How do I choose the best UPS for my system

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code99cc

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Jan 22, 2015
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Hey,

Just a few days ago the power went out at my place due to some rain and somehow one of my ram sticks got fried ... power surge? idk ...


This time it was a fairly cheap component, who knows what it will be next time.
The area i live in currently has very bad power network, every time it rains the power goes out randomly and also the current is not stable, it fluctuates sometimes (i can see my room lights go dimmer from time to time) (i live in a somewhat remote ish area ... a rural area) so the risk of other stuff failing is high i'd say.

I want an ups to shield myself from these things but i know next to nothing about UPS modules (i will read the FAQ on thsi site about them after i post this).

How do i choose a decent UPS that is suitable for my system? IDK which brands are good, what features to look for, etc.
Im also not willing to pay high prices for these things, im currently on a tight budget.

As i understand it, I need to know the total watts my system takes ... or something? Altho UPS's have VA (volt amps) instead of watts ... im not an expert in these things, how can i tell how much "power" a ups needs to have for my particular system?
 
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kanewolf
I have no personal experience with cyberpower UPS. I use only APC. You want to choose an UPS that has a USB port to connect to your PC. That way the UPS can automatically signal the PC to shutdown before the battery is exhausted.

It sounds like, that the power instability you are experiencing may be more than a few min of UPS could compensate for. The bigger the UPS the longer the runtime. I can't say if what you linked will provide sufficient capacity.
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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APC is always a safe brand. The best way to determine the size of UPS is to measure the actual power usage of your computer then use the tables that APC has on their website. It will tell you how many min. of time you get for a specific size.
 
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code99cc

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Jan 22, 2015
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Ok I totally forgot about this post, hope its not considered necroing if i reply on it again.

Since I posted this I had some RL issues and had to blow m y budget elsewhere so I still havent acquired an UPS. Now due to extreme heat we are having more electricity problems, in terms of low voltage. It fluctuates between 120-230 and if you add in the fact we get power cut outs often an UPS is really needed.

I've done some research and looked into APC as brand but I see those are considerable more expensive than the rest and I dont think I can come up with the budget for those any time soon. Also it seems my psu has active PFC and it appears I need an sin wave UPS (i might have butchered the name) or something so I looked around and other than the fact that they are quite expensive, i cant seem to find that many where I live.
00va/
I did find this one : https://www.cyberpower.com/my/en/product/sku/CP900EPFCLCD-UK

Is that any good? I can probably afford that one ..

EDIT: I noticed something in the specs for that UPS, specifically this "Input Voltage Range (Vac) 170 ~ 270"

Does that mean that in my current case where the voltage goes down to ~120Volts the UPS wont work properly since its bellow the input voltage range of 170 minimum?

Also what does "Single Boost" mean for the "Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)"? Does this mean the AVR wont do anything in case of over voltage?
 
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code99cc

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Yeah I did measure it a while back and if I recall correctly at peak it went to 300-350 watts or something (i think it was even lower than this but i added some more just to be safe) but that was one year or so ago.

I dont really have the means to measure the wattage atm ... ill ask a friend who had one of those things you plug into the wall and the PC into it to measure again.

With that being said tho, even if the peak wattage can reach 400 watts (i highly doubt it), even at 0.6 power factor that would be around 650 VA ... the UPS linked is rated for 900 with say 10% reduction (margin of error or whatever they call it) that would mean 810 VA, well above what I would need.


Unless im wrong with everything I said above :)


My system is as follows (if it helps):

CPU - Intel I7 4790
GPU - Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X Vapor-X 4GB GDDR5 512bit
MOBO - Asus Maximus Ranger VII
RAM - 2 sticks of HyperX Savage 8GB DDR3
OS - Win 10 pro

Other plugged in devices:
DVD RW drive (havent used this in years)
2x 7200 HDDs
2x SSDs
1x Logitech G810 Orion Spectrum mechanical kebyboard with RGB backlighting
1x Mad Catz Rat 7 gaming mouse
1x 2+1 cheap Logitech sound system (2 sattelites and 1 subwoofer)
1x Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum gaming headsets with RGB lighting
1x Dell something something full hd monitor
1x 80mm fan
4x 140mm fans


Nothing is overclocked.
 
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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May 29, 2013
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I have no personal experience with cyberpower UPS. I use only APC. You want to choose an UPS that has a USB port to connect to your PC. That way the UPS can automatically signal the PC to shutdown before the battery is exhausted.

It sounds like, that the power instability you are experiencing may be more than a few min of UPS could compensate for. The bigger the UPS the longer the runtime. I can't say if what you linked will provide sufficient capacity.
 
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