Looking into UPSes, but I'm not even sure where to start.

[FoxxyRin]

I've always just used 'entertainment system grade' surge protectors, but with my boyfriend's newest upgrades and me about to get a pretty expensive build, I've decided I really want to protect both systems as well as possible. We live in a rural area that gets a lot of power outages due to extreme heat as well as lots of spontaneous storms. Plus, we often leave our PCs on while not home, and it worries us sometimes when an unexpected storm happens.

 

For our needs, we will either need two independent ones in the ~$50 range or perhaps one higher quality one in the ~$100 range if possible. We are willing to go a bit higher if need be, but for now, we'd like to hopefully stick around ~$100 total. Our computers are both going to be in the same room, so if there's one that's got better protection and can handle two PCs, that would be really great. Both PCs will have 750W power supplies, but will realistically be in the 500W range for now, but in a year or so we may end up with second cards, pushing up easily to the 600-650W range. We'd like to protect our full PCs, monitors (ASUS VG248QE), and possibly a full sound system on one or both of the PCs (though our current plan is to just have one that we share, since it would be silly for both of us to have stereos in a single room). It would also be nice to have a few other small things plugged in, such as chargers, but our main concerns are our PCs, monitors, and any sound system we may get.

 

If anyone has any suggestions or directions to a decent guide, it would be a big help. I've tried doing some research, but for some reason, a few things about them are going over my head.

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

I would probably recommend two separate UPS since they are both fairly high powered PC's a 600-650W unit would be sufficient even with peripherals and networking but if you plan to add another GPU the larger unit would be ideal.

 

I usually recommend APC UPS's they are pretty much top of the line:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BN1080G&total_watts=200

 

Larger 780W/1300VA unit:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1300G&total_watts=200

[vanished]

What are your expectations for them once the power goes off?  Is this just a fancy surge protector to you, or do you expect to be able to continue gaming during power outages?  I ask because as far as I know most UPSes are designed to just give you a couple minutes necessary to safely save work and shut down, and aren't really designed to be a longterm backup power supply.

[Smooth Bunz]

What are your expectations for them once the power goes off?  Is this just a fancy surge protector to you, or do you expect to be able to continue gaming during power outages?  I ask because as far as I know most UPSes are designed to just give you a couple minutes necessary to safely save work and shut down, and aren't really designed to be a longterm backup power supply.

Unless you get a $500+ server room grade one ;P

[vanished]

Unless you get a $500+ server room grade one ;P

Yes, but I think they're looking in the $100 range, right?

[Smooth Bunz]

Yes, but I think they're looking in the $100 range, right?

Yes, But im saying "UNLESS"

[vanished]

Yes, But im saying "UNLESS"

It also just depends on total capacity and load.  If you check the chart given for the UPS suggested by W-L it's incredible how going from 100 W load to 600 W load can take the potential deliverable time down from over 60 mins to under 4 mins... definitely not linear!

[FoxxyRin]

What are your expectations for them once the power goes off?  Is this just a fancy surge protector to you, or do you expect to be able to continue gaming during power outages?  I ask because as far as I know most UPSes are designed to just give you a couple minutes necessary to safely save work and shut down, and aren't really designed to be a longterm backup power supply.

 

I probably should have put that in the post! I mostly just want our stuff to be safe. A lot of our power outages are flickers (going out for no more than 5 seconds or so), so we mostly just want something to bridge that gap. During some of our hottest months, we have situations where the power will flicker on and off for a good minute or two and it has caused one of our surge protectors to die before. We just want something to 1) Prevent our PCs from shutting off when it comes to flickers, as well as give us time to save our work when a longer outage happens (I do a lot of digital art and hate to lose progress!), and 2) Create a buffer so that our PCs don't get fried.

[vanished]

I probably should have put that in the post! I mostly just want our stuff to be safe. A lot of our power outages are flickers (going out for no more than 5 seconds or so), so we mostly just want something to bridge that gap. During some of our hottest months, we have situations where the power will flicker on and off for a good minute or two and it has caused one of our surge protectors to die before. We just want something to 1) Prevent our PCs from shutting off when it comes to flickers, as well as give us time to save our work when a longer outage happens (I do a lot of digital art and hate to lose progress!), and 2) Create a buffer so that our PCs don't get fried.

