Need UPS - Questions

[flexy]

Hello,

i might need an UPS since we suffer many power outages here in Spain and the last one basically killed my PC.

What do i need to look at?

All what the UPS needs to cover is basically the short power on/off cycles caused by an outage...eg if power goes out it can happen that it comes on again, then off for another second and then on again. This is what killed my PC.

I have a pretty beefy PC with overclocked Quad Code, i need to know what wattage i need. I do NOT need a UPS which covers like 30min, simply just for those dangerous on/off cycles.

The ones i just took a look at are like 250-350W...is this enough???

G.

 

[Elganja]

Hello,

i might need an UPS since we suffer many power outages here in Spain and the last one basically killed my PC.

What do i need to look at?

All what the UPS needs to cover is basically the short power on/off cycles caused by an outage...eg if power goes out it can happen that it comes on again, then off for another second and then on again. This is what killed my PC.

I have a pretty beefy PC with overclocked Quad Code, i need to know what wattage i need. I do NOT need a UPS which covers like 30min, simply just for those dangerous on/off cycles.

The ones i just took a look at are like 250-350W...is this enough???

G.

you need to post your system specifications for a better recommendation. I guess a general rule of thumb, you need as many WATTS as your PSU (or use a kill-a-watt and determine how much wattage your system is pulling).

This is really overly generalizing things, but it's a start:
WATTS = how much power the UPS can supply.
VA = how long it will last

I personally have 3 of these UPS's. One is for my System, and the other 2 are for other components (router, NAS's, etc...)

 

[Binky]

Buy a killawatt meter and you'll know exactly how much your system really draws before you buy the UPS.

http://www.amazon.com/P3-Internation...2298528&sr=1-1

 

[aigomorla]

you need to post your system specifications for a better recommendation. I guess a general rule of thumb, you need as many WATTS as your PSU (or use a kill-a-watt and determine how much wattage your system is pulling).

This is really overly generalizing things, but it's a start:
WATTS = how much power the UPS can supply.
VA = how long it will last

I personally have 3 of these UPS's. One is for my System, and the other 2 are for other components (router, NAS's, etc...)

+1


Hey OP:
Dont cheap on a UPS.
Even if u got a monster UPS, it just means longer run time on battery, and sometimes thats nice if you have something like a router and modem.
Usually those arent tied to your power grid, so if u had a longer blackout, you could still be on the internet with a laptop per say and run the routers + modem off the UPS.

When i pair ups's i usually go with PSU size.
So if you have a 500W PSU, i would get a 500W UPS.

These are the UPS's i have in my Study alone:

personally APC is probably the best, but there very pricey.
Cyberpower isnt bad, im starting to like them a lot.
That Ultra sucks... its LOUD when running on battery.
Obnoxiously loud, but its my largest UPS.

 

[tomoyo]

Killawatt won't help you in spain. Remember they're 220v and killawatt only supports 115v.

 

[Binky]

Yeah...there are 220v alternatives.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plug-In-Powe...dp/B000Q7PJGW/

 

[bryanl]

The VA rating is proportional to the peak amps the UPS can put out, and it's typically 1/3 more than the watt rating. It does not indicate how long the UPS will last or how long it can run off battery, the latter being related to the watt*hour rating of the batteries (watt*hours = amp*hours * total voltage). VA may be related to an UPS's durability, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Replace all the batteries every 2-3 years, even if they pass the self test done by the UPS, since that test isn't very realistic, and old batteries that can't power the computer for even 1 minute will often still pass the self test.

 

[flexy]

Well i have such a meter already, good idea! As far as i remember my sys drew like 250W idle, although the PSU is a 700W one. Will measure again so i know for sure.

 

[flexy]

Yes, looking at those Cyberpowers, many seem to have them and they seem to be pretty good and not too expensive.

And you can also get them here, the 230V variants.

+1


Hey OP:
Dont cheap on a UPS.
Even if u got a monster UPS, it just means longer run time on battery, and sometimes thats nice if you have something like a router and modem.
Usually those arent tied to your power grid, so if u had a longer blackout, you could still be on the internet with a laptop per say and run the routers + modem off the UPS.

When i pair ups's i usually go with PSU size.
So if you have a 500W PSU, i would get a 500W UPS.

These are the UPS's i have in my Study alone:

personally APC is probably the best, but there very pricey.
Cyberpower isnt bad, im starting to like them a lot.
That Ultra sucks... its LOUD when running on battery.
Obnoxiously loud, but its my largest UPS.

 

[bruceb]

For sure go with APC .. I have the CS500 unit for a Dell Dimension 8200 with a 17 inch Trinitron (Dell labeled) monitor. All I had to do was change out the battery 2 times over a 9 year period.

 

[alkemyst]

SmartUPS 1400 and 1500's are great buys off ebay. IMHO I'd rather get one battery less and buy my own new.

pure sine wave, excellent power conditioning.

 

[Lemon law]

I am happy this thread came up and I too am puzzled, but I have to wonder if a single poster on this thread, has addressed the real questions we should be asking about a UPS.

(1) I do not care where you live or how reliable your power company is. (a) The day will come, when some errant backhoe or something similar, will server your house current, and without a UPS, your PC will totally instantaneously crash. Question, how much damage does that cause to your PC just in the incident in itself? And will a UPS mitigate that same damage by giving you time to safely shut down? (b) Then we have to ask the other questions about our electrical company supplier? If they brown out at times of peak load, and fail to deliver +110 volts, can our UPS use battery power to keep our delivered power at plus 110 volts? If not, not only will that damage our hard drives, we have to question why our UPS helps us? (c) Then there is the question of the #1 God I fear, namely Thor the lightening God. Because if Thor gets a wild hair up his butt and decides to hit my or your electrical, we are talking electrical power surges in the + hundred of thousand volt ranges. Will the capacitance of a UPS battery absorb such shocks?

Color me puzzled too.