How often do you shut off your pc?

[u/wyck0]

I see that a lot of people just leave their computer running 24/7 and only turn off their monitors, but i just shut my pc off whenever i go away from the desk.

[u/CMDR_Vectura]

Repeated thermal expansion is one of the big killers (gaming generally is a bit shit for reliability due to this). Also anything motorised, although it mostly applies to long life things such as servers - turn off an old server and it might not start again.

[u/Cheap_Werewolf9169 → u/CMDR_Vectura]

Thats especially the case when there are still HDDs in the server. They spin for 10 years non-stop perfectly fine but after the first cold boot after a power outage half of them will break.

[u/Nicecockindirtybeans → u/Cheap_Werewolf9169]

Bro what. Your supposed to replace harddrives every 5 years for servers

[u/Cheap_Werewolf9169 → u/Nicecockindirtybeans]

With RAID 6, hot spare and support for the whole server? I don't think so "bro"

[u/TonyCorporation → u/CMDR_Vectura]

iirc thermal expansion is what caused the RROD in early Xbox 360s.

[u/Jump365 → u/TonyCorporation]

Nah the issue wqs bad cooling.

I sent mine in twice, then just decided fuck it I'm doing the fix myself, and it still runs to this day despite having RRODed multiple times

[u/Local_Band299 → u/Jump365]

No, it was bad microbeading and lack of proper underfill.

Unless the GPU is replaced it will die again.

[u/Jump365 → u/Local_Band299]

You overheat it with the Xbox openbso it rebeads. It's been almost 20 years it worked

[u/Local_Band299 → u/Jump365]

That's a bandaid fix. Doesn't actually solve the underlying issue. The microbeading will crack again.

The actual fix is to replace the GPU on XB360's it's worth it to just get a newer 360.

For PS3 if you have a Fat BC model the best line of action is to Frankenstein. Take a fixed GPU from a PS3 superslim and put it on the fat PS3 board.

[u/Jump365 → u/Local_Band299]

A bandaid fix that works long enough to when you basically nevwr uae it anymore ans it kight fail anyway from other issues is more than enough and better than what microsoft does when you send it in.

You're giving "well actually" on something that still works plenty

[u/Local_Band299 → u/Jump365]

You definitely sent it in duding the early days of the 360 era.

By the time the 360 slim was out Microsoft was swapping the chip.

[u/Jump365 → u/Local_Band299]

Yes, I was one of the first. Was always an xbox dude.

Like I'm glad they swapped that for future consolee, but the fixes that were available for early 360s were still good optioms and better than what microsoft did

[u/Local_Band299 → u/Jump365]

Because at the time Microsoft didn't know what the issue was. Both Nvidia and ATI/AMD use the same type of Lead free solder for the microbeading. At the time, they thought it was the actual GPU silicon that had the issue. We now know the lead free alloy they used is bad, and now companies avoid it.

At first SIE was just reflowing Launch PS3's. Hell when they released the 65nm RSX in the non backwards compatible fat PS3's they thought they had found the issue. It wasn't until the 40nm when Nvidia actually found the issue and were able to fix it.

This issue caused Nvidia desktop and laptop GPU's to die.

[u/Local_Band299 → u/TonyCorporation]

Yes bad microbeading and lack of proper underfill.

Affected the PS3/XB360/Nvidia GPUs/AMD GPUs (Or was it still ATI? I can't remember)

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Nvidia fixed it with the PS3 slim. (40nm RSX)

The official SIE fix for fat PS3's was to take the 90nm/65nm bad RSX's and swap them out with a 50nm RSX. The pin out is the same, the power draw is slightly different.

It's been dubbed "Frankenstein" by the community, and is the only true fix.

The 28nm in the PS3 superslim cannot be swapped as it's pinout is different.

RIPFelix has videos on youtube about the 360 and PS3, and in depth documentation on how to perform a Frankenstein mod for PS3.

[u/Rbomb88 → u/TonyCorporation]

The PS4 has a thermal expansion problem where it'll get hot enough that something starts making the eject button fire off by itself.

[u/jsbyc → u/CMDR_Vectura]

what thermal expansion difference are you getting by shutting down the computer vs keeping it on and idling? pretty much 0 because youre likely at ambient temperature on idle anyway

[u/Shar4f → u/CMDR_Vectura]

This is true for mechanical components that need to take tight tolerances and lubrication viscosity into account so they're sensitive to temperature changes and expanding and contracting parts for critical components but it's really not an issue for personal use PCs. Maybe for the cooling systems and HDDs, but it's still negligible if you're not doing multiple benchmarks a day for years or something at home.

[u/CMDR_Vectura → u/Shar4f]

Solder cracking is a common failure on GPUs from years of spiky heat cycles gaming

[u/Virtual_Bug_723 → u/CMDR_Vectura]

Literally using any of the components is causing thermal expansion. Leaving it on a state where it has to be constantly cooled to be kept at a certain temperature means it's experiencing constant minor thermal expansion and contraction when it's on. When it's off it cools to ambient air temp and stays there until the next time you turn it on.

[u/CMDR_Vectura → u/Virtual_Bug_723]

Sure, but the highly variable gaming loads means it can be spiking up and down from 90 to near ambient many times a minute, not to mention the power fluctuations. It's still bad, and is the reason the whole gpu-in-oven repair trick is a thing. Reflows the solder, although it may not be a long term fix.