UPS?

[Ergroilnin]

So I have been wondering, is getting a UPS worth it?

 

I never used one, and the last PC I had before my current rig actually died during a big and long thunderstorm that happened to shock some big transformator nearby to where I lived at that time.

 

Generally in my area we get power outage few times a year (like 3 to 9 per year I guess) and I do use surge protected extending cable.

 

I do not work with any really important data, I do not run any VM server or anything like that. What I may lose data wise, is probably at the most some play time after last save.

 

However I am sure, that not getting unexpectedly shut down by power outage is a good thing for any electronics. But is it worth the money?

 

And if it is worth the money, especially with the rig being like 2000 euros, what should I look for when searching for PSU?

[WereCatf]

If you don't need a UPS, you could just get a surge-protector -- it'll protect you against thunderstorms just as well, it just doesn't have a battery in it.

 

EDIT: Didn't notice you mentioned that you have a surge-protected cable. Must be pretty shitty, though, if it didn't actually protect your previous rig.

[Christophe Corazza]

My server has its own PSU. But this server also contains (among others) a virtual NAS that - for obvious reasons - shouldn't lose power all that suddenly.

In those cases I would highly suggest having a PSU. Otherwise a surge protecter is a perfectly fine.

[Ergroilnin]

Did not have one seven years ago, that is why it did not obviously protect the pc before.

[paddy-stone]

The thing I like most about my UPS devices is that during a power cut you can select it to tell the PC to enter hibernation after a set time.. this is pretty useful for me, as when the cut is over you can then power the system back up and everything is running how it was before, so no having to go around re-starting things and such.

I have one of my UPS just for my router/switches, so if the power cut isn't affecting the telephone exchange or roadside boxes, then I can still use my phone and internet.. on my UPS I get around 120+ mins, so at least I would have some entertainment and communications without resorting to my shitty 4g signal and hotspot any more

 

[paddy-stone]

Oh, just to clarify, that time is ONLY for the router and such. The PC UPS system also has my miner into it at the moment... and I get a maximum of 3 mins at full power

That will change soon as I will purchase another one just for the miner, though TBH I have it set to power both the miner and PC down after 1 min to be safe ATM.

[Amazonsucks]

22 hours ago, WereCatf said:

If you don't need a UPS, you could just get a surge-protector -- it'll protect you against thunderstorms just as well, it just doesn't have a battery in it.

 

EDIT: Didn't notice you mentioned that you have a surge-protected cable. Must be pretty shitty, though, if it didn't actually protect your previous rig.

Surge protectors arent really good enough when it comes to a PC. They will allow plenty of under and over Voltages through.

 

I havent used a computer without a UPS in almost 20 years. 5-10% of the price of the computer for the protection a good UPS offers is a no brainer.

 

One unexpected shutdown during an update can mean spending hours reinstalling everything too.

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Amazonsucks said:

Surge protectors arent really good enough when it comes to a PC. They will allow plenty of under and over Voltages through.

 

I havent used a computer without a UPS in almost 20 years. 5-10% of the price of the computer for the protection a good UPS offers is a no brainer.

Undervoltage doesn't break a computer, overvoltage can, but a UPS isn't any different from a surge-protector when it comes to protecting against overvoltage.

[Amazonsucks]

10 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

Undervoltage doesn't break a computer, overvoltage can, but a UPS isn't any different from a surge-protector when it comes to protecting against overvoltage.

Undervoltage can definitely damage hardware. Heres a few threads and discussions on it with examples.

 

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/65824/can-electronics-be-damaged-by-undervolting-it

 

https://ustpower.com/comparing-automatic-voltage-regulation-technologies/need/avr-guide-voltage-high-low/

 

https://superuser.com/questions/113113/why-are-brownouts-so-harmful

 

Any decent UPS will have AVR with configurable Voltages at which it will switch to battery power for both over and under Voltage conditions, in addition to some fast acting MOV based surge protection and noise filtering.

[manikyath]

22 hours ago, Ergroilnin said:

surge protected extending cable

just a FYI: those do absolutely nothing. all the protection they have is already built into your power supply.

 

on topic:

i have a UPS, or more specificly i have 3 (soon to be 4). however, i'm not convinced everyone should have them. for me its mostly a matter of sometimes i'm dealing with stuff that'll be a lot of work to get right if i get an outage in the middle of this, and i'm in a *very* unfortunate power grid situation due to a combination of many reasons.

 

i currently have a small UPS for my router and modem, a bigger one for my home server and its peripheral devices, and a beefy one for my main pc. the combination of these allows me to bridge at least about 30 minutes, in most cases even allowing me to finish what i'm doing and shutting down everything safely. the downside to this is that the total cost of the 3 devices is probably close to the €1000 range, and while lead-acid batteries arent excessively pricy, replacing them when they fail does count into the bill too, as well as the UPSes also consuming some power, which actually counts up to a noteworthy amount.

 

all in all, if you get a UPS, buy nice or buy twice, and take good consideration if it's even worth it.

[andrewmp6]

A 600 watt ups is only like 120 us thats nothing if you spend a few grand on a pc build like a lot do.

[Amazonsucks]

1 hour ago, andrewmp6 said:

A 600 watt ups is only like 120 us thats nothing if you spend a few grand on a pc build like a lot do.

Ikr thats why i made that poll thread.