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Is an UPS good enough for a Mid-range PC?

Forum CPU & Components : Other Components - Is an UPS good enough for a Mid-range PC?

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Hello

Given these specs:
Core 2 Duo E4320
evga 8800GTS 320 MB
Seagate SATA 300 GB
Maxtor IDE 120 GB
DVD-RW Drive
CD-RW Drive
LCD 17"/19"
2 GB DDR2 PC4200 (Value from kingston)

What would you guys recommend me as a good UPS?
Or it doesnt really matter?
Should I get some that has the same wattage as my PSU or..?
Im clueless here...

I will probably have plugged to the wall, a cheapo Surge Protector Strip, where my UPS would be plugged in turn.
That way a friend of mine says there are less chances of "nasty" things and at most what will suffer is the fuse in the Surge Protector and then I can replace it.

But Im unsure if this is true or good?
I dont care about minutes... as long as the UPS has 5 mins or something of power in case of a blackout, its enough to save and turn off.
Or should I also buy a regulator?

Wall <--- Surge Strip w/ fuse <--- UPS <--- Monitor, PSU

Or maybe

Wall <--- Surge Strip w/ fuse <-- Power Regulator <--- UPS <--- Monitor, PSU

Also Im not sure but are there UPS with power regulators as well? Like bundled?

Care to share your thoughts or your setups for a similar system?

Thanks

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Yes, a UPS is important. This is the cheapest one that I would buy.

Insight - Technology Services and Products for Business
http://www.insight.com/site/produc [...] mber=BR900

I prefer APC because they have a good track record and they are reasonably priced. The important feature of this unit is automatic voltage regulation (AVR) which includes over voltage protection not found on cheaper UPSs. The unit is rated at 540 watts, which is the minimum that I would want for a little buffer and your router etc. If you have more money then go bigger for future proofing. You don't want to have to buy a new UPS because you added to your power load.

Reply to Zorg

"automatic voltage regulation"... I think that's what Im referring to with "regulator".
Ok thanks for your answer.

What about my exlectricity schema? Dya think plugging the UPS right onto the wall is right or...?

Reply to minty

I'd suggest buying APC. They've been around since God, and back their products.

If you want to make sure you get the right one, use their UPS selector. It asks about what you have in your system for drives and such. The only codicil would be to make sure you leave 50% headroom for future growth. Going from a nVidia 6600 to a nVidia 8800 graphics card will pretty much use up a good chunk of the headroom.

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm

As for adding a surge suppressor between the outlet and the UPS, it's completely unnecessary.

Reply to eRazor

Fortunately they sell APC in my almost only retailer in town
Unfortunately, they dont give much information online (maybe Ill call them tomorrow).
The UPS is around $70 US and its APC 500

The UPS selector told me to go for something around that...
However in case my local shop has like a crappy-ass thing (hence you guys see me here asking for questions since amazon is way better price/parts that what I can actually get here :roll: ), I dont know if those small black ones will do? :?

Best Price
APC Back-UPS ES 400VA 230V
http://www.apc.com/products/moreim [...] 057_pr.jpg

Best Value
Back-UPS CS 500 USB/Serial
http://www.apc.com/products/moreim [...] K500fl.jpg

Best Performance
APC BACK-UPS HS 500VA 230V
http://www.apc.com/products/moreim [...] ET_SFL.jpg

So... ordering second or third might be quite expensive in Amazon (too heavy -shipping )

I was wondering... given the fact I actually put "50% headroom", and all three are shown around 40% usage in the results page...
Is the first one a good choice? (might be as well the same as buying the crappier model that I almost smell is being sold in my local shop :roll: ) Because I see it kinda... weird :? Little black not-good-looking-moster-thingy?
Or are those small ones also good (I mean, it was recommended by the selector).

Im reeeeally short on cash... so I dont mind if I have to pull some bucks in the future once I asemble a new PC in a year in a half or so... for the time being I just want it to run on what I got and that's it

Thanks a lot for your time and help

Reply to minty

Like you said, they're heavy and you'll pay for shipping. You'll be able to find a good price at local stores, or sales. Don't forget places like Target, OfficeMax, OfficeDepot, Staples, Sam's Club, etc. Note that APC also makes units that are rebranded.

I don't think anyone mentioned it yet, but a critical question is how good is your wall power? Single family dwelling or multi-unit? Are you near or far from industry or brand new housing developments, where the local grid may not yet have been beefed up to support the new demand? If you have never noticed a surge or brown out you are pretty safe with almost any brand UPS. But if you have noticed "nasty" power problems, are new to the building or area, or have previously had electronics or small appliances killed there, you should put a surge protector, the least expensive device in your line of protection, between the wall and your UPS. But if you know your power source is good, then a UPS is all you need.

Don't plug your monitor into it and your battery time increases, although LCD is way better than a CRT in that regard. Do you need UPS just for a momentary 5 second power glitch, or does it have to hold the system up for 10 minutes while you shut it down (or have software do it for you)?

I once worked in a 11 story building. Just outside our office suite was an electrical room and bank of 4 elevators. A junction box that our suite happened to be on had some rather massive problem once. More than once actually since it stuttered on/off a couple times. Killed 16 of our surge protectors and blew through 3 of those killing a couple PC power supplies and a Sun workstation power supply. Yes, the company that made the surge protectors honored the wty and paid for the damaged power supplies with little fuss. Personally I wouldn't pay less than $30 for a surge because I can always scrap up that much if it gets fried. It's the rest of it I can't afford to replace.

