Suggest me an UPS for my pc

[iiCapo]

I want to buy an UPS which can make my pc run without power at least for an hour cause the electricity in my country is bad it goes off after every 3 hours for an hour & I am sick of it & generators are a no go since they make a lot of noise & need fuel to run so I've decided to buy an UPS but I need help with the following things how much watts should the UPS be? how much VA & KVA & square wave or sine wave or pure sine wave & can someone explain to me what VA , KVA & what those voltage waveforms are??? what kind of battery will I need for it?


Will it run my net device too? cause a pc without net is pretty much useless & how many batteries can I connect with the UPS?? & tell me if I want to run my pc for an hour will it depend on the UPS or on the batteries?? & what kind of battery will I need for it? I've heard from people that you should buy a battery which costs about the same as the UPS


I think my pc needs about 300-350watts power to run

I've the following specs

4th gen i5
16gb ddr3 Corsair vengeance gaming ram
Seagate 1tb 7200rpm HDD
Corsair 240gb LE SSD
Gigabyte GTX 750 ti 2gb oc windforce 2x
Creative 7.1 sound card
Gigabyte H81 mobo
500watts Seasonic 80+ bronze certified psu
Corsair carbide 200R case with three Corsair 120mm AF fans + one Xigamatech 140mm fan

I've Creative 5.1 SBS A550 surround sound speakers & I am using a 23inch LG IPS 234v LED monitor on the power adapter of my monitor it says the following 19.5v
Input: 100-240v
50/60hz 125-160va
output: 19.5v 3.3A

I don't mind disconnecting my speakers when the UPS kicks in but suggest me an UPS that can at least run my pc and my monitor for an hour at least without no restarts


Homeage , Mercury , Emerson , Apc , Cyberpower , Alfa Digital , Crown etc are the following brands UPS the computer stores near my house are selling , there are China/local UPS here too but I was told by a friend not to go with local UPS as local ones are mostly used for fans and lights because they are square wave not for precision stuff like electronics and computers for precision stuff like computers, you'll need modified/simulated sine wave or a pure sine wave he said you can run a pc with square wave but the power supply's capacitors will degrade and damage the other components of the PC & he told me you might need around 150 AH battery to run it for 1 to 1.5 hours or so

 

[iiCapo]

After doing some research APC & Cyberpower UPS are the best , pure sinewave are the best for pcs but modified.simulated sinewave will do the job too but pure sinewave will be better cause my psu is ActivePFC which helps prevent power loss when the battery is switching over most UPS have internal batteries which will give you 15-20mins , to get an hour I'll need to use an external car battery with the UPS & I'll need the double watts of what my pc requires & va is voltage amps & KVA is another term for 'Watts'

 

[Elixer]

You should get a device like kill-a-watt meter, and measure how much power all your stuff takes.
For the cable/dsl modem + router, that can run 1 hour with a 700VA unit with some breathing room.

Another 700VA UPS unit for monitor(s) + speakers.

Then your main machine will need 2000VA+ for a hour (unsure of actual amount, until you use a meter to measure it). Yes, you can use car batteries, however, you need to have ventilation for those.

 

[XavierMace]

Why would you get 3 separate UPS? Just size your UPS purchase properly to begin with. You don't need to go the car battery route to get that runtime but it won't be cheap either. I've got a APC SMX2200 with 1 ERM. That keeps my whole rack up and running for about two hours.

 

[iiCapo]

APC SMX2200

Yeah I know UPS have internal batteries and that are some high end UPS that can do an hour or 2 hours but they're costly what people in my country do is they get an external battery for the UPS there people here even using square wave UPS with the external battery I was told by a friend not to go with local UPS as local ones are mostly used for fans and lights because they are square wave not for precision stuff like electronics and computers for precision stuff like computers, you'll need sine wave or a pure sine wave he said you can run a pc with square wave but the power supply's capacitors will degrade and damage the other components of the PC & he told me you might need around 150 AH battery to run it for 1 to 1.5 hours or so so I'll get an APC or Cyberpower UPS one that is rated to do 30mins if I am not gaming on it I might be able to get 10-15mins more off it & if I am unsatisfied I'll buy an external car battery with 150AH or higher for it & I'll get pure swine wave or simulated/modified sinewave with "line-interactive" so it can deal with voltage surges with & will get 850va just to be safe would you recommend an UPS with software or a non software one?

 

[Sean Kyle]

APC SMT2200RM2U Smart-UPS Rack-Mount System (2,200VA) is pretty fine!

 

[Elixer]

Why would you get 3 separate UPS? Just size your UPS purchase properly to begin with. You don't need to go the car battery route to get that runtime but it won't be cheap either. I've got a APC SMX2200 with 1 ERM. That keeps my whole rack up and running for about two hours.

