Stupid idea to get a UPS? If not, what would cover me?

Hey guys and gals!

I've been considering for a while now to get a UPS, to protect my hardware from any unforseen power outages and whatnot. The thing is though, it's been many many years since I can even remember having any sort of power outage problems, whatever the cause. I live in Denmark, we don't really have what a lot of the world will call bad weather. Ie., crazy storms, lots of lightning, heavy snowstorms etc. And if we do, at least in the big cities where I live, we don't have power problems. So I'm also considering of course if it's even worth it, and just a waste of money. Of course it will be, the day shit hits the fan.

In either case, I have 2 PC's, and 2 monitors I'd like to hook up. If I could hook up my modem as well, that would be swell. I've also been considering getting a NAS server at some point. But from the PSU's I've been looking at briefly at the stores I usually shop, hooking up so many things might be an issue, or might drive the price way up considering my budget. Here's two reports for my old PC and my new PC, both which is being used. Based on the numbers, I'd assume like a 1.000Watt 900+VA is what I'm after?

Anyways, any thoughts? What PSU brands should I be on the lookout for? I'm not a man of means, so my budget is limited. I was hoping to get something for less then $250. Am I wasting my money though?

wait a moment, you want both PCs running simultaneously? You need both PCs open at the same time?
Anyway, if you don't overclock CPU-GPU, i think it's safe to say that 450watt for each of your PCs is enough, so a 900watt UPS should suffice. But i don't think that you can find a quality 900-1000watt UPS with 250$ (*by the way, i believe you mean € not $, since you live in Denmark right?)

Sith'ari said:

wait a moment, you want both PCs running simultaneously? You need both PCs open at the same time?
Anyway, if you don't overclock CPU-GPU, i think it's safe to say that 450watt for each of your PCs is enough, so a 900watt UPS should suffice. But i don't think that you can find a quality 900-1000watt UPS with 250$ (*by the way, i believe you mean € not $, since you live in Denmark right?)

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Hey there, thanks for the answer! Me and my girlfriend are both gamers, so when she's here in Denmark (She lives in Russia), both PC's are running quite often.

And no, I did mean $. I just have the experience that most people I talk with in here is american, so I just wanted to give you guys an idea of the price. But I did figure, that for the size of UPS I need, 250 (Be it $ or €), is very optimistic. I thought I might as well ask though, maybe there'd be a solution.

All I have on the battery side of my UPS is my modem and router. The PC gets surge protected and shuts down. A battery unit powerful enough to keep a gaming PC running is going to be $$$.

Ayoralyn said:

Hey there, thanks for the answer! Me and my girlfriend are both gamers, so when she's here in Denmark (She lives in Russia), both PC's are running quite often.

And no, I did mean $. I just have the experience that most people I talk with in here is american, so I just wanted to give you guys an idea of the price. But I did figure, that for the size of UPS I need, 250 (Be it $ or €), is very optimistic. I thought I might as well ask though, maybe there'd be a solution.

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If you have a stable power supply network in your country i don't see a reason to have a UPS.
I would propose you to use a UPS if you were willing to buy a top quality unit but for 250$ i'm not sure i can propose a 1000watt-quality UPS. Since there aren't lot of UPS's reviews, i wouldn't risk to buy a cheap product.
Based on that, i would only choose among APC's SMART line, or from Cyberpower's OLS or PR lines, and i believe that these lines cost more than 250$.
Of course, that's only my opinion as a customer since, -as i said- ,there aren't many UPS reviews in order for me to have a solid opinion on the matter.
EDIT: Personally i'm using APC's smart line for myself and my brother as well for about a year now, and i'm pleased, but it is an expensive line for sure!! (*plus, in Greece where i live, we don't have an extremely stable power network, so it's a necessity for me to have a quality UPS)

HeavensCloud said:

All I have on the battery side of my UPS is my modem and router. The PC gets surge protected and shuts down. A battery unit powerful enough to keep a gaming PC running is going to be $$$.

