Is UPS needed with a good power supply ?

GooDGooD Quebec (CAN) Member
edited April 2005 in Hardware
Maybe this is a newbie question but with all the features that a new Power Supply like the PC Power & Cooling 510 Express have to offer i not sure about one thing...

You see, i live in a pretty old house with a source of power that can "sometimes" drop without reason. Not AWESOME drop but i know that this can be bad for computer. I never had a UPS and all my computer never did go wrong because of that but now than im planing to buy an extreme performance PC with pretty much high need of power i think it'll be a good thing for me to buy a UPS Power Protection for my new computer.

What i want to know is this : Does a great power supply like the 510 Express makes the job of a UPS Power protection ? Or if you recommand me to buy one too ?

Thankx :)

Comments

  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited April 2005
    A good UPS like APC can help keep the computer and its powersupply from getting damaged. I think it is a good idea to have one no matter what, as the UPS also helps clean the power that it recieves. So therefore, a UPS is a wise investment to protect that high-end PC you are building.

    No commercially available consumer powersupply comes with built in power backup.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    No, a computer's power supply, no matter how nice, does not perform the functions of a UPS or a line conditioner.

    For expensive computer equipment, you are commiting a crime against yourself if you don't shield it from crappy house power with a good UPS. Trust me, coming from someone who has lost a LOT of equipment over the years to bad power, do yourself a favor and buy a good UPS.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Myth:

    UPS "cleans the power"

    That is not necessarily true, Danball. It will provide constant voltage, but will not clean the line from dirty sine waves. You need a seperate line conditioner for that.
  • FlintstoneFlintstone SE Florida
    edited April 2005
    Not that you have any idea of who I am, but I wouldn't run any one of my computers without a UPS. BUT, I also make sure that I buy a UPS with a voltage regulator built-in. Without the voltage regulator, the UPS is only a battery back up. With a voltage regulator, it also, albeit crudely, conditions the power coming to the power supply, smoothing out spikes and valleys so as to not overly stress the circuitry in the power supply.

    Just my $.02.

    Flint :cool:


    You Guys are FAST!!!
  • GooDGooD Quebec (CAN) Member
    edited April 2005
    Wow, thankx for the fast reply guys :)

    Flint : Can you give me a suggestion of a great UPS with voltage regulator ?
    Money is not a problem so if i'm going to buy something, i want it as
    good as it can be ;)

    PS : Others can give me suggestion too, the more choice i'll have, the better the choice will be :D
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited April 2005
    APC (American Power Conversion) is a very good company. Get at a minimum a 500VA backup for your computer. It provides me about 5-10 minutes to shut down and save everything, and it'll do it automatically if I'm not there. And it does have a voltage regulator.
  • GooDGooD Quebec (CAN) Member
    edited April 2005
    I go on the APC web site and they only seems to have 2 different volatage regulator.

    Line-R 600VA Automatic Voltage Regulator
    and
    Line-R 1200VA Automatic Voltage Regulator

    What does the difference of VA mean in real life ? Better time before running out of power if the alimentation is down ?
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited April 2005
    What is a alimentation?

    However, the bigger the number, the longer it can provide power to your computer during a power outage.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Yeah don't worry too much about the VA. You're not interested in "uptime during a power outage" as you are in protection, unless you're running critical services or something, like folding ;)
  • GooDGooD Quebec (CAN) Member
    edited April 2005
    Then i'll go for a 600 VA. Thanks a lot :)
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited April 2005
    95 percent of the ups's sold today do nothing to clean the power. If the power fluctuates far enough it tries to switch to the onboard batterys fast enough before the computer craps out. Short term spikes and drops are not protected.

    This is important for a buisness that may have a 20 minute posting routine to update the GL from say the PR. The files could be corrupted if it drops power!

    For most home users a voltage regulator like this one..

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32830&item=5767500725&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

    Is worth its weight in gold. All my computers run off these. It locks the voltage in and never varies unless you lose power completly. Most people would be shocked if they really saw how much their voltage fluctuated in 24 hours. I have a BUNCH of computers in the house and work on others computers here also. I lost a BUNCH of very expensive PSU's in the 24 months prior to moving to these suckers. ($70 to $120 PSU's) Since I did the switch to voltage regulators now, I run big 600 watt $25 PSU's and have not lost a PSU since and my computers run 24/7 I have a pair of dual opterons, a single opteron, a AMD 64 3400+ s939 and three amd 64 s754's purring happily along.

    These are one of the best computer accessories you will ever purchase in your lifetime. They also work wonders for expensive TV's and stereo gear.

    Trust me they are way more then worth their price. Unless you lose power completly and need 10 to 20 minutes to shut down these are way more then worth the money. And even with a ups they should be plugged into one of these.

    I have two 1800's and a 1200 here in the house right now. Looking for another big rack mount one.

    Tex
  • GooDGooD Quebec (CAN) Member
    edited April 2005
    Thankx Tex for the suggestion. You seem to know what you're talking about ;)

    I'll try to get my hands on one Tripp Lite LC-1800 Line Conditioner. :D
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited April 2005
    You won't need a 1800 if you only have one computer. I have a bunch of stuff plugged into mine.

    Tex
  • GooDGooD Quebec (CAN) Member
    edited April 2005
    EDIT : I've found that the lowest UPS they made is the LS606 model... It seems to have all the features but only lower wattage. That will surely fullfill my needs and i'll save a few bucks.

    Thankx :)
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