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Doubting the computer shop's response

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So my PSU died yesterday (Corsair TX750W) and I returned it back to where I bought it to see if they can fix it. What really happened was I did not know that VA is not equal to watts. My PSU is 750watts and my UPS is 800va (which I found out later is just 480watts). So I guess it finally died after 11 months of being "under powered.

So I originally planned simply to buy a UPS that has over 800 watts this time, not VA and I thought it could solve my problem once my PSU is repaired so that it won't be under powered anymore. Then the guy from the computer shop said that I should connect my UPS to an AVR before connecting it to the wall. Really? I thought UPS had a built-in AVR already. So what do you guys think I should do once my PSU is repaired? Simply buy a 800+ watts UPS or buy both a 800+ watts UPS and 800+ watts AVR?

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Power supply Expert

An AVR isn't typically a consumer product. Besides if you get a line-interactive, or an online (don't really get an online UPS) then your pretty covered. Online is a bit cost prohibitive for us mere mortals (we don't need that extra 9 on the end of our 99.99%.

Line-interactive psu's are probably a good idea. They protect against spikes and lags, and thats all we are really looking for in our UPS's right?

As far as the Wattage goes? You don't need to match your psu's wattage.

ETA: The watts on the UPS are only for when the battery is active. Unless you plan to play BF3 when the power goes out, you won't be hitting the UPS with anywhere near that load. Otherwise the UPS provides the same continuous 115/120 volts your psu would otherwise be sucking out of the wall.

As with all electronics, sometimes you just get a bumb unit.

totalknowledge said:
An AVR isn't typically a consumer product. Besides if you get a line-interactive, or an online (don't really get an online UPS) then your pretty covered. Online is a bit cost prohibitive for us mere mortals (we don't need that extra 9 on the end of our 99.99%.

Line-interactive psu's are probably a good idea. They protect against spikes and lags, and thats all we are really looking for in our UPS's right?

As far as the Wattage goes? You don't need to match your psu's wattage.

ETA: The watts on the UPS are only for when the battery is active. Unless you plan to play BF3 when the power goes out, you won't be hitting the UPS with anywhere near that load. Otherwise the UPS provides the same continuous 115/120 volts your psu would otherwise be sucking out of the wall.

As with all electronics, sometimes you just get a bumb unit.


The reason I wan't to match my PSU's wattage is because every time the power is out (which is pretty often here), my PC turns off and reboots instantly (this only happens when the PSU is under heavy load, i.e., during gaming). Which makes me think that the UPS can't switch to battery fast enough due to it having a capacity of only 480 watts, while my PSU is 750 watts.
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Power supply Expert

I guess those numbers must mean your UPS is 800W max and 480W continuous. It should be enough for normal use; powering down your computer normally in case of a blackout. Did Corsair tell you your UPS broke the PSU?

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Power supply Authority

Franzks said:
So my PSU died yesterday (Corsair TX750W) and I returned it back to where I bought it to see if they can fix it. What really happened was I did not know that VA is not equal to watts. My PSU is 750watts and my UPS is 800va (which I found out later is just 480watts). So I guess it finally died after 11 months of being "under powered.

So I originally planned simply to buy a UPS that has over 800 watts this time, not VA and I thought it could solve my problem once my PSU is repaired so that it won't be under powered anymore. Then the guy from the computer shop said that I should connect my UPS to an AVR before connecting it to the wall. Really? I thought UPS had a built-in AVR already. So what do you guys think I should do once my PSU is repaired? Simply buy a 800+ watts UPS or buy both a 800+ watts UPS and 800+ watts AVR?


Your UPS and your PSU DO NOT need to be equally sized.

Your PSU is like a pipe that you are trying to put power through, a UPS is like the bucket that holds the water. Normallly the bucket is being filled and the pipe is emptying the bucket. When power dies the bucket is being emptied without being refilled, so the size of the UPS tells you how long you can run for.

13thmonkey said:
Your UPS and your PSU DO NOT need to be equally sized.

Your PSU is like a pipe that you are trying to put power through, a UPS is like the bucket that holds the water. Normallly the bucket is being filled and the pipe is emptying the bucket. When power dies the bucket is being emptied without being refilled, so the size of the UPS tells you how long you can run for.

Yeah but if the difference is a whopping 270 watts then it surely matters. Every time the power is out my pc is automatically rebooted every time the power is out maybe due to the PSU being too much to handle. Anyway guys I'm not really asking about the UPS. I wanna know if I have to use an AVR along with it.
Power supply Authority

you shouldn't have to. If you have 1000W of power pulling on a 500Wh battery it'll last for 30mins.
is there a max power output (as opposed to stored power capacity) listed or is that the 480W. Your PC wil only draw what is needed. For example ny Q9550 with a gtx470, only draws 300W at the wall peak, idle about 120W, so unless you are sli'd then you won't be pulling 450W+ from your UPS this would be roughly the same whether you had a 1000W psu or a 450W PSU.

Does your PSU have a surge side and a ups side to it? I know mine does. 4 sockets that are surge prot, and 4 sockets that are powered from the UPS.
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