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I don't know much about UPS's, what do you mean when you say "On the battery side"? The only thing I'd be interested in is protecting my PC. I might not have made it clear enough, but I have no intentions of keeping my PC or PC's powered through any amount of significant time during power surges. It was only to protect them, and make sure they don't get fried and could shut down properly. I don't know if this changes my requirements in a UPS?

Sith'ari said:

If you have a stable power supply network in your country i don't see a reason to have a UPS.
I would propose you to use a UPS if you were willing to buy a top quality unit but for 250$ i'm not sure i can propose a 1000watt-quality UPS. Since there aren't lot of UPS's reviews, i wouldn't risk to buy a cheap product.
Based on that, i would only choose among APC's SMART line, or from Cyberpower's OLS or PR lines, and i believe that these lines cost more than 250$.
Of course, that's only my opinion as a customer since, -as i said- ,there aren't many UPS reviews in order for me to have a solid opinion on the matter.
EDIT: Personally i'm using APC's smart line for myself and my brother as well for about a year now, and i'm pleased, but it is an expensive line for sure!! (*plus, in Greece where i live, we don't have an extremely stable power network, so it's a necessity for me to have a quality UPS)

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Yeah, and granted that we have a very stable power network here, is also part of the reason I'm not willing to invest a whole lot into something that might not ever come into use. But HeavensCloud's answer made me think I might not have been 100% clear in my need for a UPS. As I told him just above, I'm not looking for something that can keep my PC's powered for several hours during a power outage. I was only looking for something that would protect them in case something happened, and make sure they'd shut down. I don't know if it changes anything at all.

Ayoralyn said:

I don't know much about UPS's, what do you mean when you say "On the battery side"? The only thing I'd be interested in is protecting my PC. I might not have made it clear enough, but I have no intentions of keeping my PC or PC's powered through any amount of significant time during power surges. It was only to protect them, and make sure they don't get fried and could shut down properly. I don't know if this changes my requirements in a UPS?
.............................
Yeah, and granted that we have a very stable power network here, is also part of the reason I'm not willing to invest a whole lot into something that might not ever come into use. But HeavensCloud's answer made me think I might not have been 100% clear in my need for a UPS. As I told him just above, I'm not looking for something that can keep my PC's powered for several hours during a power outage. I was only looking for something that would protect them in case something happened, and make sure they'd shut down. I don't know if it changes anything at all.

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Perhaps you should look for surge protectors then: http://www.apc.com/shop/uk/en/categ...ditioning/surge-protection-devices/_/N-u9t8ll

Ayoralyn said:

I don't know much about UPS's, what do you mean when you say "On the battery side"? The only thing I'd be interested in is protecting my PC. I might not have made it clear enough, but I have no intentions of keeping my PC or PC's powered through any amount of significant time during power surges. It was only to protect them, and make sure they don't get fried and could shut down properly. I don't know if this changes my requirements in a UPS?

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UPS means Uninterruptible Power Supply. They usually come with several regular surge protected outlets along with a strip of battery backup outlets. You want a surge protector if it's just for protection, not battery backup. Go to your local hardware store and get one from a good brand, you don't need a UPS.

Example

There are a ton of decent - good quality brands, it doesn't have to be APC. Belkin, Tripp Lite, Cyber Power, etc will all work.

HeavensCloud said:

All I have on the battery side of my UPS is my modem and router. The PC gets surge protected and shuts down. A battery unit powerful enough to keep a gaming PC running is going to be $$$.

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Replacement batteries (2x 12V SLA) for my older Back-UPS XS 1300 were less than US$40 from a local place. Sure they "only" last 3-4 years instead of 4-5 like the factory ones but the price more than makes up for it.
That's FAR from "$$$", the biggest cost on replacement batteries online is shipping.

It's wise that you are considering these things at all, OP.

You may not have power problems - like - at all - but Murphy's law is in effect. You can't tell how the grid will function in 5 years. One bad electrical repair at your building and there ya go.