 

OK that's a great usage scenario because you shouldn't have difficulty finding a good quality unit that can supply even hard working machines for that short amount of time.

 

As mentioned I believe APC and EATON are kind of big names in this space, so anything that can provide the wattage you need should work, since capacity isn't a major concern here.

[FoxxyRin]

I would probably recommend two separate UPS since they are both fairly high powered PC's a 600-650W unit would be sufficient even with peripherals and networking but if you plan to add another GPU the larger unit would be ideal.

 

I usually recommend APC UPS's they are pretty much top of the line:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BN1080G&total_watts=200

 

Larger 780W/1300VA unit:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1300G&total_watts=200

 

What about a unit like this? It seems more like a home use version of what you linked and seems to have good reviews. (Whoops linked the wrong one -- fixed.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101494

 

I asked a friend of mine to see what units his family uses (his father's office has several PCs and servers for work, so I figured he knows his stuff), and he said that they use this series of UPS almost exclusively: http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems/intelligent-lcd-ups/CP600LCD.html Any opinions on that brand/series?

[W-L]

What about a unit like this? It seems more like a home use version of what you linked and seems to have good reviews. (Whoops linked the wrong one -- fixed.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101494

I asked a friend of mine to see what units his family uses (his father's office has several PCs and servers for work, so I figured he knows his stuff), and he said that they use this series of UPS almost exclusively: http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems/intelligent-lcd-ups/CP600LCD.html Any opinions on that brand/series?

 

The APC one is not bad it's more of a general use type version, I still have one for those I use for my auxillary networking but if your doing a heavy work load on your PC or rendering it can possibly overload the unit when it tries to switch to battery backup mode since it's only 330W.

 

Cyberpower isn't bad they are the more value oriented brand but from others I have heard they tend to have more problems over the long term.

[vanished]

What about a unit like this? It seems more like a home use version of what you linked and seems to have good reviews. (Whoops linked the wrong one -- fixed.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101494

 

I asked a friend of mine to see what units his family uses (his father's office has several PCs and servers for work, so I figured he knows his stuff), and he said that they use this series of UPS almost exclusively: http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems/intelligent-lcd-ups/CP600LCD.html Any opinions on that brand/series?

I don't think either of those can supply the wattage you need

[TheProfosist]

Get a pure sine wave one. Best value for me has been cyberpower

[vanished]

Get a pure sine wave one. Best value for me has been cyberpower

Actually that's a good point I forgot about - some components are very sensitive to the shape of the AC being fed in.  If the UPS cannot create a very nice sine wave, you could have issues. Just one more factor to evaluate them on  

[FoxxyRin]

I don't think either of those can supply the wattage you need

 

I had accidentally linked the wrong APC one (I was looking at the 650/750 models), and with the CyberPower, I meant the series in general. I just linked what my friend linked me. (He says his is the 1500VA model). My bad.

[vanished]

I had accidentally linked the wrong APC one (I was looking at the 650/750 models), and with the CyberPower, I meant the series in general. I just linked what my friend linked me. (He says his is the 1500VA model). My bad.

I don't have personal experience with CyperPower, but if you've read and heard good things elsewhere, I wouldn't have any objections to that.  Just check reviews of whatever you are seriously looking at and make sure it's a reasonably well known brand with a good history of making UPSes

[W-L]

I had accidentally linked the wrong APC one (I was looking at the 650/750 models), and with the CyberPower, I meant the series in general. I just linked what my friend linked me. (He says his is the 1500VA model). My bad.

 

For the 750VA model from APC it's only capable of 450W so as long as you were not doing intensive tasks your system would be ok, Ideally the 1000VA model would be the lowest I would recommend for your system and peripherals.

 

750VA - 450W:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE750G&total_watts=200

 

1000VA - 600W:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1000G&total_watts=200

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems/intelligent-lcd-ups/CP1000AVRLCD.html

[TheProfosist]

Here are the ones that I am talking about http://goo.gl/uc7dMr I have a number of these in use in others and my own systems. You should get at least the wattage of your PSU and higher VA will give you more runtime.

