size of ups I need?

[gordonie]

So I hear that a mere surge protector is not enough to save my 2000$ investment, I need a UPS!

So, what size or strength, whatever, do I need for a 1000watt psu from OCZ? I would assume a 1000watt ups for a 1000watt psu would be right, right?

geeze these things are expensive, like 200$

thanks.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

*DISCLAIMER* I'm not an electrician!

A surge protector will do just that, protect you from power surges. It won't protect you from anything else though, e.g. brownouts, power loss.

I'd never recommend buying a UPS that says it can support 1000W for a PC with a 1000W PSU. You always want to give yourself some room, don't work close to maximum ratings! Even though you'll probably never pull 1000W from your PSU anyway, you could still come close (say, 950W).

You probably want to be looking at a 1600VA UPS *minimum*. If you can measure the load your system pulls, you'll be able to make a much more informed choice.
You can buy a Kill-A-Watt pretty inexpensively to measure your load, Slaymate did a review here

 

[MindoverMaster]

I remember that the wattage only matters little. The amperage is what you want to look at. It's been years since I looked into that.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Look at the AH, continuous wattage, and that's about it. a 1000w PSU can pull 1500w on the AC side. V*A=W, I have a PSU rated for 650w, but it is rated at 10a, 120v, 10*120=1200, so yea, rather in-efficient PSU, but I would need a UPS with 1500w minimum to sustain my PC for a few MINUTES, this is where you get into AH, which is basically the size of your battery and how long it can sustain a large load.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

^To clarify, just because that's how much the PSU says it draws in doesn't mean that's what it's actually drawing. Inefficiency spikes high at the very top end of the PSUs capability

 

[gordonie]

well I am not looking to run my computer of this ups on full power, when something happens I just want my computer 100% safe and to be able to power it down.

and I just thought of something, just because my psu could pull 1000watt why do I need to get a ups with a battery that can output 1000watts anyway if I am just going to be powering it down? cant it just bypass the battery when in normal use then boom kick on the battery when the power quits? that way I could save the money and get like a 600 or 500watt ups, just enough to power the computer down. you kinda see what I am saying?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

During shutdown your CPU/RAM/HDD kick up and use a decent bit of power actually shutting the machine down.

 

[gordonie]

so what do you think I will need? I mean even if the battery cant keep up all it would do is starve the system and make it run slower right?