APC Smart UPS, will it suffice?

[Deshi]

Hello,

I was looking at a UPS to power my PC, my output in watts should be around 650, probably more(SLI of GTXs, Zeus 850w, E6600@3,6, 22" LCD, etc.).

Would this UPS be enough in your opinions? http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA750I

If not, any recommendations? The one above is pretty high as far as price goes, about 300€, so possibly, no suggestions above that range unless necessary.

Thanks for your time.

 

[BillParrish]

I have trouble recommending a UPS rated less than the power supply installed in the computer. I would think that would be your minimum starting point for a reliable solution. Even if the power supply is not putting out it full rated power, by the time you plug the monitor in, modem, etc. you are close enough. IMO getting an underpowered UPS is worse than none at all as it will provide a false sense of security.

As I am not up on shopping sites in your corner of the world I do not wish to recommend any specific UPS.

I will mention I always look for one that has external battery connections or connections in the battery compartment I can easly tap into and UPS that use 12V batteries. A nasty thing seldom mentioned is that after shelling out 300+ euro in 3 years the batteries will likely be, for all intents and purposes, shot, and the replacement cost is high. Well not as bad as I remembered but looks like 50-70 pounds sterling according to one UK shopping site I found. hmm thought you were all euro now. Note that while the battery life is given as 3-5 years it is only warrantied for 1 year. I have found that a used but still good automotive battery installed in a plastic "battery box" usually available at auto parts stores, spliced into the UPS battery leads provides a much longer run time on batteries, costs less, (if you have a car you just bite the bullet and buy a nice new battery for your car before the old battery goes completely bad, and you kill 2 birds with one stone), or find a mate that is thinking about replacing his still good but maybe a little old battery and offer him a few euro for it. You get the idea.

There should be a sticky at the top of the forum with advice as well. APC is a very good brand, that one at 500W is just a bit small for your needs imo and as the shutdown time is only 4.8minutes at full load, overloaded would be significantly less if it did not refuse to work at all or blew a fuse and as the batteries age it would only get worse. ( A car battery with some decent life in it would multiply x 4 the available runtime without power, at least. )

 

[Deshi]

Thanks for the reply.

With a bit more reading I'm thinking about the 1000VA version. http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA1000I
I'm just trying to get a UPS with pure sine wave, but they tend to be pretty costly. The 1000VA is going to be around 400€+. Not sure if I should settle for one that isn't.

As for the battery, replacing the 1000VA UPS battery costs 130€ from what I see. Not sure how to look for a UPS with external battery connections. The two posted so far don't seem to have them, and they're the cheapest ones with pure sine wave from APC's site. Anything above is way too high for my budget.

 

[axan]

ok first thing your system doesn't draw anywhere near 650W, my q6000, 4gb ram, single 8800gtx, 5 hard drives draws about 360W at 100% utilization (4x prime95 + 3dmark06+copying files). That said you should still get bit bigger ups then the one you linked, personally i like cyberpower ups, I got 1500AV (900W) for about $140

 

[Deshi]

Why would I need a bigger UPS if I don't draw anywhere near 900w then?

 

[axan]

because you don't want to put more then 80% load on your ups.

 

[kumquat]

The "pure sine wave" UPSes are worthless for PC applications. No better than standard UPSes.

Anyway, the maximum output wattage of the UPS is not what's important. Obviously you want to keep the draw wattage well under the maximum allowable wattage, but run time at your normal power draw is what matters most.

 

[Deshi]

k,ty.

It's just that I've read that active PFC PSUs and simulated sine wave UPSes may have problems, for example the Galaxy's online documentations says:
"If you want to provide the AC source via additional UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), please use Sine Wave type. This PSU is not compatible with Simulate Sine Wave type UPS."

 

[kumquat]

k,ty.

It's just that I've read that active PFC PSUs and simulated sine wave UPSes may have problems, for example the Galaxy's online documentations says:
"If you want to provide the AC source via additional UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), please use Sine Wave type. This PSU is not compatible with Simulate Sine Wave type UPS."

Sounds like they're making that up. I've used traditional UPS for years and years and years on all manner of home and business equipment. Never had a lick of trouble with them.

 

[BillParrish]

Computer power supplies with active PFC are a fairly new item here in the states so I am not up on that issue. I did read where the linear transformers used in the PFC circuitry could have problems with the steep waveforms used in poor simulated sine waves. Transformer like the smooth slow rise of a sine wave as it allows the magnetic flux to change at a decent rate where a crappy sawtooth or even worse a modified square wave would cause very fast voltage/flux changes due to the steep slope of the waveform and the PFC circuit would be adversely affected as well as creating heat in the transformer. Least I think that what it said, was pretty technical and I am not as sharp as I used to be.

However I think the days of those old UPSs putting out crap waveforms are pretty much over, but it is difficult to go against the power supply manufactures statement, if anyone knows it is them. If they have tech support it might be worth asking them about a good quality simulated sine wave ups.