There's no problem with having several computers connected to one beefy UPS. At work, I have a 2000VA unit. However, don't look solely at the Volt-Ampere rating, because actual Watts for your system may vary wildly between manufacturers and models. Powerwalker I believe has a unit where the Volt-Amperes are very close to actual wattage, but my unit gives out 1400 real Watts.

On these 1400 Watts I have a mediocre server running, a freeNAS box and a backup off-the-shelf low power server. The same UPS powers the network switches, routers, threat management hardware, modem.
It does not break a sweat during outages. Dual batteries which are still alright after 4 years of use.
It has a fan, that starts up when power goes out and the UPS is actually "inverting" (creating alternating current). Otherwise it's quiet.

Protip: You shouldn't place a surge protector "behind" the UPS (The UPS should NOT be providing power to a surge protector powerstrip). I have mine placed before the UPS. It's for additional peace of mind and legal/ insurance purposes.

There are three main types of UPS:
- ones that simply alternate between mains power and battery power in case of an outage,
- ones that do the above + have AVR (feature that lets the UPS boost or buck your output voltage - partially improving power delivery using the battery)
- online UPS units that completely isolate your devices from mains electricity. They charge their batteries constantly and constantly discharge them to feed your PC's needs. In short, they are dual conversion devices - 230V AC -> 12-48V DC -> 230V AC

You'd probably want the second type plus a hefty surge protector power strip before it (you can check how good a power strip is by looking at the Joule ratings)

michalrz said:

........................................................
Protip: You shouldn't place a surge protector "behind" the UPS (The UPS should NOT be providing power to a surge protector powerstrip). I have mine placed before the UPS. It's for additional peace of mind and legal/ insurance purposes.

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What??
I'm pretty sure (*about 80%). that the UPS's instructions suggest to put the UPS's power cord directly to the socket at wall.
Thus, i have the UPS connected at the wall, and between PSU (pc) & UPS , i have the surge protectors.

Getting a UPS is more a question of task criticality than anything else. How crtitcal is the work that you're doing on the desktop? How disastrous would it be if the power dropped before you saved your work?

If all you're doing is gaming and browsing, you don't need a UPS.

Sith'ari said:

What??
I'm pretty sure (*about 80%). that the UPS's instructions suggest to put the UPS's power cord directly to the socket at wall.
Thus, i have the UPS connected at the wall, and between PSU (pc) & UPS , i have the surge protectors.

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I always considered that recommendation as a way to prevent people from daisy-chaining cables from the circuit breaker to the UPS.
In my case, the surge protector is connected to a dedicated ground-fault interrupt/whatever breaker. So, breaker->surge->UPS->powerstrips without additional circuitry->devices.

IIRC one of the reasons was that in case of a fault within the UPS itself, the breaker is the only layer of protection and it too can fail to trip.

Mind you, I'm using power strips with surge protection and EMI/RFI on all 3 wires. Perhaps this is the odd type. I don't have the knowledge to explain it better, sorry.

michalrz said:

I always considered that recommendation as a way to prevent people from daisy-chaining cables from the circuit breaker to the UPS.
In my case, the surge protector is connected to a dedicated ground-fault interrupt/whatever breaker. So, breaker->surge->UPS->powerstrips without additional circuitry->devices.

IIRC one of the reasons was that in case of a fault within the UPS itself, the breaker is the only layer of protection and it too can fail to trip.

Mind you, I'm using power strips with surge protection and EMI/RFI on all 3 wires. Perhaps this is the odd type. I don't have the knowledge to explain it better, sorry.

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I used to have the same connectivity just like you (breaker-> surge-> UPS ->powerstrip (*or even another surge sometimes!!), but after reading this (*as said, i'm 80% certain about it, it's been quite a long time), i changed it. Anyway, either way put, i don't think it's a serious issue in my opinion.

