Worried about old electric system

[Guest]

So my grandparents house (Don't judge) has a pretty old electric system in it, and I'm worried about setting up a a full fledged workstation there. The wiring was supposedly installed in the 70's and my question is, am I going to be fine setting up in there? I've already talked to them about helping cover whatever extra cost is tacked onto the bill from the computer and heater(The house gets pretty cold in the winter and all they heat it with is two wood stoves on the main floor).

[RGProductions]

1 minute ago, awakesquare said:

So my grandparents house (Don't judge) has a pretty old electric system in it, and I'm worried about setting up a a full fledged workstation there. The wiring was supposedly installed in the 70's and my question is, am I going to be fine setting up in there? I've already talked to them about helping cover whatever extra cost is tacked onto the bill from the computer and heater(The house gets pretty cold in the winter and all they heat it with is two wood stoves on the main floor).

You could get a UPS. That would eliminate any possible concerns of bad (not faulty) wiring. 

[79wjd]

Unless you build something ridiculous it should be fine.

[Sazexa]

What an excellent thread for an electrician to find!

First things I'd check are, what exactly are your power requirements? Most likely the old system uses 15 amp circuits. Which, generally, is sufficient for most set ups. I have a pretty high end set up in my house, and a single 15A circuit is well more than sufficient.

Secondly, check your outlets are getting proper voltage. It's pretty easy and safe to do if you know how to do it, with a voltage meter. If you're getting anywhere from 110-125, that's pretty decent power delivery.

[Petoovee]

I agree with RGP, a UPS with filtering will clear you of troubles.

[RGProductions]

1 minute ago, Sazexa said:

What an excellent thread for an electrician to find!

First things I'd check are, what exactly are your power requirements? Most likely the old system uses 15 amp circuits. Which, generally, is sufficient for most set ups. I have a pretty high end set up in my house, and a single 15A circuit is well more than sufficient.

Secondly, check your outlets are getting proper voltage. It's pretty easy and safe to do if you know how to do it, with a voltage meter. If you're getting anywhere from 110-125, that's pretty decent power delivery.

I would add to that, if he's truly worried about crazy voltages low peak current, he should get a surge protector/UPS which will eliminate all those worries, and filter and clean the power.

[Petoovee]

1 minute ago, Sazexa said:

What an excellent thread for an electrician to find!

First things I'd check are, what exactly are your power requirements? Most likely the old system uses 15 amp circuits. Which, generally, is sufficient for most set ups. I have a pretty high end set up in my house, and a single 15A circuit is well more than sufficient.

Secondly, check your outlets are getting proper voltage. It's pretty easy and safe to do if you know how to do it, with a voltage meter. If you're getting anywhere from 110-125, that's pretty decent power delivery.

What about just general noise?

My PSU started whining within two days after I plugged in a 2kW electric heater in my room. Never quite stopped after that, even when I threw out the heater.

[Sazexa]

1 minute ago, RGProductions said:

I would add to that, if he's truly worried about crazy voltages low peak current, he should get a surge protector/UPS which will eliminate all those worries, and filter and clean the power.

Obviously, but he should check first to make sure it's worth buying before actually spending the money.

Here in my home, we have a transformer on the pole that was replaced about two years ago. Our voltages are pretty damn spot on because it's a new transformer feeding the house, and even though the wiring and panel is old, after I did some work to tighten things down everything here is pretty much flawless.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, RGProductions said:

You could get a UPS. That would eliminate any possible concerns of bad (not faulty) wiring. 

Good idea 

 

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

Unless you build something ridiciulous it should be fine. 

Define "ridiculous".....

3 minutes ago, Sazexa said:

What an excellent thread for an electrician to find!

First things I'd check are, what exactly are your power requirements? Most likely the old system uses 15 amp circuits. Which, generally, is sufficient for most set ups. I have a pretty high end set up in my house, and a single 15A circuit is well more than sufficient.

Secondly, check your outlets are getting proper voltage. It's pretty easy and safe to do if you know how to do it, with a voltage meter. If you're getting anywhere from 110-125, that's pretty decent power delivery.

Nice to know, I don't have a meter here (I think) But when I get home sometime in the next week my dad should have several.

[79wjd]

2 minutes ago, awakesquare said:

Define "ridiculous".....

>1kw

 

And even then it would more than likely be fine. (1500w is where I would start to check that the wiring is good)

[RGProductions]

1 minute ago, awakesquare said:

Define "ridiculous".....

Anything using a server PSU, or drawing more than about a kilowatt, because the 15amp breaker can handle up to 1800watts total power draw.

[Guest]

What kind of UPS should I be looking at In terms of wattage?

