Leaving Game/Disc Running

[ArtistofWarfare]

Quick question...

Is there anything wrong with leaving , for example, M2TW running for long periods of time...just at the menu screen? I just like having the program running so I can jump back into it quicker and obviously this requires the disc to be in the drive as well.

Is this a safe practice, or is it overall "not good" for my hardware to do this?

Thanks

[Whacker]

Qualified answer: It's probably not going to hurt anything.

I say probably, because it's going to force your system into gaming configuration, which means if you have system power saving options on those will be disabled, the CPU will ramp up to it's top clock speed, and your video card is going to start pulling lots of juice to render in 3d (even for the menu screen). IF your system is not properly cooled or has problems with heat, it could eventually cause damage if it manages to cook itself too many times. Most modern systems have built-in mechanisms to auto-shutdown or auto-throttle if heat becomes a problem, but repeated exposure to high temps will eventually cause problems down the road.

However

The other reason you don't want to do this is power draw. Having a system idle uses a fraction of the power that it's sucking down when everything is going full bore in gaming mode, especially modern video cards. In other words, sparing yourself a few seconds to load a game is going to cost you quite a few bucks in the electricity bill.

In short, I'd counsel patience.

[ArtistofWarfare]

Ty for reply but...are you saying it's ok or not ok?

It seems both...just trying to clarify.

[Whacker]

I'm saying it depends. The main thing you'll need to worry about is heat. If you don't have the technical knowledge or experience to evaluate this, or know someone who can physically do this for you, then your best bet is to not leave it running. And before anyone else jumps in here, I would caution you against having someone try to walk you through installing temp sensing programs like Speedfan, Everest, etc etc for a number of reasons. First and foremost is those programs can be off by quite a bit, upwards of 15 degrees C (mine is off by 10), second onboard sensors are often very inaccurate, third not all systems have temp sensors in the right places, fourth even then if sensors are present, determining where they physically are and what they're measuring can be a chore unto itself, and fifth evaluating airflow and thermal tendencies inside a PC case is something that one cannot do remotely in my opinion.

Again this is just my opinion. This is not a simple yes/no answer. I am sticking to my initial recommendation which is "I wouldn't do it."

[ArtistofWarfare]

Ok thanks...

For the record- I would never get into heat evaluation in the first place. That sounds like insanity. The PC was built to operate..if it ceases to at some point, it ceases to. I just try to stay within recommended usage. Also for the record- I've been on games in excess of 20 hours straight with this system before I put the air conditioning in and it was over 100 degrees in the room. No issues as of yet.

[ArtistofWarfare]

Oh- also: The disc being in the tray with the program NOT running is irrelevant correct?

I would assume that leaving the disc in the tray and just being at desktop, would mean the dvd drive is not being accessed at all anyway...

thanks