Sith'ari said:

I used to have the same connectivity just like you (breaker-> surge-> UPS ->powerstrip (*or even another surge sometimes!!), but after reading this (*as said, i'm 80% certain about it, it's been quite a long time), i changed it. Anyway, either way put, i don't think it's a serious issue in my opinion.

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It would be cool if an electrician busted in and cleared that up. My recommendation was basically what the manufacturer told me. I told him what kind of power strips/surge protectors I was using (same company) and he instructed me to follow this rule.
It could vary from device to device... Those things aren't that simple.

michalrz said:

It's wise that you are considering these things at all, OP.

You may not have power problems - like - at all - but Murphy's law is in effect. You can't tell how the grid will function in 5 years. One bad electrical repair at your building and there ya go.

There's no problem with having several computers connected to one beefy UPS. At work, I have a 2000VA unit. However, don't look solely at the Volt-Ampere rating, because actual Watts for your system may vary wildly between manufacturers and models. Powerwalker I believe has a unit where the Volt-Amperes are very close to actual wattage, but my unit gives out 1400 real Watts.

On these 1400 Watts I have a mediocre server running, a freeNAS box and a backup off-the-shelf low power server. The same UPS powers the network switches, routers, threat management hardware, modem.
It does not break a sweat during outages. Dual batteries which are still alright after 4 years of use.
It has a fan, that starts up when power goes out and the UPS is actually "inverting" (creating alternating current). Otherwise it's quiet.

Protip: You shouldn't place a surge protector "behind" the UPS (The UPS should NOT be providing power to a surge protector powerstrip). I have mine placed before the UPS. It's for additional peace of mind and legal/ insurance purposes.

There are three main types of UPS:
- ones that simply alternate between mains power and battery power in case of an outage,
- ones that do the above + have AVR (feature that lets the UPS boost or buck your output voltage - partially improving power delivery using the battery)
- online UPS units that completely isolate your devices from mains electricity. They charge their batteries constantly and constantly discharge them to feed your PC's needs. In short, they are dual conversion devices - 230V AC -> 12-48V DC -> 230V AC

You'd probably want the second type plus a hefty surge protector power strip before it (you can check how good a power strip is by looking at the Joule ratings)

Click to expand...

Thank you for the very excellent and informative reply!

Sith'ari said:

Perhaps you should look for surge protectors then: http://www.apc.com/shop/uk/en/categ...ditioning/surge-protection-devices/_/N-u9t8ll

Click to expand...

HeavensCloud said:

UPS means Uninterruptible Power Supply. They usually come with several regular surge protected outlets along with a strip of battery backup outlets. You want a surge protector if it's just for protection, not battery backup. Go to your local hardware store and get one from a good brand, you don't need a UPS.

Example

There are a ton of decent - good quality brands, it doesn't have to be APC. Belkin, Tripp Lite, Cyber Power, etc will all work.

Click to expand...

Saturn_V said:

Getting a UPS is more a question of task criticality than anything else. How crtitcal is the work that you're doing on the desktop? How disastrous would it be if the power dropped before you saved your work?

If all you're doing is gaming and browsing, you don't need a UPS.

Click to expand...

I honestly hadn't considered that I should/could just get a surge protector and that would be good enough. I'm not doing anything I'd lose any sleep over if I lost it on my PC due to power outage, I'm only interested in protecting my hardware in case anything should happen. At a quick glance though, surge protectors is not much cheaper then a UPS, but it's definitely something I need to look more into before I can say anything conclusive. Thank you for the suggestions.

APC BR1000G Back-UPS Pro 1000VA 8-outlet Uninterruptible Power Supply
for ~ $130 should have no problem with running 2 non [H] computers and have enough time to give a decent pause before needing to shutdown for an outage.

a nearby lightning strike blew lightbulbs and fried a light switch in my house, the APC 350 powering my system fried, APC had the replacement to me 3 days later in a postage paid return box.

