ups Avoiding Wattage Limits through using a UPS - Possible?

[Logistical Kiwi]

So... here's the story...

 

I'm British, heading to university in a couple of weeks, to start a Computer Science Degree.

I'm going to be living in Halls of Residence for my first year, and have decided to splash out a little on my accommodation, buying one of the more expensive options. While selecting my accommodation, I email the accommodation providers asking if having my custom built computer (specs below) in my room will be an issue, and all of them said not at all. I find the room I want, get my tenancy agreement after my first deposit, and... I'm not allowed appliances over 200W. I email the support team, asking for more information about this, and they say once things go over 200W, some form of limiter will trip and my room will be void of power. 

So... a computer science student without his computer... Classy....

 

So, after a little brainstorming, I had a thought: using a UPS to draw <200W from the wall, but output whatever the computer needs. Now, I'm not sure if this will work, or if it's possible (I've never had a UPS).

To the best of my understanding, the UPS acts as a form of battery, so in theory, while I'm not using the computer, the UPS charges. When I am using my computer, it will draw power from the UPS at the same rate that the UPS can be charged back up (if the load is <200W). If my PC runs >200W, then the UPS drains, whilst drawing <200W from the wall, therefore not tripping any Wattage-limiters. And yes, I understand that if my PC is reliant on the UPS, it can drain and die at any moment (I'll just have to work that out when I get there). 

 

Any advice or correction on this topic would be great. Thanks in advance!

 

PC Specs{

      Intel Xeon E3-1245

      16GB Ram (2x8GB)

      Zotac 1050Ti (powered from PCIe slot)

      mATX Motherboard

      Corsair cx550 PSU

      }

 

TL;DR: Is there any way of using a UPS to only take in under 200W from mains, whilst being able to output up to 600W? 

[theblastman21]

The thing is is that becuase you are using a intel Xeon , it draws more watts, about 100W. Maybe sell that computer to somone and with the money get a gaming laptop so that it won't draw more then 200W.

[Logistical Kiwi]

Thanks for the response, @theblastman21.

 

Yeah, 95W TDP for the Xeon is pretty high comparatively. 

But the thing is, I have a laptop for my on-the-move notes and programming already (a 2016 HP Spectre x360). 

 

While the idea of a gaming laptop does remove the issue, it just doesn't appeal to me on the basis of having two laptops, and no fixed workstation (which is preferable for me, as I'm a 4-monitors kind of guy...) 

[Jurrunio]

200w limit pretty much means no mid to high spec gaming desktop is allowed even if other things (lights, air conditioning etc) are turned off...

 

but to make that plan work, you first need a UPS that knows to limit its input power, and I'm most likely too dumb to find any. I'm sure engineers (esepcially EE ones) can build one if they want to, maybe you can too.

 

Another option is to undervolt the CPU and GPU so it will hopefully not draw anywhere near 200w. You can in fact try it now, a power meter is cheap, as long as you dont ask for high accuracy. 

 

12 minutes ago, theblastman21 said:

The thing is is that becuase you are using a intel Xeon , it draws more watts, about 100W. Maybe sell that computer to somone and with the money get a gaming laptop so that it won't draw more then 200W.

Xeon or not doesnt affect the power draw, TDP value on anything but Nvidia GPUs are merely a recommendation on what cooler you need to use for that thing to run at stock settings. The E3 1245 will most likely draw identical amount of power as a stock 2600.

[Logistical Kiwi]

Thanks for the in-depth response, @Jurrunio.

 

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

200w limit pretty much means no mid to high spec gaming desktop is allowed even if other things (lights, air conditioning etc) are turned off...

I'm not sure how the limiters work - if its "per room" or "per plug" - so what you say may be true, yeah.

3 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

you first need a UPS that knows to limit its input power, and I'm most likely too dumb to find any. I'm sure engineers (esepcially EE ones) can build one if they want to, maybe you can too.

Other than a couple Linus videos, I have no understanding of UPS at all, so I think I'm just as hopeless as you are! I'm hoping a community member who has a little more experience is able to shed some light on specifics, and I'm sure willing to dabble in electrical engineering if needs be. 

6 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Another option is to undervolt the CPU and GPU so it will hopefully not draw anywhere near 200w. You can in fact try it now, a power meter is cheap, as long as you dont ask for high accuracy. 

I feel I will end up doing this eventually, if no other method is found. Of course, undervolting anything will undoubtedly affect performance, and limit its use to almost entry-level performance, it may be necessary.

[Logistical Kiwi]

That's unfortunate, @vinyldash303.

 

So, lets speculate more: Is it possible to split the load over several sockets, should the limiters be per-plug? 

[alexhelvetica]

9 hours ago, theblastman21 said:

The thing is is that becuase you are using a intel Xeon , it draws more watts, about 100W.

NO, you are very wrong.

