Recommend a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) for my needs

[Dankk]

It's starting to be that time of year when everyone's air conditioning and cooling systems are putting a huge strain on the local power grid, to the point where my neighborhood has a considerable number of intermittent power outages. Rather than freaking out about hardware damage and possible data corruption every time the power blacks out, I'd like to stay protected from now on with a UPS.

My Needs

I'd like something simple, something that will give me just enough time to gently save all of my work and gently shut down my PC when the power goes out. ~5 minutes of battery runtime would be great, honestly. And in the event of small power "blips" - or blackouts that only last one or two seconds - I could just coast right through those like nothing happened.

Again, simple is good... although if it has some kind of alarm that lets me know the power is out and the battery is activated, that would be cool. It's not completely necessary though.

My PC specs

AMD FX-8350 processor running at stock voltage
16GB DDR3 1600 memory running at 1.5v
MSI Twin Frozr 7870 graphics card running at stock
Kingston 120gb SSD
Toshiba 2TB HDD
SeaSonic M12II 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 Fully Modular Active PFC Power Supply

My budget

I haven't really researched UPS units in depth, and I'm not quite sure how much a decent UPS for my needs should cost. Is under $300 reasonable? Is it possible to get a simple, decent-quality UPS under $200? Somewhere inbetween?

I'm open to suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Blain]

CyberPower CP1350AVRLCD or CP1500AVRLCD

 

[aigomorla]

CyberPower CP1350AVRLCD or CP1500AVRLCD

+1

absolutely love cyberpower ups's

 

[Dankk]

CyberPower CP1350AVRLCD or CP1500AVRLCD

Thanks for the suggestion. Can someone briefly explain to me the difference between the 1350VA unit and the 1500VA unit? What is the importance of this number? How much of an advantage will the 1500VA unit give me, if any?

 

[Ayah]

Thanks for the suggestion. Can someone briefly explain to me the difference between the 1350VA unit and the 1500VA unit? What is the importance of this number? How much of an advantage will the 1500VA unit give me, if any?

the differences is 150VA and it looks like 1Ah more battery capacity. not much advantage really.

 

[Blain]

Can someone briefly explain to me the difference between the 1350VA unit and the 1500VA unit? What is the importance of this number?

Both units are covered in This Review

 

[Dankk]

Both units are covered in This Review

Thanks a ton. The CP1350AVRLCD appears more than sufficient for my needs. B&H has that particular model for $126 shipped, which seems like a fine price. Will have it next week!

 

[smitbret]

Thanks a ton. The CP1350AVRLCD appears more than sufficient for my needs. B&H has that particular model for $126 shipped, which seems like a fine price. Will have it next week!

If it's not too late, CostCo carries these constantly for the last couple of years at <$100.

I like mine.

 

[Blain]

Newegg & B&H have the 1500 model for $140 with free shipping...
Newegg code = EMCPDWG35 (expires 6/15)
B&H

 

[Dankk]

So, I got my CP1350AVRLCD the other day.

It appears to be working great so far. Under normal operation, it is silent, and I have a nice 40-min or so of battery power assuming my PC is idle (about half that if I'm playing a game or something).

The one concern I have is that, when I flipped off the power-breaker for my bedroom to test the battery, there is a somewhat loud buzzing noise. I'm not talking about fan noise coming from the UPS itself - rather, when running on battery, there is a loud buzzing noise that actually comes from my PC's power supply. As in... it's coming from inside of my computer tower.

What's going on here? While running on battery, my PC still seemed to be operating normally, and I was able to turn it off, reboot, etc, etc, with no issues. But something about the way this UPS delivers power to my computer makes my PC's PSU (at least, I think it's the PSU) make a loud electrical buzzing noise.

How normal is this? What's going on?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dankk]

Okay, I did some research. Most (if not all) modern middle-to-high-end desktop power supplies are APFC (Active Power Factor Correction, or Active PFC). For these, the recommended type of UPS to use is the kind that can provide a pure sine wave to the PC's power supply, which will result in silent battery operation.

