Windows 10: Do I Need a UPS?

There are various styles listed (I.e., 650VA, 750VA). Which style is right for me given my build? The link to my build is linked below, for your reference:

Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core, GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition, HAF 912 USB3.0 ATX Mid Tower - Lighter Rig w/ New MSI Mobo - s Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

 

It depends on what you want to spend. I have the 750 units as I have my PC, Monitor, Cable Modem, Router and a Wireless phone unit on mine and it will last about 20 min on batteries. I would think the 550 would work but the 750 is only $22 more.

Jim *Cool

 

Having 4 PCs, I decided to get a separate UPS for each so I could use the feature that turns on power to the monitor when it senses current draw from the PC. Very handy and one less device to turn off and on. I use multiple 550 units for the other stuff. APC loves me! That said I've been very pleased with how long the batteries last and BTW when you need to replace them you don't necessarily need to by the batteries from APC.

 

Batteries these days are very "proprietary".
Using 3rd-party/after-market/generic batteries may void one's warranty on the UPS.
Since it's the "guts" of the device, I would be leery of trying to save a few pennies with a cheaper battery.
APC has a battery replacement program that is pretty efficient.
But when the UPS gets to be old, I tend to replace the entire unit, not just the battery.
(I donate the older UPS units or dispose of them via proper channels.)
The UPS technology evolves (especially energy-efficiency), and the new unit will have both new hardware and a warranty.

Needless to say, each user must balance the real cost of new UPS devices against the "theoretical"/"real" cost of data lost due to a power problem.

Just my two cents and worth less.

Cheers,
MM

 

Well I want to connect my PC and monitor.. that's all. And again, for your reference into how much power my PC draws, below is my PC parts list. Let me know if I should buy a 550 or 750 unit based on this info. Thanks.

Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core, GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition, HAF 912 USB3.0 ATX Mid Tower - Lighter Rig w/ New MSI Mobo - s Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

 

Looking at your power supply I think 750 is best. I agree with Phone Man that you could probably get by with 550 but your run time would be longer with the 750. The extra cost is so small its nothing, unless of course you don't have $22.

 

I think you're right. I saw a used 750 unit selling on eBay. I think I'll buy that one.

 

About 15 years ago, a friend gave me an extra UPS he had. I hooked it up and had my computer plugged into it for several years. Not once during that time was it utilized other than when I tested it to make sure it worked. Eventually the battery died and I moved it off to the side thinking I would get a new battery for it. I never did and eventually sent the UPS to recycling. IMO, a UPS isn't needed in a home computing environment.

In my 40+ years of owning home computers, I've never had any piece of equipment fail due to power surges, brownouts, power outages and the like. YMMV.

 

Hmmph! Interesting! FYI, I got to admit also that I've owned my 3rd but serious PC in the late 90s. For 7 years of ownership not once did I EVER experience a brownout. Even with the famous blackout of 2003 in NYC (which I strongly believe was a terrorist act, BTW) did I ever encounter a problem with my computer.

My computer has turned itself off on rare occasions. But i dont know what it was due to. But again, all it took was to press a button on the surge protector (I think that's what it was) and the computer turned back on. Maybe this is what I need, a surge protector?

Because of your comment, I now doubt whether I should seriously pursuit the idea of buying a UPS.

 

As you've seen in this thread, others don't share my view. If you're the extra cautious type, get a UPS, if not, go without.

I keep my data backed up and don't worry too much about hardware since it can be replaced.

 

Myths, hearsay, and outright lies are flowing in a flood. This completely bogus recommendation is a ripe example.

A UPS provides temporary and 'dirty' power so that unsaved data can be saved. It does claim surge protection. One is supposed to read numbers - not listen to advertising myths - before making a recommendation.

A destructive surge can be hundreds of thousand of joules. How many joules does that UPS claim to absorb? Hundreds? Just enough above zero so that naive will claim it does 100% protection. If its joules were any tinier, then it would have to be zero joules. But they are not claiming effective protection. They are playing naive consumers as fools by selling near zero protection as 100% protection. Always easier when consumers eyes glaze over with each number.