Reply to SciFiMan

Whoa man... you really know your stuff 8O

Quote :

Ahem. South America. Core Duo E6600 for $500
No wonder shops

Quote :

I don't think anyone mentioned it yet, but a critical question is how good is your wall power? Single family dwelling or multi-unit? Are you near or far from industry or brand new housing developments, where the local grid may not yet have been beefed up to support the new demand? If you have never noticed a surge or brown out you are pretty safe with almost any brand UPS. But if you have noticed "nasty" power problems, are new to the building or area, or have previously had electronics or small appliances killed there, you should put a surge protector, the least expensive device in your line of protection, between the wall and your UPS. But if you know your power source is good, then a UPS is all you need.

I havent had experiences of appliances being killed... but wall power aint good, too much peaks (I think) and no possibility to put that thing... dont know how you call it in english... that metal-like bar you put on the ground... I live in a building, lotsa "non-friendly" neighboors and kiddos, so nope.

Now its interesting... so you say after all I might need a surge protector like I asked first... guess I do. Now the question is which one?

Something like this, which is what I have in this crappy PC, costs around $5 US

Something like this, which is what I would buy, costs about $30 US (pretty expensive if you ask me)

I believe the difference relies, on the fact the second one has a fuse? So that if its fried only the fuse gets fried and you replace it?
I have no idea.
But do you think I should go for 1 or 2?

Quote :

Don't plug your monitor into it and your battery time increases, although LCD is way better than a CRT in that regard.

Ah good to know Im getting a LCD. Maybe 17", even if I heard 19" are better, like there are some visual problems with 17"... maybe Im wrong but that's as much as I can afford now

Quote :

Do you need UPS just for a momentary 5 second power glitch, or does it have to hold the system up for 10 minutes while you shut it down (or have software do it for you)?

Ok... just enough to turn it off... since Im working almost all day... if something happens Ill just let my computer dry the power out and die
But now you mention software for it? Can you name some? I didnt know there was software that would turn my PC off given the fact there has been like an energy change
So make it "hold up till you can get shut down" though as I mentioned before chances are this has to be an automated task (if possible at all) since I'd be at work.
I usually leave it on for rendering stuff, video encoding etc... so...

Quote :

I once worked in a 11 story building. Just outside our office suite was an electrical room and bank of 4 elevators. A junction box that our suite happened to be on had some rather massive problem once. More than once actually since it stuttered on/off a couple times. Killed 16 of our surge protectors and blew through 3 of those killing a couple PC power supplies and a Sun workstation power supply. Yes, the company that made the surge protectors honored the wty and paid for the damaged power supplies with little fuss. Personally I wouldn't pay less than $30 for a surge because I can always scrap up that much if it gets fried. It's the rest of it I can't afford to replace.

Mmm... that sucks. Unfortunately there is no "wty" (whatever it is but from a recent chat with a friend of mine that lives in the US and what follows in your paragraph I believe I know its a guarantee of "if it fries you get a replacement back!" ).
And also I think I kinda answered my question above on "1 or 2" but would like reassurance

Thanks a lot for your time

Reply to minty

Sorry to hear about the higher prices down there, but as long as you can find name brands there like APC, Belkin, Tripplite, etc. that will be fine. And you may have brand names there that are great but are unknown in the US. These companies also make surge protectors.

From the PC spec's you mentioned it's a large investment. That and running it all day I recommend at least a UPS sized from 750 to 1000. And at least up here it comes with software that can automatically shutdown your system after a time you can set. For instance at the moment I have a USB attached Belkin model that came with a program called Bulldog that can shutdown the system if it has been on battery for longer than 5 minutes. APC offers the same sort of software, check their websites.

Get that second surge protector you mentioned at the least, since you already know you have power problems in the building. Between the wall and the UPS, which protects the more expensive UPS. Although a quality UPS does double duty of surge protection and cleans up the power also. So if on a tight budget you are better off not getting a surge and putting that money into a better UPS. Find a model that says it cleans up and evens out the power. The larger the UPS the more likely it is to be able to use the battery provide steady power. During brownouts it will add battery power to keep the power to the PC constant.

You might check stores that sell expensive TV's, stereo's, etc. as they may offer a better selection. A model that has a fuse or a reset button (circuit breaker). Some also have an alarm/beeper that goes off when it takes a hit so you are aware there was a problem. Some surge protectors can be used after taking a hit, but some give their lives to save your gear and have to be replaced (they still pass power but no longer protect).

LCD's just use less power than the old glass tube (CRT) style of monitor. Nothing wrong with 17". A good 17" can be better than a cheap 19". Depends.

Reply to SciFiMan

Well the day after, I called the local shop and they said they had this APC B-UPR 700... I think the salesman is a bit dumb like everybody else around here when it comes to say models (people usually say "yeah! we have a 256 Mb Nvidia!!" :roll: ), but Im guessing its anyhow good.
And ok, Ill just get the second surge protector for the extra protection.

Its also good to hear about that software... will come in handy for sure.

Thanks a lot for your time and help man

Reply to minty

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