Is UPS still required for modern gaming PCs?

[Siddhant Mishra]

Hey .. are UPS still necessary for PC protection like it was needed years ago?  Is ups mandatory?  (Not the logistics company)....or can the modern modular psu handle the power fluctuations during low voltages and power-cuts?

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, Siddhant Mishra said:

Hey .. are UPS still necessary for PC protection like it was needed years ago?  Is ups mandatory?  (Not the logistics company)....or can the modern modular psu handle the power fluctuations during low voltages and power-cuts?

It was never necessary years ago.  Never had one, and gamed solidly for the last 30+ years.

If you have fluctuations that bad, grab one. 

[Princess Luna]

I have never used one in my life.

[WereCatf]

7 minutes ago, Siddhant Mishra said:

power-cuts?

No regular PSU can handle a complete power-outage.

[GoodBytes]

You never needed one. Especially for gaming.

The only time it makes sense is if you have often power outages and you work from home (actual job).

And if your outages are long lasting, then you need a UPS with a power generator, where the UPS will give power to your electronic devices in the short moment the power generate starts up, and the switch-over of current takes place (and the reverse when power comes back up). Again, this is for cases where you need it for you work, not entertainment.

 

What you DO need, and this applies to everything expensive in your home, is a power surge protector.

They are power bars with protection circuit against power spikes and if you have a lightning bolt hit an electric line somewhere where you are connected. While everything you have that is expensive tend to have fuses, you have the most protection barriers in the case it misses, and fries something.

[Fasauceome]

7 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

No regular PSU can handle a complete power-outage.

Not a PSU, but UPS, uninterruptible power supply. Basically a big battery/surge protector combo.

 

@GoodBytes said it best, you never did need one for a gaming PC, especially when half decent surge protectors are available for great prices. That said, I of course nabbed one from a friend who had forgotten it under a pile of garbage (new in box mind you) and keep it right by the ol rig.

[WereCatf]

6 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Not a PSU, but UPS, uninterruptible power supply. Basically a big battery/surge protector combo.

I know what a UPS is, I have a couple of them myself.

[NunoLava1998]

A UPS doubles as a surge protector and as a battery. The surge protector part is completely useless because unless you have Epic Very Fortnite Power Supply 750W Peak Power Supply 64% Efficiency ATX Regulation Ver Ygood most modern PSUs can handle a power outage.

UPSs are useful however if you cannot afford a power outage, or if you're updating your BIOS. Other than that, they're mostly useless and you won't have a problem unless you have a bad power supply and frequent power outages

[aezakmi]

if you live in the first world where power must go out like 10 mins per year no

 

if you live in the third world where powe goes out 8 times per fucking day then absolutely

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

The surge protector part is completely useless because unless you have Epic Very Fortnite Power Supply 750W Peak Power Supply 64% Efficiency ATX Regulation Ver Ygood most modern PSUs can handle a power outage.

Surge-protectors protect against TOO HIGH voltage, not power-outage, you're confusing two things: surge-protectors very fucking definitely are a good idea on any expensive elctronics.

[GoodBytes]

6 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

A UPS doubles as a surge protector and as a battery. The surge protector part is completely useless because unless you have Epic Very Fortnite Power Supply 750W Peak Power Supply 64% Efficiency ATX Regulation Ver Ygood most modern PSUs can handle a power outage.

UPSs are useful however if you cannot afford a power outage, or if you're updating your BIOS. Other than that, they're mostly useless and you won't have a problem unless you have a bad power supply and frequent power outages

Assuming you mean power surge and not power outage:

The idea is to protect your power supply, your monitor, your modem, your router, and anything connected. A 20$ Canadian (so like $10 US) surge protector backed by an actual guaranty from the manufacture covering you for the thousands of dollars if their power surge protector fails to protect your equipement, is what you want, and is far cheaper than replacing the mentioned parts.

[WereCatf]

Just now, GoodBytes said:

The idea is to protect your power supply, your monitor, your modem, your router, and anything connected. A 20$ Canadian (so like $10 US) surge protector backed by an actual guaranty from the manufacture covering you for the thousands of dollars if their power surge protector fails to protect your equipement, is what you want, and is far cheaper than replacing the mentioned parts.