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, awakesquare said:

What kind of UPS should I be looking at In terms of wattage?

It depends on the power draw of the system and if you want to be able to run the system under load/at idle for x minutes. 

[Sazexa]

1 minute ago, Petoovee said:

What about just general noise?

My PSU started whining within two days after I plugged in a 2kW electric heater in my room. Never quite stopped after that, even when I threw out the heater.

Coil whine can happen with brand new components or with old ones. You can also buy "cheap" little power supply testers from NewEgg and Amazon, to test their voltages easily and sometimes power output as well. I have an old Corsair TX650 from like 2011, and it whines a bit, but I've used it in systems for months at a time and it never damaged components.

Checking voltages is really the easiest way to see. There are some real, more-indepth ways to check your power (like seeing any quick spikes regular meters can't detect, or "chatter," or mis-phasing) but typically that doesn't really happen. And today's power supplies and motherboards are built way better than they used to be.

As I said, a UPS or something of the sorts definitely won't hurt at all. But check your voltages and see if it's worth it before hand. Some of them are quite expensive.

At the same time, a surge protector I always recommend regardless, and replacing them every two or three years is a good idea. Don't buy some cheap no-name brand, as that can be worse. Buy something off Amazon with a lot of good reviews.

[Sazexa]

2 minutes ago, awakesquare said:

What kind of UPS should I be looking at In terms of wattage?

 

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

It depends on the power draw of the system and if you want to be able to run the system under load/at idle for x minutes. 

Yeah, components determine what to get. This is an excellent tool to use: http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

At the same time, for reference, my system probably uses about 600-650W on full load, and these are my specs:
- i7-6950X @ 4.0 GHz (1.25V)
- 4x8 DDR4 memory 
- One SSD and HDD
- Two GTX 1080's
- Eight fans and a pump for liquid cooling

Today's hardware is also much more efficient. I wire up offices all the time and clients are really surprised to hear they don't need as many circuits as they thought they did for their computers. For an example, on a single 15A circuit, I run this build, a large monitor, a DAC/headphone amp, speaker amp (with speakers) all on my desk. On the same circuit on the other side of the room, I also run a second PC, a home theater amplifier (with more speakers), a large TV, a few consoles, AND have a window-unit air condition running in the summer, and it never overloads or trips the circuit.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

It depends on the power draw of the system and if you want to be able to run the system under load/at idle for x minutes. 

Well... Assuming I went with a duel 1080ti system (Again, its a workstation) Along with like a 7850k (if/when it comes out) along with an LG 38UC99-W and 2 1080p monitors.... Would probably want to be able to run it for 15min under load or so I save any progress I've made. Power goes out every month or so here in Maine, usually because a tree falls down.

2 minutes ago, Sazexa said:

 

Yeah, components determine what to get. This is an excellent tool to use: http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

At the same time, for reference, my system probably uses about 600-650W on full load, and these are my specs:
- i7-6950X @ 4.0 GHz (1.25V)
- 4x8 DDR4 memory 
- One SSD and HDD
- Two GTX 1080's
- Eight fans and a pump for liquid cooling

Today's hardware is also much more efficient. I wire up offices all the time and clients are really surprised to hear they don't need as many circuits as they thought they did for their computers. For an example, on a single 15A circuit, I run this build, a large monitor, a DAC/headphone amp, speaker amp (with speakers) all on my desk. On the same circuit on the other side of the room, I also run a second PC, a home theater amplifier (with more speakers), a large TV, a few consoles, AND have a window-unit air condition running in the summer, and it never overloads or trips the circuit.

Nice to know

 

EDIT: Cost of the UPS Isn't very important to me, due to the fact If something went unsaved In what I do i might lose days of progress.

[NumLock21]

OP's avatar...

[Guest]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

OP's avatar...

[Guest]

How does this one look?

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BR1500G/dp/B003Y24DEU

[Sazexa]

7 minutes ago, awakesquare said:

How does this one look?

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BR1500G/dp/B003Y24DEU

The reviews all seem pretty positive. It has a good power rating. I'd say it's a good choice.

[79wjd]

6 minutes ago, awakesquare said:

How does this one look?

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BR1500G/dp/B003Y24DEU

I'd check out the offerings from APC, Cyberpower, and Eaton and see who offers the cheapest UPS at the wattage/duration you need. On the product pages there is a runtime graph that shows how long each UPS will hold up under certain loads. Figure your system will be around 800w under full load, but if you just have to save stuff, then you probably wouldn't be running everything at full load or anywhere near that. 

[NumLock21]

1 hour ago, awakesquare said:

What kind of UPS should I be looking at In terms of wattage?

A gaming one