Help with UPS, my house has terrible voltage problem.

OuterGodHermit · August 30, 2022

So, I don't know anything about power, and by understanding of power measure units is very basic. The apartment I'm renting has terrible voltage problems (the lights blink and dim when we use a hair dryer for example). I got recently a PC gaming tower with a 5600x and a 3060ti, power supply is 650W (MSI A650GF). I need something to protect me of the voltage oscillation, but also that can give me some minutes to save my work in case I'm doing that instead of gaming.

My budget is less than 100usd right now, and if you recommend something that can protect me but don't give me power, is also fine, I really don't have the money right now for something that costs more than 50USD, but I can't put in danger my hard earned PC.

191x7 · August 30, 2022

A system like that + the monitor draws probably less than 450W under load, so you'd need a UPS that can handle such a load.

Usually 800VA UPS-es handle 400-500W (differ from one manufacturer to the other, but also depends on the used battery and battery age).

To be safe, I'd say a 1000VA UPS is needed. That might leave you some room for a CPU/GPU upgrade in the future.

A UPS that is too weak would hold your system while idle, surfing, watching video etc, but under heavy load it would probably beep like hell or maybe even shutdown as an overcurrent protection.

OhioYJ · August 30, 2022

48 minutes ago, aleamaro791 said:

My budget is less than 100usd right now, and if you recommend something that can protect me but don't give me power, is also fine, I really don't have the money right now for something that costs more than 50USD, but I can't put in danger my hard earned PC.

I don't know of any properly sized new UPS in this price range unfortunately. You are likely going to have to search for either some thing used, and make sure it's a good deal, as you will likely have to factor in replacing the battery (or batteries) or wait till you have more money to spend. As you you pointed out a UPS is supposed to protect your PC, it's not something you necessarily want to go "cheap" on.

OuterGodHermit · August 31, 2022

55 minutes ago, Caroline said:

For less than a hundred bucks I'd recommend an AVR, also known as: voltage stabilizer, mains stabiliser, regulator, etc.

1500-2000VA should be plenty for a computer like yours BUT do read very carefully that the rating in VA is nominal and NOT peak, shady companies often advertise "2000VA" units but specify that's the peak output they can handle for about 30 seconds and it's actually a <1000VA device, it's really common in lawless third world hellholes like mine but shouldn't in serious countries.

There are several types but consumer grade ones often work with a series of electronic relays and buck/boost circuitry, you probably have no idea what this means but it should be specified in the manual. Also, when it comes to AVRs VA isn't equal to W, my rule of thumb is that these are 60% efficient so for every 100VA you only get about 60W, the rest is lost as heat, again the manufacturer should put up the specs.

My older mechanical one has an 80% efficiency rating but also weighs 15KG and has to be manually wired for the correct input and desired output voltages, and doesn't comes with any sockets, just a pair of contacts, it works but it's certainly not a device for the average consumer.

Knowing location might help, prices aren't the same everywhere.

Thanks for the response. I'm in the US. I could wait for another month to get to $100. I'm not much at home this day anyway.