Should I turn off my computer?

My flight sim ( only ) computer is used a couple or three times a week. The system is liquid cooled, has a half dozen various fans, I use two monitors; my question is, should I turn it off when not in use? It seems to take forever to reload all my addons when I want to fly. I realize an occasional dusting out is needed and I do that every few months to keep things clean and cool. It runs so quiet, the noise is not an issue. Would like to hear how other "flight only" computer users handle this. Thanks!

Flight only, no Internet hook up? If that's the case, I would leave it on. My multiple use, rubber band powered, thunderbolt grease-slapper is shut down every night and gets a fresh start every morning.

It's an age-old debated topic. Some say turning off and on makes the pc go through its thermal cycle, heating up and cooling off, and increasing chance of failure. And the initial power surge of turning it on is stressful to the components. Others say, for a pc, it's a wash, doesn't make any significant difference.

 

Some years ago Gartner Group and the hard drive industry did a study about magnetic hard drive activity, and saw no difference in the mean-time-between-failure for on-off/always on methodology. Age was the determining factor, with drives passing 5 years of age having greatly increased failure rates.

 

I turn mine off, mainly because my dear wifey MAKES me turn it off.

"Woe onto me

If she sees an LED"

Flight only, yes, but it is connected to the internet in order to download weather, ect. I also use PlanG and at times access sites for flight planning. Thanks for the replies.