Seeking to understand UPSs, surge protectors, line regulators, etc

[aragond]

[Not sure if in the right place...]
Hi all,

Building a brand new rig summarised as follows:
i7-950 -- GA-X58A-UD5(ver2.0) -- Noctua NH-D14 -- 3x4GB 1600CL9 DDR3s -- EVGA GTX 580 -- HAF X -- Scythe Kaze Master Pro 5.25 Fan Controller -- CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-1000HX 1000W -- OCZ Vertex-2E 3.5" 120GB (SSD) -- 2 x WD Black 1TB -- 2 x WD Green 2TB -- LG Bluray Writer -- Alienware OptX AW2310
Since I aim to SLI in future, I have the 1000W PSU.

I wish to protect this rather expensive rig from the power supply and possible failures. The grid here is urban, pretty stable, but black-outs during the summer are absurdly frequent (Oz-fail-ia indeed!), and the occasional car wraps itself around a power pole, so we have occasional surges, too.

I have plans to buy a Eaton ('cuz they don't seemingly cost the world) or APC UPS, only Eaton's "Selections" confuse me.
The 5110-1500VA means 1,500 Volt-Amps, which is their power factor way of saying 900ish Watts. Now, this has absolutely nothing to do with the time it will last, only how much power it can supply for a time. It does say it should last 5 minutes at full power or somesuch.

Does this sound well-matched to my rig?
Are there better brand options than Eaton? (APC seems expensive. Why?)

My second question is: once I have this, do I then need to buy surge protectors or line regulators? (For eg;)
Or does the UPS operate in this capacity as well?

And, I assume they go before the UPS, that is, the first thing out of the wall. Yes?

 

[venjhammet]

Yep it's pretty much fair enough and yes APC is very expensive it's like 10x expensive to the one I bought a 1500VA UPS. And sometimes APC sucks. Surge protector is a Must if your willing to protect your investment. But there are also UPS that operate as regulator too. But it's better to play safe to safeguard your rig. Line Reg first then UPS.

 

[geofelt]

You usually get what you pay for.
For a nice rig like yours, I think you should consider the APC units.
Mine is similar, and I use the backUPS XS 1500. It is several years old, and has worked well. It comes with a software progam "powerchute" that monitors and can control the UPS. I see 285w under low load, and more like 450w when gaming. This includes two 30" monitors which are heavy draws.

If there is a power interruption, you get a notification(as if you already did not know) and your pc keeps on running seamlessly. Depending on the number of batteries in the unit, you have 5 to 90 minutes of run time. For a high power pc, you mostly need only enough time to save your game, and shut down gracefully.
If the power should fluctuate enough, the unit turns to battery mode to protect you.

I suggest you read some reviews of candidate UPS'es to identify the salient differences.
Here is an article to get you started:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/apc-smt1500-cyberpower-cp1500pfclcd-tripp-lite-smart1500slt,2785.html

 

[aragond]

You usually get what you pay for.
For a nice rig like yours, I think you should consider the APC units.
...
I suggest you read some reviews of candidate UPS'es to identify the salient differences.
Here is an article to get you started:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/apc-smt1500-cyberpower-cp1500pfclcd-tripp-lite-smart1500slt,2785.html

Thanks for the link. It's (apparently) the only Tom's review of UPSes, and what I learned from it is that APC can be horrifically expensive.
I mean, the Smart series appear aimed at servers, anyway...

I've been comparing the Eaton Powerware 5110-1500VA with the APC RS1500VA and I'm kinda confused as to how they're different aside from the $au120.