question regarding UPS (for power, not delivery)
May be a stupid question... should be easy enough but I just realized it's something I've never experienced or considered.
A friend of mine is building a new PC. She's putting a Quadro FX 3700 in it, and due to that and other hardware, she's picking a PSU that'll be around 800watts.
Her UPS is only 400 watts.
So what happens in a situation like that? I assume that the battery would constantly be drained, but is this essentially over-voltage, and could potentially be dangerous?
A friend of mine is building a new PC. She's putting a Quadro FX 3700 in it, and due to that and other hardware, she's picking a PSU that'll be around 800watts.
Her UPS is only 400 watts.
So what happens in a situation like that? I assume that the battery would constantly be drained, but is this essentially over-voltage, and could potentially be dangerous?
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Comments
If the PSU is pulling only 300ish watts out of the wall at any given time.. she will be fine.
It all depends on the power draw of the system (the elect that is actually coming out of the wall/UPS to the PC)
If the purpose of the UPS is to keep the computer running for a relatively long period of time, then yes, a higher rating usually also means the battery is capable of discharge under high load for a longer period of time.
I'm running two computers on a single UPS (systems 1 and 4 in signature). Both systems run overclocked Q6600s at 3.5GHz or higher. One system has a Quadro FX 3400 and the other an 8800GT. PSUs are 620 and 550W units. Both computers run Folding@Home -combination of GPU and CPU - full CPU core load 24/7. The UPS is an APC Smart-UPS (business class) 1500VA, 960kVA. Runtime on battery for both systems with a single LCD monitor is 8 minutes.
Ideally, I'd like to have an equivalent UPS for each of my computers, but the cost would be prohibitive. The Smart-UPS 1500 that powers these two computers came from Craigslist for a song. I did though, have to replace the battery pack less than half a year after I purchased the UPS. But then, the battery was nearly four years old by that time.
Keep in mind that UPSes are similar to PSUs in that the power rating doesn't tell the whole story. The electronics of the unit, build quality, and battery quality are also very important. I would stay away from generic or lesser known brands unless you are sure about their quality.
What will be powering the monitor?
It sounds like she needs more. If you shop around you can find an 850-900 for about $100.
Not sure about powering the monitor.
So what I understand from what Leonardo was saying is that her current UPS, assuming it's of good quality, will do for now if need be. Still recommended she looks for a better one however. Until the PC is built, we don't really know the power draw. I'd assume rendertime power usage would peak... guess we'll have to wait and see.
Is there any danger to potentially killing a UPS due to a system with too high a load? I'm really not familiar with the power semantics, not to mention the details of a UPS. I just know that I have one and run my PC through it
Does her UPS have monitoring software. Again, a link to her model would be helpful.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102044
That's her current UPS. Not sure it's monitoring capabilities.
She just needs something that'll give her time to save and turn off the PC in times of brownout and such.
Her display is NEC multiSync FP2141 SB CRT. It probably uses a good chunk of electricity.
She's pretty much got hardware finalized at this point:
750W PSU
ASUS Maximus II mobo
Intel Q9550 mobo
Quadro FX 3700
8 gigs of ram (PC 1200)
650gb SATA HDD
2 optical drives and a TV tuner
That rig is going to be a monster.
According to the specification sheet, Newegg, that unit does have monitoring software. If your friend still has the CD, make sure it's installed and configured for automatic programs and OS shutdown. The auto software shutdown is preferred to just an abrupt computer shutdown when the battery depletes. We are not always so fortunate to be at our computers ready to take immediate action when there is a power outage.
I don't know anything about the CyberPower brand quality.
Once your friend completes her computer build, ensure to install the UPS software and run the UPS test.