What power rating of a UPS should I go for?

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The Tiger

The Tiger

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My PC consists of an i5 3570 at stock clock, GTX 650Ti Graphics Card, 1 HDD, 2 Optical Drives all powered through a 550 Watts Antec PSU (Not 80+ certified), a 24" LCD monitor, an inkjet printer and an external HDD dock that consumes around 10-12 Watts.


What UPS should I go for? I was thinking of a 600 VA APC UPS, but I'm NOT sure if it can handle the load properly, especially when I'm gaming. A 700 VA one costs twice as much!

What do you say? Would 600 VA be sufficient for my computer?
 
Solution
Onus
Your system probably draws no more than 200W-225W while gaming, even allowing for efficiency losses in the PSU. A 600VA UPS should be sufficient to provide at least a few minutes for orderly shutdown.

And you DO attach your monitor to the UPS, since you need to see to gracefully exit. You would not normally attach a printer (NEVER a laser printer).
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millwright

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UPSs are not for Running, unless you got bucks.

You don't hook them to monitors, or printers IMO.

All it is for is saving your open files, and closing all your programs, and shutting down gracefully.

Edit
It also is used for a smooth power source, if your electric utility has crappy power.
 
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Onus

Onus

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Your system probably draws no more than 200W-225W while gaming, even allowing for efficiency losses in the PSU. A 600VA UPS should be sufficient to provide at least a few minutes for orderly shutdown.

And you DO attach your monitor to the UPS, since you need to see to gracefully exit. You would not normally attach a printer (NEVER a laser printer).
 
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The Tiger

The Tiger

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Yes. :)

But monitor is essential if I want to save the work and shut down. So I have to include the monitor. :)
 
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The Tiger

The Tiger

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Thank you! Yes, I've kept my laser printer off any backup system.

So I'm going for a 600 VA, alright? :)
 
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millwright

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What are you guys talking about.

If you are not there who is going to look at the monitor, and shut it down.

Sure you can hook it to the monitor, but you better have the automatic shutdown program installed, in case you are not there.

Now, if you have the automatic shutdown program installed, what do you need the monitor for?
 
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Eximo

Eximo

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UPS isn't necessarily used for unattended systems. That type of UPS is more of a commercial concept for important processes. Even then that is also temporary until a backup generator kicks in.

For an end user doing home accounting or graphics design having a computer shut down in the middle of work could equate to hours of lost time.

Gaming, not so much, but might be multiplayer battles that you want to exit from gracefully rather then leaving friends hanging.
 
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The Tiger

The Tiger

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Thank you very much for your suggestions!

Millwright: But the problem is that if someone is working with the computer, and the power goes off, then they'll have to manually hook the monitor by groping in the darkness and then save the work. So could we say it's better to size a UPS including the monitor, just for convenience purposes? :)
 
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millwright

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I haven't used the new UPSs
It has been at least 10 years.

I had a dozen APC 600s

When the power went out, the UPS would (Save all work, and close all programs) normally.
I can understand wanting to have the monitor hooked up.

I'm just saying our power went out all the time day or night, mostly night, and not one of these computers lost a bit of date.

Even our programer, who would have as many programs open as he could without crashing the computer,and never closed anything, never lost a thing.

I would think todays UPSs would be just as good.

In those days the UPS was also connected to the computer, by a Serial cable, so they could communicate.
 
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millwright

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Oh, and my 12 systems all had monitors hooked to the UPS.

Even if the power went out in the day, and you weren't right at your desk, it would shutdown before you could get there, for the most part.

Nothing wrong with monitors, but they used to be most of the power.

Unless something has changed, the batteries don't last, and within a year, you are down to half power.


I have a question.
If you test the outlets, on a UPS, with a multi meter, they only put out 70volts.

Yet the computer runs fine.


Another use for a UPS, is when you are flashing a BIOS, just to be sure you don't loose power during the update
 
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The Tiger

The Tiger

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Thank you for sharing your experience. :) Yes, nowadays UPS are also connected to the computer, but through the USB. And you know, I have an experience with that. Due to some power surge or circuit fault, the UPS sent some bad power through the USB port, ruining the mainboard. This was evident when the house's AC compressor kicked in, the computer would freeze. Since then, I never connect any UPS to the USB ports.

As for your question, UPS are pulse width modulated. The waveform changes with load. Unloaded UPS here supplies 160 Volts and a loaded one supplies 220 Volts. (In India the power standard is 230 Volts.) Actually, the peak voltage doesn't change. What you see in the multimeter is the RMS voltage of the AC signal off the UPS, and the RMS voltage depends on waveform. :)
 
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The Tiger

The Tiger

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My pleasure. Glad I could lay down my two cents to clear up your confusion. :)

 
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