Is this a decent UPS device?

I would imagine its good, most people dont even have one of those.

Plus its got a 50k warrenty so if your stuff does get fried your okay
 
Belkin makes a decent UPS. I have 5 units myself, 1 350va, 3 500va, and one 1200va, and have had no problems with any of them. Batteries need to be replaced in a few though, but that is regular maintenance and is to be expected.

the BullDog software is decent as well, and will shut your PC down after an outage. and most of their units are way less expensive than APC, and connect to the PC with a USB cable for controll.
 
[H]exx said:
Price is the only difference in your comparison here from APC vs BullDog. APC has the usb cable and management software as well.
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Yeah, now it is. When I was buying my UPS units, APC was behind in that department. They only had USB connectivity on the smallest units they sold. All others with a decent VA rating were serial. When I say decent, I mean 500va or above.

I have also had to deal with APC on claims, and they are a pain as well. I never had to deal with Belkins warranty dept., but I have heard that they are a lot easier to deal with, for claims on the unit and for protection warranty.

<edit> Forgot to mention, power protection is not where you want to skimp. It pays to put out a few extra bucks to get something decent. That unit you posted looks like an APC knockoff. Might be OK, might not. I'd hate to find out the hard way... in an electrical storm. BTW, Matt, how's that video card you bought off of me? It was a while back, and I can't remember which one it was... but Ti4200 or a 4600 comes to mind.
 
I think I'm gonna get this just to try it out. It's only $20 and if it has that $50k warranty I have some back up if it is a POS (worst case scenario you raise a stink with staples for selling a product they can't back up... hehehe)

Off topic
PsycoGeek, I bought the Sapphire Radeon 9500 non-pro from ya. It worked ok for a bit, but it seems to have some sort of heating problem. Every time I turned the computer on I'd have some artifacts when I started up, but it didn't effect anything so I didn't bother. Then when I wanted to play anything graphics intensive it would shut the computer down. I actually was just messing with it the other day and I took the heatsink off to try to put some arctic silver on, but I can't get the goo off the heatsink or the gpu. No big deal cuz I bought a 6600gt and that's been great (I'll prolly get a 7600gt or higher depending on prices this summer when I build my college rig). Come to speak of it, I haven't been having the best luck in hardware lately, the gfx card was replaced in oct or nov, but just recently I had a PSU blow on a back up PC taking the motherboard out with it. Then I got a replacement mobo, but it arrived with faulty IDE channels. Then when I took the HSF off (skt A) I accidentally chipped the core! Luckily outpost.com had a combo deal for a 754 mobo with 3100+ sempron for $80 so it's all good.
 
For the price its definately decent, but on my main rig I'd prefer something with AVR.
 
Sorry to hear about that Matt... Nothing lasts forever I guess...

Back on topic, if the UPS doesn't turn out to be all you hoped for you can always use it for something else. My entire network, except for the printer, is on UPS', so even when all the power is out in the neighborhood I can still finish the current round of BF2, or save and exit whatever else I'm playing, and make calls since I have Vonage. I even have a salvaged APC Office 280 (blown main fuse, which I repaired) for my water cooling setup.
 
ScreamingBroccoli said:
I was under the impression that the PSU has a lot to do with regulating the voltage... am I wrong?
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The PSU regulates voltage to your components, but clean power TO the PSU may keep it alive longer... Dirty power is a leading cause of PSU failure. Replaced a lot of them (PSU's) while I was in IT because of power problems in buildings.

<edit> Have not replaced a PSU because of failure since I started using UPS' either. Had to replace them because of system requirements though...
 
ScreamingBroccoli said:
I was under the impression that the PSU has a lot to do with regulating the voltage... am I wrong?
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Can only do so much with crappy AC hitting it, plus it as stated shortens the life as itll need to work that much harder to put out the proper DC voltages. If youve got decent stable power at your home, you dont NEED avr on your ups, its just to be redundant.
 
Buying a UPS without AVR is pretty useless. But it is your money.
 
wee96 said:
Can only do so much with crappy AC hitting it, plus it as stated shortens the life as itll need to work that much harder to put out the proper DC voltages. If youve got decent stable power at your home, you dont NEED avr on your ups, its just to be redundant.
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I'm going to be using it at college next year, so I don't know about the power there, but I assume it's fine. It's a surge protector with battery back up, and for $20 you can't beat it. Plus it has a $50,000 garuntee on all connected equipment. It's worth it in my oppinion. Plus it hooks up to PC via USB to shut it off when something goes wrong and I'm not there.
 
Alot of college dorms are old, and have old electrical systems from back when all you had was a plug for your lamp, none of this tv, computer, boombox shenanigans, and now suffer from dirty power, and rolling blackouts. Keep that in mind.
 
ScreamingBroccoli said:
I'm going to be using it at college next year, so I don't know about the power there, but I assume it's fine. It's a surge protector with battery back up, and for $20 you can't beat it. Plus it has a $50,000 garuntee on all connected equipment. It's worth it in my oppinion. Plus it hooks up to PC via USB to shut it off when something goes wrong and I'm not there.
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It is better than nothing. I would not use a high end PC on it though. And set the power off time to about 10 minuits max. The runtime they state is for minimum load. My 1200va unit on my PC will only hold it for about 25 minuits tops. The stated up time on it is about 40... the software should let you test it with the system you have it on for up time. Make sure you test it so you know how long it will actually last with any given system, and periodically test it (once a month to be sure).
 
PsycoGeek said:
It is better than nothing. I would not use a high end PC on it though. And set the power off time to about 10 minuits max. The runtime they state is for minimum load. My 1200va unit on my PC will only hold it for about 25 minuits tops. The stated up time on it is about 40... the software should let you test it with the system you have it on for up time. Make sure you test it so you know how long it will actually last with any given system, and periodically test it (once a month to be sure).
Click to expand...

On the box the are actaully quite honest about how much time I can expect. I don't need more than 3 minutes anyways because I'm not going to leave it on while I'm away.
 
tskiller said:
Alot of college dorms are old, and have old electrical systems from back when all you had was a plug for your lamp, none of this tv, computer, boombox shenanigans, and now suffer from dirty power, and rolling blackouts. Keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

Amen to that. The wing in my current dorm was built in 1980 so the wiring can't be that horrible. However, one breaker carries a couple rooms with computers, fridges, microwaves, and a small computer lab. I bought a UPS device this year because our circuit broke at least a couple times a week. Screwed up my Windows registry, made me lose a couple days of computer use, which I can't do at school (deadlines!). My UPS was an excellent idea.
 
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