I was once visiting my sister and we were chatting in the kitchen, next to a window, during a thunderstorm, when a lightning hit the kitchen-wall; literal sparks were flying out of the oven. Her TV was saved by a surge-protector. So...yeah.

[captain_aggravated]

7 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

if you live in the first world where power must go out like 10 mins per year no

 

if you live in the third world where powe goes out 8 times per fucking day then absolutely

For a home machine it's not about total annual downtime, it's about the total number of times the grid fails hard enough to hard reset the machine.  Here in North Carolina, that's once every two weeks or so, more during storm seasons.  I wouldn't want my machine being involuntarily power cycled that often, so I'd put it on a UPS.

[mlitttler89]

We have power outages here maybe once or twice a year so no, it's not needed for some people.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

4 hours ago, aezakmi said:

if you live in the first world where power must go out like 10 mins per year no

 

if you live in the third world where powe goes out 8 times per fucking day then absolutely

Plenty of places in the first world have frequent power outages, including the megalopolis in AZ I live in.

[aezakmi]

30 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Plenty of places in the first world have frequent power outages, including the megalopolis in AZ I live in.

who would've known

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Plenty of places in the first world have frequent power outages, including the megalopolis in AZ I live in.

Of course, but is it worth spending ~200$ or so for battery backup for that odd time where you have a power failure, just to have enough time to save your game and shutdown your computer? Only to turn it back up an hour or so later? Is loosing your game session that big of a deal? Keep in mind that UPS battery needs to be replaced (and some models you can't do it, you need to replace the whole thing).

 

Remember that UPS isn't there to-turn your desktop as a laptop. It is there only to give you a chance to save your stuff, and close it down, or wait for the generator to kick-in.

[BuckGup]

5 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

 

What you DO need, and this applies to everything expensive in your home, is a power surge protector.

They are power bars with protection circuit against power spikes and if you have a lightning bolt hit an electric line somewhere where you are connected. While everything you have that is expensive tend to have fuses, you have the most protection barriers in the case it misses, and fries something.

Well I agree with you up to a certain point. If the lighting strikes close enough or physically your building. No surge protector in the world is going to protect you

[Siddhant Mishra]

33 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Of course, but is it worth spending ~200$ or so for battery backup for that odd time where you have a power failure, just to have enough time to save your game and shutdown your computer? Only to turn it back up an hour or so later? Is loosing your game session that big of a deal? Keep in mind that UPS battery needs to be replaced (and some models you can't do it, you need to replace the whole thing).

 

Remember that UPS isn't there to-turn your desktop as a laptop. It is there only to give you a chance to save your stuff, and close it down, or wait for the generator to kick-in.

We don’t have lightning storms so intense here in India.. so I was asking for the protection of my PC is a ups necessary? Power-cuts...outage as u name it last only a few moments for me as my apartment has a 24/7 backup...  just the intermission betweeen the power going “pooffff”. And coming back ... will my this effect my PC ..

[GoodBytes]

9 minutes ago, Siddhant Mishra said:

We don’t have lightning storms so intense here in India.. so I was asking for the protection of my PC is a ups necessary? Power-cuts...outage as u name it last only a few moments for me as my apartment has a 24/7 backup...  just the intermission betweeen the power going “pooffff”. And coming back ... will my this effect my PC ..

It is is more than that. Wall electricity is not stable. It fluctuates, and spikes, although rare, can occur (usually when power returns from a power outage, that is why, usually, and normally, electric company recommends to unplug everything and turn off the lights when power outage occurs), and your electronics won't be happy when it happens.

Usually, a UPS will have a built-in surge protector.

 

The question is, is it worth getting a UPS over a surge protector. The question is only you can answer. If you have the money that you don't know what to do with, then sure, get it. If you work from home, on a desktop system, and loss of work is critical for you to avoid, then yes, get it. If it is because you don't want to lose your game state, and will be forced to go back to the last save points 2 min or so before.... then not worth it.

[Mr.Genuine]

It depends..If you have frequent power cuts in your place, I suggest you to get a Spike Guard, which is cheaper than a UPS. But a UPS is a very good option. Personally I'd need a UPS since I'm going to start streaming and I can't suddenly stop a stream because of a powercut.

[Siddhant Mishra]

41 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

It is is more than that. Wall electricity is not stable. It fluctuates, and spikes, although rare, can occur (usually when power returns from a power outage, that is why, usually, and normally, electric company recommends to unplug everything and turn off the lights when power outage occurs), and your electronics won't be happy when it happens.

