UPS (power backup) unit for home/gaming machine

[Chankama]

Hey guys. Any of u using any UPS units on ur computer? If so, which one are u using. I am somewhat concerned about the power ratings on these things. They seem to be less than the PSU of the computer. A link to newegg (or any other retailer or manufacturer) would be nice.

I am looking for one that could power my home machine. The PSU on the computer has a max power draw of 500 W. There will be other components on it as well (monitor, printer, etc.). Of course, when the lights go off, I won't be using the machine to play games :s. But I'd like for it to be on. And a "regular" power draw of 500 W must be supported (when power is available from the outlet). Thx.

 

[ImUseless]

If you want a UPS that will allow your system to "REMAIN ON" with this
backup power, that will be big bucks. You need to look into a business
level UPS.

Most home-based are designed to give you some time to shut everything
down in the event the power goes out-say 5 to 10 minutes of temp
power.

As an example, I went to www.apcc.com and used their UPS selector for
the USA. I built a modest Athlon XP system, giving me 20% more power
for future system growth and 1 hour for minimum time using UPS. It gave
me three choices of UPS:

The RS1500VA+, 78 minutes, 31% Capacity Used--$450 U.S.
The Smart UPS 2200VA, 136 Minutes, 14% Cap. Used--$819 U.S.
The Smart UPS 3000VA, 136 Minutes, 10% Cap. Used--$1100 U.S.

This is just to point out that a UPS that will allow a system to remain
on for any length of time is expensive, but for say $50 to $100 U.S.
you can get something that will give you a few minutes to shut down
properly if the power goes out.

Hope this is a start!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

From my experinces UPS'S give out more power than their rated, since a 350 watt ran my PC (short amount of time though)

It doesnt work anymore however.

 

[Chankama]

Hey guys. Thx for the responses.

ImUseless - Yeah, I don't want to spend the big bucks that u spent man. I am more looking for something around $100 or less. And about 3-5 minutes for me will be more than sufficient. Enough time for me to quickly back things up.

Dj-Chris - power is a definite issue for me. Most these units are rated at much below the PSU of my system (for a reasonable price).

1) On that note, if a UPS says 350 W, does that mean that even during regular use (main power is on), it can only give me around 350 W? Taking what Dj-Chris said into account, maybe 400 W? So for both during main power on and off conditions it can only give around 350 W.

2) For a 350 W UPS, my hope is that when the main power is on, the power output is configurable (as in can go upto 600 W if needed be). But when the main power is off, and the power is drawn from the UPS itself, it can only provide 350 W.

Is this an accurate statement, or is (1) more correct...

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

You can buy a realy good one that last 30 min for around $300 sometimes, and the kind i like are the ones you can stack for added time

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

If my UPS starts working again, I will measure how much it can output