Proper UPS for PSU

[avianrand]

I did tons of research before selecting parts for my new build but it seems like just about every day I discover something I should have known in advance! Ugh. Anyway, I have a Corsair HX1000 and found out that it's PFC. I don't have a sine wave UPS (yet - but I am going to get one). Is it okay to run this from my APC Backups ES 650 (http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE650BB) just for testing?

 

[misry]

It'd be better than nothing.

 

[avianrand]

Yes, but because the UPS is not pure sine wave, is there a risk of damaging the PSU under normal conditions?

 

[misry]

No battery backup will deliver a true sine wave. Direct current can be made to simulate alternating current to varying degrees of tolerance but just like artificial vanilla is not vanilla extract BU power is not AC. I should think the power supply would be able to handle the variance. If not I should think you would want to know about it.

 

[avianrand]

I studied EE and am aware of this. I'm talking about what manufacturers like Cyberpower refer to as "pure". The circuits in a cheap UPS are going to produce a less accurate sine wave than a higher end one which could potentially damage sensitive circuits. I just don't know if this is as much of an issue as some make it out to be. Pure is a relative term here. There are loads of threads on the web that imply that if you have a PFC PSU then you should be using a "pure" UPS. None of them seem to be conclusive. Some go so far as to imply that it's a marketing strategy by the UPS companies. Others include statements from posters that they could not even run certain PSUs on low grade UPSs. After some more research I think I know what I need to know for now.

 

[misry]

I'm not familiar with that much detail. While I've literally put thousands of UPS into the field none of them were Cyberpower brand. Tripplite 650's are the current model for store servers, 350's for terminals. APC's before that and Belkins before that. I'm currently partial to the Tripplites but that might be because they take up less room on my racks than the APC's did and provide longer tested backup however those are a different class and might not apply to this post.

If they do the job I'm not going to sweat the minutia.

 

[dkapke]

I've got a OCZ 700W with the Active PFC protected by an APC 1500KVa that isn't, to my knowledge, anything close to having pure sine wave. I was reading about this, too, and thought I'd spent $150 on a UPS that was going to fry my system somehow. Turns out it was nothing but a bunch of people freaking out about what seems like nothing. I've had my build for 4 months (see my sig) and the UPS will hold it during a power outage for about 30 minutes which is incredible considering the hardware I have. I've had 4 outages (3 line fuse trips and a pole that broke and took out the whole neighborhood), two of which fried components on the only PC that wasn't protected by any form of UPS - my HTPC. My APC has held steady and hasn't had any adverse effects on my PC yet.

My opinion is buy one strong enough for what you need based on the hardware you have. I work from home, so 30 minutes is huge for most surges and minor outages and I've had no problems running on my 8,000Kw generator (which is definitely NOT pure, clean power - I had to adjust a setting on the UPS to prevnet it from freaking out on generator power) and I've not had a single issue with my computer. Honestly, I really think all this PFC stuff, in relation to a UPS, is overblown. Not only that, but have you looked at the cost of a "pure" UPS? I guarantee you're not getting a 1500KVA UPS for $150 if it's of the "pure" variety.

Of course, that's just my 2¢ - YYMV.

 

[avianrand]

This article is quite old http://www.kerchner.com/electrical/sinewave.htm but I'm thinking that based on what you said that it still must apply.

 

[dkapke]

For being ca. 1998, yeah...it sounds like exactly what I thought. Granted, in 1988, there certainly wasn't any power supplies with Active PFC so that probably never came into the equation, but for the most part it holds true. Exactly like he said, I suspect it's nothing but salesmen convincing you that you need to spend HUGE money on something that, well, you don't.

My old C2Q 9650 (with the same power supply) ran on a Back-UPS 650 (just like the one you're looking at) and I had that for two years with no problems. I just didn't like that it could only keep it up for 8-10 minutes as I needed something bigger. That 650 now protects my daughter's 965BE w/ 6Gb of memory (non-active PFC PSU) and it's still running like a champ. Honestly, 99.9% of the UPS systems in a home are not sine-wave units so you can't tell me that PSU makers would suddenly start making a PSU that could be damaged by what almost every home user has in their house (for a UPS). If that was the case, it would come with warnings all over the box - "Do not power this by a non-sine-wave UPS". But, you don't see that as being any kind of condition for their warranty. Thus...I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[avianrand]

Thanks for the info. And yes, there is NOTHING in the manual or specs or anywhere else I could find in the info for my HX1000 that says it needs a sine wave UPS.

 

[avianrand]

Best answer selected by avianrand.

 

[FALC0N]

Yes it is proper to have UPS deliver your PSU