Usually, a UPS will have a built-in surge protector.

 

The question is, is it worth getting a UPS over a surge protector. The question is only you can answer. If you have the money that you don't know what to do with, then sure, get it. If you work from home, on a desktop system, and loss of work is critical for you to avoid, then yes, get it. If it is because you don't want to lose your game state, and will be forced to go back to the last save points 2 min or so before.... then not worth it.

Tbh I am dude who only wants to games ... so does this seeem legit .. is this what u meant??  A surge protector ... 

https://www.amazon.in/Belkin-Essential-F9E400zb1-5MGRY-4-Socket-Protector/dp/B0083T231O/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1550802483&sr=1-4&keywords=surge+protector

[Lady Fitzgerald]

2 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

Of course, but is it worth spending ~200$ or so for battery backup for that odd time where you have a power failure, just to have enough time to save your game and shutdown your computer? Only to turn it back up an hour or so later? Is loosing your game session that big of a deal? Keep in mind that UPS battery needs to be replaced (and some models you can't do it, you need to replace the whole thing).

 

Remember that UPS isn't there to-turn your desktop as a laptop. It is there only to give you a chance to save your stuff, and close it down, or wait for the generator to kick-in.

Yes, it most definitely is worth it. If you have a power outage while performing certain operations, such as flashing your MOBO's BIOS or updating the OS, it's possible the MOBO or OS could be bricked, even after one cold shutdown. Also, even if one cold shutdown doesn't cause damage, multiple cold shutdowns can cause cumulative damage that will eventually become permanent. How soon is a crap shoot.

 

If you are doing some critical work on the computer, a UPS will give you enough time to save that work. A good UPS can be set to automatically hibernate an unattended computer after a specified time after a power outage.

 

There is no way I will run a computer (other than a laptop or other battery equipped computer) without a UPS. The UPS is not for running a computer for an extended amount of time. It's for preventing cold shutdowns and saving unsaved work when the power fails. It's like having auto insurance. You may never be in an accident but that doesn't mean you don't need auto insurance. And, if you do have an accident, having proper insurance will prevent a loss that could cause you lose everything. 

[Siddhant Mishra]

59 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Yes, it most definitely is worth it. If you have a power outage while performing certain operations, such as flashing your MOBO's BIOS or updating the OS, it's possible the MOBO or OS could be bricked, even after one cold shutdown. Also, even if one cold shutdown doesn't cause damage, multiple cold shutdowns can cause cumulative damage that will eventually become permanent. How soon is a crap shoot.

 

If you are doing some critical work on the computer, a UPS will give you enough time to save that work. A good UPS can be set to automatically hibernate an unattended computer after a specified time after a power outage.

 

There is no way I will run a computer (other than a laptop or other battery equipped computer) without a UPS. The UPS is not for running a computer for an extended amount of time. It's for preventing cold shutdowns and saving unsaved work when the power fails. It's like having auto insurance. You may never be in an accident but that doesn't mean you don't need auto insurance. And, if you do have an accident, having proper insurance will prevent a loss that could cause you lose everything. 

My mobo has bios flashback .. so... do I still need a ups?  L

[Lady Fitzgerald]

16 minutes ago, Siddhant Mishra said:

My mobo has bios flashback .. so... do I still need a ups?  L

Most people get away without one but I still recommend it. If you had an outage while flashing back, it might brick the MOBO.

 

Think about how much you spend for a MOBO and the computer, then compare it to the cost of a UPS. It would be a shame to ruin a $500 MOBO in a $2,000 computer due to a power outage when a $200 dollar UPS would have prevented it. Keep in mind you don't need a UPS that will keep your computer running for an hour or two. You normally need only a few minutes to safely shut down or hibernate a computer. One that will run the load you put on it (ideally, just the computer and monitors) for at least five minutes will do if you set the UPS to automatically hibernate the computer after the power has been out for a minute. I like having extra time in case there is more than one outage in a day before the batteries have time to recharge (I've had it happen several times).

 

Also, I strongly recommend getting a UPS that has a pure sine wave output. Many modern PSUs will not run off a simulated sine wave. Better safe than sorry. Again, think of it as insurance.