep and hibernate have identical power use at less than 5 watts.

Shutdown will be less than half of a watt.... But chances are, the initial load of a PC's boot up will probably nullify any power saved if you turn it on/off more than once or twice a day.

I haven't shutdown my computer in like 45 or so days. I always use sleep when I'm not on it.

A while ago it used to wear out your hard drive to shut it down and start it back up again over and over, which is why alot of people used to leave their computers on 24/7. But honestly anymore, the hard drives can handle so many startups/shutdowns that it doesn't even matter.

Here ya go

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface

Sleep. So long as all the lights, fans, and drives are off, I'm happy.

SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEP !

always shut down.. Seeing as boot up is fast anyways...sSubZerOo

It's still not as fast as Sleep which takes literally a second (or two) to resume. The drawback is Sleep only works well with newer PCs. I tried Sleep with my 2001-era Athlon XP 1700+ DIY (Vista Basic). Darn thing BSOD'd. :lol:

I use Sleep when I'm not on it but for no more than a couple of days at a time, your PC does have to be restarted every once in a while to keep things running freshgmaster456

shutdown. takes about 20-30secs to start up which is just enough time to grab a snack from the kitchen. Silenthps

I shut down every night. If i'm going to use it again that day i'll sleep. It's bad to just leave it sleeping all the time. Fresh start ups are the best way to go, othwise you'll end up with memory leaks and tied up resources. I can wait a couple of minutes to boot up each day.

A while ago it used to wear out your hard drive to shut it down and start it back up again over and over, which is why alot of people used to leave their computers on 24/7. But honestly anymore, the hard drives can handle so many startups/shutdowns that it doesn't even matter.

TNT9251

it depends what you want. hibernate and sleep are basically the same thing except with hibernate it takes longer to start up as it has to load everything back into the ram. use sleep if you want a 3 sec start up use shutdown if you want to clear your ram. imprezawrx500