If you are concerned about capacity, get a Kill-A-Watt type meter and measure your actual power usage before you buy something. I have found that measured power usage is often a lot less then the online PS calculators indicate. Also, unless you get a special communications board for your UPS, most will only talk to one device, leaving the other connected devices to crash shutdown when the UPS batteries die.

Always buy a UPS. It is like car insurance. You may drive 10 years and never need have to file a claim. You then decide you don't need it and you T-bone and total a new green Porsche with yellow wheels.

Same deal with a UPS. 1 power outage later and your parts start frying out like 1 client I warned earlier in the year... You will be a believer.

Having a UPS at home is not stupid at all.

Matter of fact, I came home today with a note in the door "We upgraded your electric meter" and a home full of blinking clocks. My PC is always on. So my UPS protected any possible spikes and made sure the system was not improperly shut down. I bought it a few years ago because I lived in an area that was having power issues several times per year, usually only for a few minutes at a time, but I don't want my PC constantly powering off from power outages.

I've always considered a UPS as almost mandatory. I've actually got multiple ones just in my home office. A 900VA powers a NAS, cable modem and ERL router. A 700VA runs my laptop docking station and two monitors. Then I also have two 1300VA units running my VMWare hosts, Cisco switch, and DroboPro. And that's just the office The living room TV and receiver are on a 700VA and the upstairs TV is on a little 350VA. Probably a little overkill, but we can run into bad week of brownouts and power blips every couple months and it's nice to be watching a show when the lights are flickering and not have to worry about the TV shutting off or waiting for the Rokus to restart after a power outage. Everything except for the TVs will stay running for about 25 minutes, which is plenty of time to shut things down if need be but usually is long enough to ride it out since we rarely have power out longer than that.

Doesn't hurt that I got most of the UPS units from work when they were replaced and I just have to feed them new batteries every 3-4 years.

Not always necessary.

FWIW:

About six years ago, I bought a new UPS for my desktop computer. My home's network infrastructure is also located in my home office near my desk, so it was all on the same UPS - cable modem, router/firewall, ethernet switch and wireless access point. About two or three years ago the battery in the UPS died, so I had to pull everything from the UPS and plug it all into an ancient $20 surge protecting power strip while I replaced the battery. Except that I never did replace the battery, and I've never had a single outage. Every once in a great while I'll have a little power dip that can be seen by the lights flickering, but the PC never reboots and the network never goes down.

Sorry if this has been already mentioned, but you get one more feature if you have an UPS handy.

A ghetto emergency power generator! UPS units with the cold-start feature (which do not need to be plugged in to power up), can be used to provide power to many low draw device like lights, television, CCTV if you have it. Or during camping.
You'd of course need to retro-fit them with fans to cool the inverting circuitry and the big transformer while also not leaving it unattended.
It's a poor man's generator, but if you have a prepper streak in you - it could work.

And the lead acid sealed UPS batteries saved my dad's arse a few times during the winter.
His car wouldn't start, so he took a pair of 12V/7AH batteries I gave him, connected them in parallel and then parallel again with the car battery. The car started up fine and nothing caught on fire or got hot, no leaks, no deformations. He has a bad heart so in a way I feel comfortable knowing he has them. Mind you he only has a small Renault megane.

What JJ Johnson is saying also holds true. Good quality power supplies in various devices like PCs and networking gear (or even storage controllers) have hefty capacitors that can deal just fine with brief outages. Many a time my computer stayed on while the rest of the house lights flickered.

So in the end, I would suggest you either get just a good surge protector, or get a decent UPS - no skimping! You need the headroom due to the batteries deteriorating over time.

Honeg0d said:

APC BR1000G Back-UPS Pro 1000VA 8-outlet Uninterruptible Power Supply
for ~ $130 should have no problem with running 2 non [H] computers and have enough time to give a decent pause before needing to shutdown for an outage.

a nearby lightning strike blew lightbulbs and fried a light switch in my house, the APC 350 powering my system fried, APC had the replacement to me 3 days later in a postage paid return box.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll look into this one, unfrotunately it might not be possible for me to buy it here in Denmark, at the very least not for that price. One quick question though, the one you linked is "only" 600W. As I've stated before, my knowledge of UPS's is limited at best, how come you suggest one that is way less then the total consumption of my hardware?

