Need to get a UPS for my rig.

[MasterZoen]

Hello, Everyone,

I'm upgrading my PC and have decided to get a UPS due to frequent interrupts in electrical service in the area. I'm looking for a UPS that will allow me at least 2-3 minutes to shutdown while gaming, and preferably has external ports to connect extra batteries.

My budget is $200 USD.

My Rig is as follows:
CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Black Edition Case
Intel Core i-5 4690K 3.5 GHz Processor (running stock)
Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler
MSI Z97M Motherboard
Gigabyte GTX 970 Overclocked w/ 4GB GDDR5 GV-N970WF3OC-4GD GPU
Kingston HyperX Savage 8GB CL11 2400 MHz DDR3 RAM
Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850w Power Supply

Hard Drives:
Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD OS Drive
1 10000 RPM 1 TB HDD for Games
3 7200 RPM 6 TB SATA HDD Data Drives

Monitor:
BenQ XL2420TX Professional Gaming Monitor

Also on the surge:
NAS system

Thank you, all, for your help. I've edited this once I saw I forgot the NAS system, and had put in the wrong HDD speeds.

 

[sadams04]

A few minutes of runtime is pretty easy to do... Below is a filter for 500 - 1000 VA at more than 500w. This is overkill for your purposes, but bigger is better here. Check out the features while browsing. If you don't need an intelligent UPS (USB connection and management software), you could save a bit of money. As with any UPS (or anything really), fill out the warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007932%20600013479%20600013484&IsNodeId=1&Description=ups%20battery%20back%20up&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=30

The CyberPower CP850PFCLCD UPS 850VA / 510W PFC compatible Pure sine wave UPS looks pretty good...

 

[MasterZoen]

A few minutes of runtime is pretty easy to do... Below is a filter for 500 - 1000 VA at more than 500w. This is overkill for your purposes, but bigger is better here. Check out the features while browsing. If you don't need an intelligent UPS (USB connection and management software), you could save a bit of money. As with any UPS (or anything really), fill out the warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007932%20600013479%20600013484&IsNodeId=1&Description=ups%20battery%20back%20up&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=30

The CyberPower CP850PFCLCD UPS 850VA / 510W PFC compatible Pure sine wave UPS looks pretty good...

According to a Kill-A-Watt meter my rig draws around 650 watts when gaming. I've been thinking about the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS 1500VA 900W PFC Compatible Mini-Tower available from Amazon for @$200 since it's mentions the following in the details:

Battery Size & Type 2x Rechargeable 12V/8.5AH Sealed Lead Acid (User Replaceable)

From what I remember of electrical current, 12V * 8.5AH = 102 Watt Hours / 650 watts/hr = 0.15~ Hrs or @ 9 Minutes of runtime. I could be wrong, however.

My only real problem with CyberPower UPS units is they usually can't connect to additional external batteries.

 

[sadams04]

According to a Kill-A-Watt meter my rig draws around 650 watts when gaming.

...um. No. Your system would be closer to 350w while at full load. If you had a pair of GTX 970 GPUs in SLI you put you around 550w. If you are drawing 650w from the wall, then you have some parasitic loss, a bad meter or bad PSU. That just doesn't sound right. Your build is in the link below. Note the power estimate in the upper right...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qhDGt6

 

[MasterZoen]

According to a Kill-A-Watt meter my rig draws around 650 watts when gaming.

...um. No. Your system would be closer to 350w while at full load. If you had a pair of GTX 970 GPUs in SLI you put you around 550w. If you are drawing 650w from the wall, then you have some parasitic loss, a bad meter or bad PSU. That just doesn't sound right. Your build is in the link below. Note the power estimate in the upper right...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qhDGt6

Okay, this is closer to my system:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/y3FzGX

Also, I have a second GPU, a GTX 670, but it's used for PhysX not for SLI, and I don't know how put that on to the site.

That's a neat little site, I'll have to play with it some more. Also, there is Backup NAS system on the surge that I forgot to mention. That's probably throwing the numbers off.

 

[sadams04]

Also, I have a second GPU, a GTX 670, but it's used for PhysX not for SLI, and I don't know how put that on to the site.

That's a neat little site, I'll have to play with it some more. Also, there is Backup NAS system on the surge that I forgot to mention. That's probably throwing the numbers off.

That being the case, you are on the right track with a larger UPS. The 900w 1500va model you mentioned earlier would be a good fit.

As a side conversation and FWIW... The GTX 670 supplementing the GTX 970 likely isn't doing you much good. ...especially for dedicated physics processing. The GTX 970 is a beast! Pulling the GTX 670 likely won't change your framerates while gaming and would drastically cut down on power consumption and heat production. Also, the single memory module has you running in single channel mode which is less than ideal (reduced performance). Snag a matching module, install it, and take advantage of the dual memory controllers (run in dual channel mode).

 

[MasterZoen]

Also, I have a second GPU, a GTX 670, but it's used for PhysX not for SLI, and I don't know how put that on to the site.

That's a neat little site, I'll have to play with it some more. Also, there is Backup NAS system on the surge that I forgot to mention. That's probably throwing the numbers off.

That being the case, you are on the right track with a larger UPS. The 900w 1500va model you mentioned earlier would be a good fit.

As a side conversation and FWIW... The GTX 670 supplementing the GTX 970 likely isn't doing you much good. ...especially for dedicated physics processing. The GTX 970 is a beast! Pulling the GTX 670 likely won't change your framerates while gaming and would drastically cut down on power consumption and heat production. Also, the single memory module has you running in single channel mode which is less than ideal (reduced performance). Snag a matching module, install it, and take advantage of the dual memory controllers (run in dual channel mode).

Yeah, like I said, I'm pretty sure that UPS will offer @ 9 min of runtime for me to shut everything down with my system under peak load, and the only peak loads I routinely run on this system is via games. I have another system with 8 cores and a Quadro for the transcoding, design, and other core greedy stuff, but it doesn't get left on for long periods of time.

I haven't had a chance to properly benchmark my games, yet, but I do plan to shortly remove the 670 and give it to a friend. I just want to have some numbers to see if a dedicated PhysX GPU is something to think about getting. If I do end up getting one, it will probably be like a 280 or something. I bought the 970 to replace the 670 so it's the only other Nvidia GPU I have right now.

In regards to the one DIMM of RAM, I just updated my system: the Mobo, CPU, 970, and that one 8 GB RAM DIMM were all just bought at the same time and I'm flat out of expendable cash save for @ $200. I'm aware that running Dual-Channel is better performance wise, but running a single DIMM will have so little impact in performance at 2400 MHz with CL 11 DDR3 RAM game wise that it's not a concern for me.

 

[MasterZoen]

You know, I was just in the fridge, getting out some lunch meat for sandwiches when I realized, "There's 2 batteries in it!"

So, if each battery is 12V/8.5AH, that would mean I'd have nearly 18 minutes of runtime, and after checking the one you posted, it has 1 12V/8.5AH battery, meaning it should provide the 9 minutes of runtime! I'm so glad I decided to ask on Tom's as to what others thought.
Of course, you still have to factor the 85% efficiency of converting from batter to AC... so that would be 86.7 WH or almost 8 minutes runtime on the dot.