[deleted]

[Magus]

[deleted]

[nick name]

I think the biggest factor in your price range is going to be battery capacity.  How long do you need to run without power from the wall?  If it's for any length of time then you may not find what you're looking for at that price point.  

[minibois]

24 minutes ago, Magus said:

universal power supply

Uninterruptible*

 

Anyways, is 550W actually the power consumption of the computer, or is it just the size of the PSU?

That is probably the first thing to check. My go to for UPS' is Eaton and APC. APC usually has the most helpful info, like a runtime graph. If you take the power consumption of your equipment you can easily see how long it will run the battery for.

This is usually a couple minutes, because a UPS is meant to give you a couple minutes to turn off your equipment, give you some time to save your work so it doesn't corrupt.

 

If we just take the APC Back-UPS 950VA (BX950U-GR, I am looking at 230v European model), you can see it has this runtime graph:

How much power consumption from left to right, how much battery time at a given power consumption level on the left.

 

Say your computer is using 400W (kind of a high amount for a desktop gaming PC), you will only have about 3 minutes of time on the battery, while at 100W (when a typical PC is kind of idling), you will have closer to 20 minutes of time.

Either way, it can give your machine enough time to turn off (and with a USB cable connected and the software installed you might even be able to turn on the 'auto turn off' feature even).

 

Anyways, just check what kind of power consumption you're expecting to put on this and how much time you will need on battery (maybe only a couple minutes, because short power outages are common? Or a long time, so you have a ton of time on battery?)

Another think worth thinking about, or at least checking is whether you want 'normal power sockets' (like Schuko for mainland Europe) or for example do you want something with C14 connectors, which meant you might need to buy some C14 to C13 cables, but is generally less bulky?

[Magus]

[deleted]

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, Magus said:

here's any particular one that's considered good

APC and Cyberpower are the brands I think of. I owned a Cyberpower back in the day and it did about 5 years of service. Currently I have a APC branded one. 

 

3 hours ago, Magus said:

 might just plug-in all kinds of stuff into

Keep in mind that on some models not all the plugg ins are battery powered. On the last two units I have owned, only a select portion of outlets were battery powered, the others were just surge protected. 

 

3 hours ago, Magus said:

fact that 550W isn't

Yeah, you want to over size a bit. Gives you more run time. 

[Magus]

[deleted]

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, Magus said:

expensive

That’s because it’s a line interactive unit. Meaning it actively will smooth out the power coming in. So if there is a spike or sag in voltage it won’t effect your equipment.