How do I pick a UPS?

[G9XFTW]

Having R5 2600, 10606gb and a 600watt PSU right now. What UPS should I pick for this build? What all should be considered when buying one?

[driftz240]

When in doubt, just get the most expensive one.

[Mad153]

Tombola?

[NumLock21]

A UPS for you to safely turn off your electronics in case of a electric outage. It's not for you to continue to play Fortnite. Get the one that last the longest on battery within your budget.

[tech.guru]

you should research closely because some ups will cause damage with computer power supplies.

if your power supply has an Active-PFC (most do) than some of the cheaper simulated sign wave UPS can cause damages to the power supply. you will need to buy a pure sign wave ups unit or buy a powersupply without an active pfc.

 

see, 

https://www.dougv.com/2010/03/active-pfc-enabled-psus-are-not-compatable-with-most-low-end-ups/

[tech.guru]

this is one i personally own,

https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/cp1500pfclcd/

 

its a pure sign wave and works with active pfc power supplies

[Oalei]

i forgot the terms that actually stabilize the Volts so its kinda good in its own way. ehm just check the runtime for what load, i mean yours is like 220W i think, im sure its less than 300W because most consumer PC does consume less than 300W.

[TheKDub]

On 8/2/2019 at 4:13 PM, G9XFTW said:

Having R5 2600, 10606gb and a 600watt PSU right now. What UPS should I pick for this build? What all should be considered when buying one?

 

What else are you going to be plugging into it? (Monitors? Speakers? Networking gear? Etc...)

 

How long do you need it to keep your PC online in case of a power outage? (A few minutes? 30 minutes? hours? And at idle? Or under heavy load?)

 

The higher the VA rating, the longer it'll be able to supply power. You also want to make sure the wattage rating is suitable for the load attached to it. (And be sure to leave some headroom too, you don't want to be running a UPS at max capacity. +20% from peak draw would be a good idea, at a minimum.)

[vanished]

What should be considered?  A few things:

• Capacity - obviously a longer runtime is better, but keep in mind that they are only ever intended to give you a few extra minutes so you can shut down safely; it's not so you can ignore the outage and continue playing for hours, so have reasonable expectations.  Capacity (or rather runtime at a certain load) should be stated on the product page, and you'll generally find that a higher output model will last longer, both because it will have a larger battery, and because efficiency improves better than linearly at lower loads, so for example, if it lasts 5 minutes at full load (say, 600 W), you should expect more than 10 minutes at half load (300 W)
• Power output - referenced above, this is how much power it can actually output.  I tend to think that a unit with a rating similar to your PSU should be good, since you probably have some headroom built into the PSU to begin with and that will "carry over".  With that said, you can always get more, it won't hurt, you'll get more runtime, and in the event you manage to max out your PSU, you won't have to worry about maxing out the UPS.
• Output type - is it an actual sinewave (often marketed as "PFC", meaning it's compatible with PSUs that do power factor correction, or "pure sinewave"), or is it some crude approximation?  Depending on your PSU, you may or may not be able to withstand using a lower quality approximation.
• Interactive vs online - Interactive connect you directly to the wall and watch for interruptions, then flip a relay to intervene when needed.  This process takes about 4 ms on average.  These have the advantage of being cheaper and more efficient, but you will not be filtering the power unless you are running from it (generally speaking - some higher end ones do apparently still have "filtration" in place).  Online units rectify and store all the incoming power, then regenerate AC to run on, so you are always passing your power through the UPS.  These are generally considered to be more high-end, but what makes sense for you depends on budget and needs.
• Quality - obviously some units will be better than others, but this is not something I can really help you judge.  Big names in this space though, for whatever that's worth, are APC, CyberPower, and at the high end, EATON.
• Number of powered outputs - this seems like a simple thing but you need to consider how many you want, as you generally do not want to combine a UPS with any other sort of surge protector or power strip, as they can interfere and render each other's protections ineffective.