OCZ Technology announced this week that it has stepped into the UPS arena with the release of its Pro-Source 1500 UPS.
It should have been obvious that OCZ Technology would eventually produce an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) given its current product portfolio as well as having PC Power & Cooling under its wing. Designed by PC Power & Cooling and touted to be fully compatible with all PC Power and OCZ brand power supply units, the new Pro-Source claims to bring professional quality UPS protection at an affordable price.
The biggest selling point of the Pro-Source 1500 is in its pure sine wave output. Pure-sine wave output is usually only found in high end UPSes. Why is this important? Many sensitive electronic equipment have problems running on a simulated or modified sine wave output. Because a modified sine wave operates in peaks, such things as audio equipment, displays and products with lower quality power supplies can show anomalies such as lines, humming, and other distortion. In some severe cases, equipment can even be damaged.
From the diagram above, it's easy to visualize that a modified sine wave doesn't provide a "pure" output. The AC output from your wall outlet, which is considered higher quality than a modified output is what the Pro-Source 1500 provides. Often than not, a pure sine wave UPS will be significantly more pricey than a modified sine wave UPS.
Many competitive UPS devices use modified sine wave output because the UPS is cheaper to produce and are compatible with most computer equipment, such as the APC's consumer line of Back-UPS units. As a general guideline, if your equipment comes with its own "AC adaptor," it will operating just fine on a modified sine wave UPS.
According to OCZ, the Pro-Source 1500 features a back-up battery time lasting 10 minutes when powering what OCZ calls a typical 600W load. This seems to be in line with what APC offers in its equivalent line of APC Back-UPS. The UPS comes packed with three standard 12V, 7Ah rechargeable lead acid batteries that are easy to replace. An LCD crystal window mounted on the front displays Input Voltage, Output voltage, Frequency, Load, Backup Time, and Temperature, keeping the end-user up-to-date on the device status.
We looked at APC's Back-UPS RS 1500VA LCD, which is priced at $249. At a 600W load, APC says its unit will last approximately 7 minutes--3 minutes short of OCZ's own Pro-Source. Also, the Back-UPS RS 1500VA outputs a modified sine wave rather than a pure sine wave, which is why OCZ's Pro-Source costs more at $300, but not by a large amount. In fact, the asking price for the Pro-Source is very reasonable for what it offers. APC's Smart-UPS 1500 VA, which does deliver a pure sine wave output costs nearly twice as much as the Pro-Source. Granted, the APC Smart-UPS 1500 has a longer lasting battery and its internal circuitry is built for the enterprise.
OCZ ships the Pro-Source 1500 with software that is compatible with all major operating systems including Windows XP/Vista, Netware, and Linux. The app presents the same information found on the LCD, gathering information from the device via a USB cable connected to the PC and provides alerts via email or messages.
Consumers wanting a backup device that offers a pure, clean sine wave should consider the Pro-Source 1500. Considering its heritage and long standing reputation for very high quality products, we have no qualms about recommending a product made by PC Power & Cooling or one by APC. Both are legendary in their field.