50 minutes ago, Logistical Kiwi said:

That's unfortunate, @vinyldash303.

 

So, lets speculate more: Is it possible to split the load over several sockets, should the limiters be per-plug? 

Your computer won't use more than 200W AC, and your university cannot detect how much power is draw from your room by each individual appliance.

 

GTX 1050ti and probably some i7 extreme edition uses 150W AC (I usually grab the anandtech review power draw, which uses an i7 4th gen extreme edition, but they didn't review the 1050ti, so don't know techspots bench settup)

Spoiler

 

 

[Froody129]

So you can't use a kettle, or a toaster, or a heater, or a fridge?

 

I would just undervolt and go from there. That CPU (especially undervolted) won't really draw that much and an undervolted 1050ti is super efficient. It takes 5 min and  saves a bunch of power 

[Logistical Kiwi]

8 hours ago, Froody129 said:

So you can't use a kettle, or a toaster, or a heater, or a fridge?

We have those supplied by the accommodation in a communal room. 

 

9 hours ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

... and your university cannot detect how much power is draw from your room by each individual appliance.

Yeah, I don't know how this works either. To quote my contact at the agency: "The fuse box may trip if your computer exceeds 200W". I don't know if this is per room, per flat, or per floor. I can't get any more information out of her either, so until I get there, no more information can be found about that.

9 hours ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

Your computer won't use more than 200W AC

I'm a little confused... If computers require 450-750W PSU's, my own being 550W, how come so little is actually drawn? Please could you explain? 

[seon123]

10 minutes ago, Logistical Kiwi said:

I'm a little confused... If computers require 450-750W PSU's, my own being 550W, how come so little is actually drawn? Please could you explain? 

Computers don't require 450-750W PSUs. Consumers often do stupid crap that makes them buy a PSU with way way way more wattage than they need. And the lowest wattage PSUs that aren't crap start at 400-450W, so you shouldn't see lower wattage PSUs in custom PCs. 

[theblastman21]

10 hours ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

NO, you are very wrong.

Your computer won't use more than 200W AC, and your university cannot detect how much power is draw from your room by each individual appliance.

 

GTX 1050ti and probably some i7 extreme edition uses 150W AC (I usually grab the anandtech review power draw, which uses an i7 4th gen extreme edition, but they didn't review the 1050ti, so don't know techspots bench settup)

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Performance

• # of Cores 4
• # of Threads 8
• Processor Base Frequency 3.30 GHz
• Max Turbo Frequency 3.70 GHz
• Cache 8 MB SmartCache
• Bus Speed 5 GT/s DMI
• TDP 95 W

source:

https://ark.intel.com/products/52274/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1245-8M-Cache-3_30-GHz

under full load it will have about 95W

 

[Logistical Kiwi]

So can we assume I'm screwed if there is a limit? Or not? 

 

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm open to listen. Note though, please try and solve the issue I've asked, rather than removing it.

E.g. Don't recommend a laptop, because I want my dekstop PC.

[alexhelvetica]

14 hours ago, theblastman21 said:

Performance

• # of Cores 4
• # of Threads 8
• Processor Base Frequency 3.30 GHz
• Max Turbo Frequency 3.70 GHz
• Cache 8 MB SmartCache
• Bus Speed 5 GT/s DMI
• TDP 95 W

source:

https://ark.intel.com/products/52274/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1245-8M-Cache-3_30-GHz

under full load it will have about 95W

 

The problem is, you are saying it uses more power than a core series chip, which is not true. They share the same silicon, so they will use the same power.

[alexhelvetica]

14 hours ago, Logistical Kiwi said:

Yeah, I don't know how this works either. To quote my contact at the agency: "The fuse box may trip if your computer exceeds 200W". I don't know if this is per room, per flat, or per floor. I can't get any more information out of her either, so until I get there, no more information can be found about that.

If you are allocated a single 10A breaker in your room, that will be 2400W. Chances are, you will have a single breaker for the powerpoints in your room, so you should be fine anyway. When I looked at the dorms at my uni, people did say stuff that didn't make sense about the dorms. You just have to take what they say with a grain of salt, and work out if it's logical or not.

 

14 hours ago, Logistical Kiwi said:

I'm a little confused... If computers require 450-750W PSU's, my own being 550W, how come so little is actually drawn? Please could you explain? 

Computer's don't. Notice how a large percentage of HP and Dells use 180W PSUs? This is because that is more than enough power for them. Same applies here. The reason why people use PSUs larger than 400W, is because anything less than 400W are usually crap (because it doesn't cost much more to add more wattage to the PSU, so it ends up that you are spending the same amount, and are making a PSU will 100W less or so, so they have to cheap out elsewhere).

 

[Pixel5]

if this is true and you really only have 200W till it trips you will trip it all the time even with a UPS.

 

i suspect that this is total bullshit and they just want to scare people from using too much power or they messed up and actually mean 2000W