There are lots of people that can't afford a $1000 beast like you got.
I also find that having multiple units actually ends up better for certain things.

 

[XavierMace]

There are lots of people that can't afford a $1000 beast like you got.
I also find that having multiple units actually ends up better for certain things.

I'm aware of that, which is why I said it wouldn't be cheap. But that's a separate issue from running multiple UPS's. I don't see the point in that as you've now tripled your battery replacement costs.

Edit: For the record, I probably paid less for it than your suggested setup would cost. It's a matter of knowing how to shop for them.

 

[Sean Kyle]

For the record, I probably paid less for it than your suggested setup would cost. It's a matter of knowing how to shop for them

Can I get some tips?

 

[mikeymikec]

I think my pc needs about 300-350watts power to run

I've the following specs

4th gen i5
16gb ddr3 Corsair vengeance gaming ram
Seagate 1tb 7200rpm HDD
Corsair 240gb LE SSD
Gigabyte GTX 750 ti 2gb oc windforce 2x
Creative 7.1 sound card
Gigabyte H81 mobo
500watts Seasonic 80+ bronze certified psu
Corsair carbide 200R case with three Corsair 120mm AF fans + one Xigamatech 140mm fan

IMO, half your estimate even when the PC is as busy as it can be, including the power required for the monitor (assuming that the monitor isn't ginormous). I had a very similar spec to that PC, the graphics card sips power. Is the CPU overclocked?

 

[XavierMace]

Can I get some tips?

Rackmount models on Craigslist and eBay. They are harder to move than towers, so you get better deals. Preference towards CL because shipping on UPS's is obscene and most of the ones on eBay are from surplus dealers. Rackmount models are almost always business owned and on CL you can find failed businesses that just want the thing gone. Plus you can test it if buying from CL. Plan on needing new batteries, but replacement cells can be had on Amazon/eBay for far cheaper than a replacement OEM battery pack. I prefer paying a bit extra to buy through Amazon because if the replacement cells are POS's, it's easier to return through Amazon.

It's worth waiting a bit to find one that's got at least partially functional batteries. Mine happen to be almost brand new. Make sure it's a recent model, don't buy an ancient model even if it's got new batteries. Make sure you have a suitable outlet to plug it into. Larger UPS (usually 3k's and above) won't plug into a standard outlet. If you've got a switch to plug it into, try to find one that includes the network management card as those are $200 new.

I paid $75 for my previous APC SUA3k with Network Management card, add $180 to rebuild the battery pack with new cells and that was still almost $2k cheaper than a comparable new one. I paid $180 for the SMX2k with the ERM. It was less than a year old, both sets of batteries perfectly good. No network management card though.

 

[Sean Kyle]

Rackmount models on Craigslist and eBay. They are harder to move than towers, so you get better deals. Preference towards CL because shipping on UPS's is obscene and most of the ones on eBay are from surplus dealers. Rackmount models are almost always business owned and on CL you can find failed businesses that just want the thing gone. Plus you can test it if buying from CL. Plan on needing new batteries, but replacement cells can be had on Amazon/eBay for far cheaper than a replacement OEM battery pack. I prefer paying a bit extra to buy through Amazon because if the replacement cells are POS's, it's easier to return through Amazon.

It's worth waiting a bit to find one that's got at least partially functional batteries. Mine happen to be almost brand new. Make sure it's a recent model, don't buy an ancient model even if it's got new batteries. Make sure you have a suitable outlet to plug it into. Larger UPS (usually 3k's and above) won't plug into a standard outlet. If you've got a switch to plug it into, try to find one that includes the network management card as those are $200 new.

I paid $75 for my previous APC SUA3k with Network Management card, add $180 to rebuild the battery pack with new cells and that was still almost $2k cheaper than a comparable new one. I paid $180 for the SMX2k with the ERM. It was less than a year old, both sets of batteries perfectly good. No network management card though.

