Need UPS recommendations...

[Staz]

I am in the market for a UPS. I want it to support 2 systems. I have a server with a 330W powersupply that is on 24/7 and I want this UPS to be able to auto shutdown the server when I loose power.

I also have a 450W gaming PC with a Dell 2005FPW that are only on when I am there. I want this UPS able to provide enough power to those 2 devices to allow me to manually shut them down when there is a power outage. I also don't want to spend over $100, and less I spend, the better.

So, any recommendation as to which UPS would suit my needs? Some of the Belkin Office UPS's at Newegg look interesting. How big of a battery do I need to do this? 350V? 500V? 750V? Bigger?

 

[Robor]

I'm an APC fan. I had 2 "great deal" CyberPower units die out quickly and a Triplite (sp?) go out fairly quick at work. I don't have any experience with Belkin so I can't say good or bad about them.

Edit: As far as wattage, you can add up the devices you'll be attaching and compare it to what the UPS supports. Of course, you systems will not be drawing 330W and 450W. A while back I saw a thread here on what individual components draw on average. If you can't find it here I'm sure there's a page available somewhere to add up your devices and give you a good guesstimate.

 

[LED]

I use Belkins and agree with Robor suggestion on APC's...they even sent me a replacement battery once after the warranty @ no charge...

 

[PhoenixOrion]

APC 725va 450W or higher, depending on how much you want to get for your money.

 

[batmanuel]

Keep an eye out for deals on the Conext units. They use APC batteries and software, so I think they are pretty much just rebaged APCs.

If you check the Hot Deals forum, you'll see that CompUSA is running deals on them fairly often. I picked up a 900VA unit with AVR for $30 after rebate on CUSA's day before Thankgiving holdiday kick off sale, and it has worked great with my wife's new 3.4GHz P4 system. The rebate didn't take too horribly long, either.

AVR (or automatic voltage regulation) is something to look for in a unit - it is one of the reasons why you might see two units with a similar VA rating but very different prices. Units with AVR use the battery to smooth out slight dips and spikes in power so you computer's PSU is fed nice clean power. Units without AVR only use the battery when the power goes out completely, so they don't protect your equipment from brownouts where the power coming into your house dips enough to damage your equipment but not enough to cause the UPS to take over.

 

[Gerbil333]

I really like my APC 750VA, model BE725BB. I originally had the APC 725VA UPS, but it made a really loud buzzing noise. I immediately contacted APC's online tech. support on Dec. 25th. They replied within 24 hours even though it was Christmas! They said the UPS shouldn't be making noise, and they asked for my address.

I responded with the requested info, and the guy then told me to expect a replacement in 3-5 business days, along with a UPS pre-paid shipping label to return the faulty unit.

I was even more surprised when I opened the box and found a brand new APC 750VA UPS...they upgraded me to a model that isn't even in stores yet! It's silent like other APC UPSs I've used, and it powers all of this for about 15 minutes:

Abit NF7-S 2.0
Athlon XP 2500+ w/Retail hsf
Kingston 2x512mb HyperX PC3200 @ 2-2-2-11
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Western Digital 74gb Raptor
Black NEC 3500A 16x DVD+/-RW
Black Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive
Blue 6" Cold Cathode
Logitech Elite keyboard
Logitech MX500
Enermax 460W Blue dual fan power supply
Viewsonic G90fb 19" CRT

and a

Netgear MR814 v.3 router (so my network doesn't go down when the power flickers during thunderstorms).

I Googled the problem I had and found this thread, in which some other guy had the same problem and also received a 750VA (but after three 725VA RMAs...they apparently didn't understand the problem then). The thread has a link to an official statement from APC that declares the problem.

According to this page, even a dual Opteron computer pulls under 360W at load, and a typical A64 gaming computer will consume less than 220W under full load. Compare your server to the machines on the review I linked you and that should help you guess how much power you're using.

I didn't install the software that came with my APC UPS because when I plugged in the USB cable that came with the UPS, Windows XP automatically detected and installed it. I can control the actions the computer will take by going into Power Options in Control Panel. XP set it up by default to display a warning when the battery is at 50%, and then automatically put the computer into hibernate at 10%. It can be set to shut down instead of hibernate if you want.

You'll only be able to automatically shut down one computer with one UPS I think. Maybe you should get two UPSs.