[vanished]

Here are the ones that I am talking about http://goo.gl/uc7dMr I have a number of these in use in others and my own systems. You should get at least the wattage of your PSU and higher VA will give you more runtime.

That does look like a good one - high surge rating and claims to be a pure sine wave.

 

As for the VA thing, VA is volt-amps, i.e., watts, and without getting too much into power factor and other electrical terminology, if I'm not mistaken that is simply another way of rating the wattage it can output, and is not related to total capacity, since that would be an amount of energy, not power.

[TheProfosist]

That does look like a good one - high surge rating and claims to be a pure sine wave.

As for the VA thing, VA is volt-amps, i.e., watts, and without getting too much into power factor and other electrical terminology, if I'm not mistaken that is simply another way of rating the wattage it can output, and is not related to total capacity, since that would be an amount of energy, not power.

I have a couple various ones my desktop needs the biggest and my HTPC/Server only has a 550watt PSU so it get a smaller one

They regularly go on sale on newegg too.

From my understanding. Watts is basically how many watts it can supply and manage so like say you have a 850watt PSU and pull 750waat but only have a 650watt UPS I really don't know how well that will go.

As for VA I don't know how it factor's into runtime but it's easiest to think of it was capacity because. If you have more it will run longer.

One thing about UPS's too is that they aren't only doing stuff when you have no power they also condition the power one you do. They can also deal with brown outs, grey outs, and the like.

[vanished]

...

As for VA I don't know how it factor's into runtime but it's easiest to think of it was capacity because. If you have more it will run longer.

...

What I'm saying is I'm pretty sure that's not true, at least not directly.  Yes, the UPSes of larger capacity and larger watt output tend to go hand in hand, but the VA rating and the watt rating are just two ways of rating output, and are both limiting factors.

[W-L]

I have a couple various ones my desktop needs the biggest and my HTPC/Server only has a 550watt PSU so it get a smaller one

They regularly go on sale on newegg too.

From my understanding. Watts is basically how many watts it can supply and manage so like say you have a 850watt PSU and pull 750waat but only have a 650watt UPS I really don't know how well that will go.

As for VA I don't know how it factor's into runtime but it's easiest to think of it was capacity because. If you have more it will run longer.

One thing about UPS's too is that they aren't only doing stuff when you have no power they also condition the power one you do. They can also deal with brown outs, grey outs, and the like.

What I'm saying is I'm pretty sure that's not true, at least not directly.  Yes, the UPSes of larger capacity and larger watt output tend to go hand in hand, but the VA rating and the watt rating are just two ways of rating output, and are both limiting factors.

The VA (apparent power) has to do with mainly the Power Factor (PF) of the equipment from a range of 0-1.00, PC's theses days have active PFC PSU's which make them have >0.99 PF but if you were to run say abox fan motor on a UPS or a transformer that draws 50W from the wall and they have a 0.75 PF your VA results in 66.6VA needed to power the device.

 

If either the VA or wattage is exceeded on a UPS it will give an overcurrent warning and shut down when on battery backup.

[vanished]

 

 

The VA (apparent power) has to do with mainly the Power Factor (PF) of the equipment from a range of 0-1.00, PC's theses days have active PFC PSU's which make them have >0.99 PF but if you were to run say abox fan motor on a UPS or a transformer that draws 50W from the wall and they have a 0.75 PF your VA results in 66.6VA needed to power the device.

 

If either the VA or wattage is exceeded on a UPS it will give an overcurrent warning and shut down when on battery backup.

 

Thank you, I was hoping this would get explained without regurgitating an entire first year electrical engineering course

[W-L]

Thank you, I was hoping this would get explained without regurgitating an entire first year electrical engineering course

 

Yea it took me a while to understand it when I had to do a course on electronics, went straight over my head the first few times.

[TheProfosist]

The VA (apparent power) has to do with mainly the Power Factor (PF) of the equipment from a range of 0-1.00, PC's theses days have active PFC PSU's which make them have >0.99 PF but if you were to run say abox fan motor on a UPS or a transformer that draws 50W from the wall and they have a 0.75 PF your VA results in 66.6VA needed to power the device.

If either the VA or wattage is exceeded on a UPS it will give an overcurrent warning and shut down when on battery backup.

Thanks much!