Thanks a lot man. Looking at craigslist now to learn what you gave me

 

[iiCapo]

Guys after doing some more research not all UPS have internal batteries some do & some don't & remember that UPS rated in Volt amps rather than Watt so its not about matching your PSU wattage an UPS with 800-850va is enough for my pc , pure sine wave would be the best for my rig & that if I run my pc with a modified/simulated sine wave there's a chance that my pc would just restart cause my PSU is ActivePFC how ever I saw a comment in a different forum of a person saying if you run the UPS in narrow mode the restarts can be avoided now the problem is the UPS which internal batteries can do an hour or 2 hours are very expensive & the only cheap alternative solution is to use an external car battery with the UPS how ever the shop keeper told me you cannot use an external battery with the UPS that have internal batteries he said you'd need to buy an UPS that don't have any internal battery though the UPS of Cyberpower & Apc ( the ones without internal battery) they have are all modified/simulated sine wave they said you won't find an UPS of Cyberpower & Apc that are ( Pure sine wave) in which you can connect an external battery in our city you'll need to order one online

So can yall suggest me an UPS like that ? one without internal battery in which you can connect an external battery & is pure sine wave

 

[iiCapo]

IMO, half your estimate even when the PC is as busy as it can be, including the power required for the monitor (assuming that the monitor isn't ginormous). I had a very similar spec to that PC, the graphics card sips power. Is the CPU overclocked?

My monitor is 23inch & have an energy star rating meaning it requires less power my GPU doesn't requires that much power plus I don't want to game with the UPS only use the pc to do chatting or leave it on for downloading a game & the CPU isn't overclocked otherwise I'd of mentioned it plus you cannot overclocked a non K cpu anyway if I wanted to overclocked I'd of gotten a K series cpu with a high end mobo

 

[TennesseeTony]

I have two suggestions, but you may not like them.

First, I'd suggest buying the largest used, rackmounted UPS you can find/afford in your country, and also purchase a pair of high quality AGM/sealed car size batteries to plug into the battery expansion port. If your electricity only runs for 3 out of every 4 hours, I'd personally be concerned with other things too, like the refrigerator, and some sort of cooling/environment control. These large units provide1800 Watts or more (look for models in excess of 2000VA).

The UPS I linked you to can run 28 minutes at half power (950W), MUCH MUCH longer with the external batteries. It takes up to 4 hours to recharge the batteries if they are fully drained, which is another reason to have the large external batteries: 80% depleted deep cycle batteries are only good for 400 cycles, then they need to be replaced. If they are not discharged so deeply, they last much longer, into the thousands of cycles. The small UPS's you are probably considering will need new batteries after as little as 100 days, based on being drained 4 times per day (speculation on my part).

Obviously this is a very expensive option: $800 or more.

My second suggestion doesn't help with the loss of power to your modem and router, but laptops have built in UPS. (I can't stand using a laptop personally.) Then you would need only a small UPS to keep the internet devices running.

 

[iiCapo]

I have two suggestions, but you may not like them.

First, I'd suggest buying the largest used, rackmounted UPS you can find/afford in your country, and also purchase a pair of high quality AGM/sealed car size batteries to plug into the battery expansion port. If your electricity only runs for 3 out of every 4 hours, I'd personally be concerned with other things too, like the refrigerator, and some sort of cooling/environment control. These large units provide1800 Watts or more (look for models in excess of 2000VA).

The UPS I linked you to can run 28 minutes at half power (950W), MUCH MUCH longer with the external batteries. It takes up to 4 hours to recharge the batteries if they are fully drained, which is another reason to have the large external batteries: 80% depleted deep cycle batteries are only good for 400 cycles, then they need to be replaced. If they are not discharged so deeply, they last much longer, into the thousands of cycles. The small UPS's you are probably considering will need new batteries after as little as 100 days, based on being drained 4 times per day (speculation on my part).

Obviously this is a very expensive option: $800 or more.

My second suggestion doesn't help with the loss of power to your modem and router, but laptops have built in UPS. (I can't stand using a laptop personally.) Then you would need only a small UPS to keep the internet devices running.

After some more research I came to know its possible to get more time out of a small UPS by replacing its battery with a larger one but that depends upon the physical size of the UPS and its capacity to hold larger batteries & the second & the best option would be to buy an UPS that that has an external battery connector this is a safer, easier, and often more aesthetically pleasing option. The inbuilt charger in the UPS wont be able to charge a bigger battery anyway. Unless the UPS (Like some high end APC models) supports it, its NOT recommended. Buying a large battery with a separate charger for it which can charge large batteries and keep the charger with large battery always on this is the only way to run large battery with small ups.

 

[iiCapo]

Sorry for the late reply as I was without net for 8 days due to I've shifted to my new house I think I figured it all out you can get more time out of an UPS if you're not gaming on it & use a battery extender with it to get more time out of it but for that you'd need to buy an UPS that has an external battery connector option or mod the UPS to use an external car battery although this alternative is cheaper but its a bit risky btw do Inverters come with batteries as well? cause I seen one person on yahoo answers claiming inverters don't have batteries where as UPS do , do yall think an inverter that's pure sine wave should be okay? with the UPS the switch is instantaneous, whereas with the Inverter there is a gap of a second or two. I don't think we'd notice it as the delay it is very quick.