DrLobotomy said:

Always buy a UPS. It is like car insurance. You may drive 10 years and never need have to file a claim. You then decide you don't need it and you T-bone and total a new green Porsche with yellow wheels.

Same deal with a UPS. 1 power outage later and your parts start frying out like 1 client I warned earlier in the year... You will be a believer.

Click to expand...

That was my thoughts exactly as well. I can't afford a new PC at the moment, so I'd much rather invest a smaller amount and maybe saving some money in the long run in case shit happens.

farscapesg1 said:

I've always considered a UPS as almost mandatory. I've actually got multiple ones just in my home office. A 900VA powers a NAS, cable modem and ERL router. A 700VA runs my laptop docking station and two monitors. Then I also have two 1300VA units running my VMWare hosts, Cisco switch, and DroboPro. And that's just the office The living room TV and receiver are on a 700VA and the upstairs TV is on a little 350VA. Probably a little overkill, but we can run into bad week of brownouts and power blips every couple months and it's nice to be watching a show when the lights are flickering and not have to worry about the TV shutting off or waiting for the Rokus to restart after a power outage. Everything except for the TVs will stay running for about 25 minutes, which is plenty of time to shut things down if need be but usually is long enough to ride it out since we rarely have power out longer than that.

Doesn't hurt that I got most of the UPS units from work when they were replaced and I just have to feed them new batteries every 3-4 years.

Click to expand...

It does indeed sound a bit overkill. But better safe then sorry eh! This however, might be what I end up doing as well. Instead of buying one beefy UPS, it might be cheaper for me to buy two smaller ones that will handle the PC's seperately. But I also feel it's because I don't really understand the VA and Watts requirements clearly yet. I'm at work right now, so I'll try to look more into it when I get home. Because at the moment when I look at stores here in Denmark, I can easily find UPS's that has the VA requirements, but not the Watts. Come to think of it though, the two linked reports in my OP, I added the Watts and assumed I had to get a UPS that could handle the total. For some reason, I didn't do that with VA. Don't know why. Was that a mistake?

michalrz said:

Sorry if this has been already mentioned, but you get one more feature if you have an UPS handy.

A ghetto emergency power generator! UPS units with the cold-start feature (which do not need to be plugged in to power up), can be used to provide power to many low draw device like lights, television, CCTV if you have it. Or during camping.
You'd of course need to retro-fit them with fans to cool the inverting circuitry and the big transformer while also not leaving it unattended.
It's a poor man's generator, but if you have a prepper streak in you - it could work.

And the lead acid sealed UPS batteries saved my dad's arse a few times during the winter.
His car wouldn't start, so he took a pair of 12V/7AH batteries I gave him, connected them in parallel and then parallel again with the car battery. The car started up fine and nothing caught on fire or got hot, no leaks, no deformations. He has a bad heart so in a way I feel comfortable knowing he has them. Mind you he only has a small Renault megane.

What JJ Johnson is saying also holds true. Good quality power supplies in various devices like PCs and networking gear (or even storage controllers) have hefty capacitors that can deal just fine with brief outages. Many a time my computer stayed on while the rest of the house lights flickered.

So in the end, I would suggest you either get just a good surge protector, or get a decent UPS - no skimping! You need the headroom due to the batteries deteriorating over time.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately, I can guarantee you that I'd be destroying everything around me if I started tinkering with stuff like that

But solely due to money, it might be that I'd be better off with a surge protector. I can get one for about $60 here in Denmark, where as even a PSU just for one of my PC's would cost way more. Cheapest stuff I could get would probably be around $100.


One question though, if I do end up getting one ore more UPS's, I'd assume I'd need cables like this, to connect my PC and monitor to the UPS yes? It wouldn't be the normal powercords I have now, right?

