UPS or a Power Conditioner?

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wWooDd

Member
Oct 24, 2005
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Prior to building my new machine I have been given the suggestion of a UPS with burnout protection to avoid another failing power supply. Well, I know a UPS is really usefully for outages & brownouts but I think the issue I'm trying to avoid is just a crappy current in this old building. So while shopping around newegg & tigerdirect I realized that there are also power conditioners as well - a good one ammounts to the cost of a decent UPS from my observations. Now, I'm not overly concerned about a power outage or thunderstorms and things of that nature so I'm wondering if I shouldn't get a power conditioner instead of a UPS? To me, at least, it seems so much simpler to find a power conditioner instad of wading through the many specifications of a UPS I'm not even sure I'm getting for the right reason.

Any suggetions between the two? People suggest APC & Belkin for a UPS and I was looking at an offordable Panamax conditioner (PM8DBSEX) but I also now Monster is a fairly well known brand where as I've never heard of Panamax. I also saw a few (not many) APC & Belkin power conditions. I noticed any thing listed with an automated voltage control tends to be either pricy or a reviewer has had some issues with the unit/software as well.

Thanks for any help! I will post specs of my machine upon request if needed.
 
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wWooDd

Member
Oct 24, 2005
45
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I'll have to check out APC's site. Brick Wall was definately interesting but its quite pricy (I'm looking around $50-$100) - definately on my favorites, though. Any other suggestions? Thanks guys!
 
Baked

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
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Look at APC's overstock section. Sometimes they have great deals on brand new overstocked UPS for cheap.
 
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Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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Look for a line-interactive UPS (one or two step above the cheapest standby types). Those usually have several steps of voltage compensation w/o having to switch to battery as well as some EMI/RFI filtering and surge suppression. APC, TrippLite and CyberPower are popular brands. Powerware UPSes are also good but not as easy to find (merger of SafePower, Exide, Deltronics etc.).

.bh.
 
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Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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And if your PSU has active PFC and full-range AC compensation (e.g. Enhance ENP-5140GH/5i50GH, most Zippys, Seasonics, etc.) then you could probably get by with the simplest battery backup that has decent emi/rfi filters and surge suppression. Let the PSU itself take care of everything except total dropouts.

.bh.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
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Originally posted by: Zepper
And if your PSU has active PFC and full-range AC compensation (e.g. Enhance ENP-5140GH/5i50GH, most Zippys, Seasonics, etc.) then you could probably get by with the simplest battery backup that has decent emi/rfi filters and surge suppression. Let the PSU itself take care of everything except total dropouts.

.bh.
Click to expand...

I just checked out Seasonic's site to see just what they could deal with.
SS-401HT, supports an input voltage range of 90-264VAC!
Pretty impressive.


UPSes: Some of Cyberpower's units have some kind of built-in voltage regulation, which I assume tries to keep the outgoing voltage reasonably stable without switching to battery power unless absolutely necessary. I have yet to experience a dropoff that was less than 110VAC without it being a complete outage, so I can't really comment on this capability.
 
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oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
2,449
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81
Do yourself a favour and get electrician to have look at your apartment. Crappy wiring is dangerous.
 
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