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APC UPS: How much power do I really need?

G

Gerbil333

Diamond Member
In this past week we've had a thunderstorm every single day, and the power went out once. Over the past year similar weather has knocked out the power 2 or 3 times, and "maintenance" by the power company caused outages for several hours an a couple more occasions. I need a UPS.

I can get an APC 500VA "BE500U" UPS for $40 at Officemax. It's rated at 300W for 1.4 minutes. It seems like a great deal, but I don't know if it's enough.

I'd only want to power my computer -- I know my keyboard shortcuts well enough that I could save my work and shut down without my monitor being on. Here's what I've got:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0
Athlon XP 2500+ w/Retail hsf
Corsair 2x256mb TWINX3200LLPT
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
3Com 905CTX PCI NIC
Western Digital 40gb, 7200rpm, 8mb cache hd
Black Lite On 40x12x48 Black CD-RW
Black Aluminum Chieftec Dragon Server Tower w/window
Blue 6" Cold Cathode
Black Rounded IDE Cables
Logitech Elite keyboard
Logitech MX500 w/modded blue LED
Enermax 460W Blue dual fan PSU

I don't think my computer really needs a 460W PSU, but I bought it just to be safe. Do you think the APC 500VA UPS would be enough for at least 1 minute of backup time?
 
If you are just powering your computer you should be fine. No monitor or power-hungry peripherals should get you at least 1 minute, perhaps a little more.

\Dan
 
Yea, I tried that, but I figured it's not that accurate since it doesn't factor in power-hungry video cards or cold cathodes. It did recommend the 500VA UPS though, but as the minimum UPS to get.
 
It should give ya enough time to power down, but im really not sure. Why not just get a more powerful one? Isn't the peace of mind worth the extra few bucks?
 
Because it's only $40, and the model above this one is $93. I don't have to have it either. For the past year or two I've been shutting the computer down in anticipation of power problems. I could keep doing that. I'm trying to save my money to build a socket 939 based system or better, 1gb of RAM, a DVD-burner...buying the $40 UPS wouldn't be that bad, but the $93 model would be a much greater dent in my savings.
 
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