Ayoralyn said:

One question though, if I do end up getting one ore more UPS's, I'd assume I'd need cables like this, to connect my PC and monitor to the UPS yes? It wouldn't be the normal powercords I have now, right?

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Here in the U.S., no special power cables are needed.The power outlets on the UPS are the same as our wall outlets.

JJ Johnson said:

Here in the U.S., no special power cables are needed.The power outlets on the UPS are the same as our wall outlets.

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Okay, thank you. Yeah I wanted to make sure I didn't need any new cables. But I assumed it was because of different outlets, just wanted to make sure. It unfortunately also means I'd need extra adapters and stuff if I bought something from Amazon.com for instance.

In St. God's Poland, home of the original Jesus, there are two types of UPS.
Many Polish made devices have 1-3 "Schuko" sockets or "Schuko" with an additional Pin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko

Which basically work fine with most typical PC power cables you'd get bundled with stuff you buy.

The other type of UPS, more often has the C13-C14 IEC 60320 sockets. The ones you mentioned and provided a picture of. They shouldn't set you back too much, but yeah, they are not as ubiquitous as the 'regular' wall socket once.

michalrz said:

In St. God's Poland, home of the original Jesus, there are two types of UPS.
Many Polish made devices have 1-3 "Schuko" sockets or "Schuko" with an additional Pin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko
Which basically work fine with most typical PC power cables you'd get bundled with stuff you buy.
The other type of UPS, more often has the C13-C14 IEC 60320 sockets. The ones you mentioned and provided a picture of. They shouldn't set you back too much, but yeah, they are not as ubiquitous as the 'regular' wall socket once.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Here in Greece we also have "Schuko" sockets, so in order to connect a pc/psu-"schuko" power cord to the UPS, you'll need a C14 type of powerstrip ( EDIT 2 like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/pud/Cabl...&qid=1490185715&sr=8-1&keywords=c14+to+schuko ). But before you buy the UPS send a mail at the company to verify you that you can indeed use this type of cable (*that's what i'm doing since i hate taking risks)
EDIT: Also, as i told you in the past, if i was forced to choose between a cheap UPS of unknown quality (*due to lack of UPS reviews as i told you) and a surge protector, i would choose the surge protector.

Sith'ari said:

EDIT: Also, as i told you in the past, if i was forced to choose between a cheap UPS of unknown quality (*due to lack of UPS reviews as i told you) and a surge protector, i would choose the surge protector.

Click to expand...

For clarity - PL's got a slightly different variant sometimes - aside from the two 'notches' with metal underneath, an additional prong sticks out that is connected to the notched metal and is there to idiot-proof polarity. Sorry for the confusion. You have the real deal in Zeus' Greece.

And hell yes about the quality.
A poor quality UPS is worse than no UPS. I had this happen a few times... got unlucky and bought a 800VA Cyberpower unit. It should have worked fine but I believe my particular unit was faulty. It wouldn't output enough power to my OC'd Q9550 rig at full load (300W with monitor).

While it's okay to size a PSU according to expected draw (so, 450W is usually okay for a single low-mid GPU non-OCd setup), I go overboard with the UPS and double down.

Thanks ya'll for the answers. I will go for the surge protector for now, and then upgrade with a UPS once I get some more money and I can buy a quality one instead of maybe ending up with some cheap shit

That sounds like the right decision for your situation. Since you do not experience power fluctuations, brownouts or intermittent blips at your location, a UPS is more of a luxury item than a necessity.

I live in the US and at my location there are always bad things going on during heavy winter snowstorms and strong summer thunderstorms, so I've had various APC SmartUPSes powering my systems for over 20 years. I currently use a couple of APC SmartUPS 1500 (model SUA1500) which are getting rather old now. They have definitely saved my PCs, monitors and LCD TVs from bad power situations many times over the years. The batteries are expensive ($100 each every 3 years or so) but worth it for my power situation. I envy you and your reliable power!