Pure sine wave UPS units are more expensive, but some people say they are "healthier" for your PC's PSU. On the other hand, the CP1350AVRLCD I have is a cheaper "simulated" sine wave unit, one that provides a square/step-waved signal to the computer. The buzzing noise I hear coming from my power supply is a result of the PFC circuit taking in the square wave.

At first glance, it seems like the pure sine wave UPS units are better. But the more I research, the more it looks like no one has a solid answer on this topic at all. Some people think sine wave is better. Others say that stepped wave is good enough and most decent APFC power supplies are designed to take in non-sine-waves just fine. Some say that stepped waves are more stressful to the PSU, but if it's purely for limited battery backup use then it shouldn't make much difference, if any at all.

There's a surprising amount of information out there for a topic that has no black and white answers. But from what I've read so far, it seems like I am safe. The simulated sine wave UPS is not perfectly ideal but it does operate the way it's supposed to.

 

[TakBaseTech]

You can save good money by going through RefurbUPS.com.

I got my refurbished (with new battery) APC SUA1500 unit there for at least a couple hundred less than retail (it's lasted so long, I don't even remember exactly how much I saved, so obviously check retail vs their prices).

 

[richaron]

My UPS does the same to the PSU. A Little bit more wear on main CAPs in PSU in the off chance the UPS comes on, and everything works as it should (whilst being heaps cheaper than a pure sine wave unit).

 

[Ayah]

A *correctly* designed APFC PSU doesn't care too much what it's getting within operational range. you can do some 120-140V gentle oscillations just fine, and if correctly designed, you shouldn't notice much. same with a <=0.01% THD sine wave to the stepped simulated AC and for some (can't guarantee all) kickass Seasonic PSUs, they'll take square wave without any issue.

also mains don't usually look like a sinewave that you would see in math. they usually look like crap that goes positive and negative.

problem is, as a consumer product, they don't always test for the many permutations of simulated AC. this is all about PSU design.

 

[Makaveli]

+1

absolutely love cyberpower ups's

Question why?

Do you consider them better than APC's offerings?

 

[tracerit]

don't mean to hijack the thread but are there any UPS's with some type of software that will properly auto shutdown my computer if it detects a power loss? i plan ot leave my computer on 24/7 and if I'm not available it'll just run out the battery then improperly shutdown the computer.

 

[Makaveli]

don't mean to hijack the thread but are there any UPS's with some type of software that will properly auto shutdown my computer if it detects a power loss? i plan ot leave my computer on 24/7 and if I'm not available it'll just run out the battery then improperly shutdown the computer.

Pretty much all of the UPS's come with software that offers this functionality.

I'm not using one currently but when I was you could set a time limit after a powerloss to shut down or just let it run until the battery was dead.

 

[Dankk]

don't mean to hijack the thread but are there any UPS's with some type of software that will properly auto shutdown my computer if it detects a power loss? i plan ot leave my computer on 24/7 and if I'm not available it'll just run out the battery then improperly shutdown the computer.

Not sure about other brands, but Cyberpower does have a special piece of monitoring software that hooks up to the UPS via a USB cable, and can be set to automatically shut Windows down in X number of minutes when it detects a power outage. I haven't tried it for myself though.

 

[billyb0b]

go with a APC unit. excellent quality and they have never let me down in terms of quality and protection. been using APC for nearly 16 yrs, 9 different UPS total... all quality

 

[aigomorla]

Question why?

Do you consider them better than APC's offerings?

Value / Price coefficient.

Yes they are better then APC's at that point.
Unless the APC is on sale and is cheaper, which typically isn't.

I have several APC's and Several Cyber Powers.

My newest UPS is also another cyberpower.
PR2200LCD - also probably my most expensive one yet.
However i needed this guy for my main system as i saw it peaking at over 1kw on full load with TRI-SLI (Both CPU + GPU @ 100% load) and its Liquid Cooling EQ.

But both cyberpower and APC's have been good to me.
However ive been running into a lot of F4 issues with APC's and not using their expensive batteries when replacing.

Vs. Cyberpower, if i need to replace a battery, find a simular spec which is far cheaper then a APC OEM, and its ready to go for another couple more years.