UPS is for power outages. Power outage does not damage electronics. Those who say otherwise use observation as proof. Then we take that hardware to find the failed part. Power outage does not cause damage. Only wild speculation makes that claim. A conclusion only made from observation is classic junk science reasoning.

UPS is temporary and 'dirty' power so that unsaved data can be saved. It does not protect saved data and it does not protect hardware. Anyone can read its spec numbers. Note how many make recommendations by ignoring numbers and plenty of other hard facts.

Also view *subjective* recommendations that suggested power strip protectors. How many joules does it claim to absorb? Also a near zero number. Does not matter. Their target is people who know without first learning facts.

For hardware protection, one 'whole house' protector protects everything. With numbers that claim to protect even from direct lighting strikes. This costs about $1 per protected appliance. And it virtually unknown to a majority only educated by hearsay, advertising, speculation, word association, and junk science. If that computer needs this protection, then everything needs this protection. The fewer and informed proplerly earth a 'whole house' solution. Then hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate harmlessly outside. Then nobody even knew a potentially destructive transient existed. But that means being informed by facts and numbers. Not by hearsay from people who ignore spec numbers.

 

Your computer is not even drawing 350 watts. And probably closer to 100 watts most of the time. Is your computer so hot as to also toast bread? Of course not. But most who assemble a computer do not even know how electricity works. Have no idea how to select PSU. To keep help lines free (to not teach computer assemblers basic electrical knowledge), we tell them a 350 watt computer needs a 700 watt PSU.

300 watts would be more than sufficient. But a UPS is made as cheaply as possible. Its battery life expectancy is three years. So that it can provide those 300 watts even with degraded batteries (and other electrical reasons), then a 500 watt UPS is recommended.

UPS protects unsaved data. Read that UPS specifications. It does not claim to protect hardware. It is only temporary and 'dirty' power for a blackout. It only does what it claims to do - irregardless of what sales brochures, advertising, and hearsay claim. A completely different., many times less expensive, and well proven solution was recommended for hardware protection.

 

Sound strategy.

It does not seem unreasonable to want to protect one's existing hardware, rather than risk replacing it.

But, hardware considerations aside...

Time to save work and perform an orderly shutdown has been valuable for me on several occasions over the years during unexpected power glitches.

The decision to use a UPS is a personal cost:benefit choice each user must make for his/her own circumstances.

However, as this thread is starting to become a bit <shall we say> "heated" <pun intended>, I'll leave it to others to continue the passionate arguments debate.

Cheers,
MM

 

"...UPS protects unsaved data. Read that UPS specifications. It does not claim to protect hardware. It is only temporary and 'dirty' power for a blackout. It only does what it claims to do - regardless of what sales brochures, advertising, and hearsay claim. A completely different., many times less expensive, and well proven solution was recommended for hardware protection..." I must respectfully disagree with some bitsNpieces of the above-given thoughts.
First/foremost, hardware is protected against surges [for a time], is helped in longevity [rather than protected] by having "cleaned power" output.
Software is protected if the end-user is around to save all opened files, any open recordings in progress [think vhs/dvd recorders], and then safely and properly shutting down any/all open programs, shutting down the recording machine, before the battery time limit approaches "red alert."
I've used surge suppressors [some real good!, some so-so in the past], I gladly installed UPS on our computer center, our vhs/dvd transferring/recording area once I realized UPS provides "cleaned power" while building power is on, and provides a safe & proper shutdown within a time limit if a brown/black-out is in progress.
I will leave one example of how an absence of and a presence of an UPS:
Without an UPS, with only a surge suppressor, wifey and I home while dvd recording was in progress, a sudden brownout turned off the vhs/dvd combo thus stopping the recording, suddenly the combo resumed its recording, and everything prior to the brownout was lost.
With an UPS, a brownout happened while wifey was home. She only had to turn off the warning beep. The combo recording went on uninterrupted, nothing was lost.
Surge suppressors only, or, UPS -- your call *Smile

 

Those of you with desktops: if you only have surge suppressors, and no UPS, if you were in the middle of a bios flash, or you were working on a currently unsaved important document or critical spreadsheet, or you were actively conducting some important business via email, via browser, etc., and a sudden brown/black-out occurs -- [quoting Finding Nemo] "Now what?"
Surge suppressors only, or, UPS -- your call *Smile