Should I get a UPS?

codefined · May 10, 2020

For the first ~15 years of owning a computer, I used to have a UPS. Power cuts were frequent where I grew up and it made sense to provide a graceful shutdown to my computer instead of suddenly losing power. When I moved house, I moved to a more populated area which had far more stable electricity. My UPS moved with me, but broke down after half a year and I never got it replaced.

I'm now looking to buy a new computer and am debating whether to buy a UPS or not. Whilst the power is stably available where I live, I'm worried about fluctuations in the grid causing damage to the components inside of my computer. Is it worth the investment of ~£100 - £150? It's a fraction of the cost of the components in my computer. I can't really quantify the risks around it, so was wondering if you guys could help

For clarification, I'm not looking for a UPS that can provide long term battery life to my computer (which is likely going to be hard given I run at ~600 watts with a maximum of 850 watts), I'm more looking at whether a UPS can provide a more stable electricity supply and whether the extra minute or power will benefit in allowing the computer to shut down cleanly.

Bombastinator · May 10, 2020

Hard to know without knowing how reliable your current power source is.

Me i live in a city but I’ve got very old above ground power cables on poles that tend to be attacked by squirrels in the fall that have a nasty tendency to get into transformer boxes and blow themselves up.