Need an Inverter that can handle my gaming PC

M

Mike Messiah

Contributor
Hi, i live in the north east and we have frequent powercuts, specially during heavy rain. These powercuts lasts from 20 mins upto 1 hour (or till the rain subsides)
My PC build is:- Corsair RM850e, RTX 3070ti, Ryzen 7 5700x, and Samsung 24" 144hz Gaming Monitor
Earlier i bought a APC 1000VA UPS , and then Micortek 1000VA UPS. Both had 2 main problems.
  1. When voltage is low, the UPS just shuts off along with my PC. I have to disconnect the UPS and connect my PC directly to main line. Apparently my PC can handle voltage fluctuations better than these two UPS.
  2. Low backup time. I play online games (Dota2 etc) so i need LONG backup time. At least 30mins+ so that i can finish the game without abandoning my team and getting a "Leaver Penalty". Neither of these two UPS last over 5 mins.
Some people have said get an Inverter with UPS function.
  • I have eyed Luminous Icon 1100 which is the most UPS-like in design, as we can place a battery inside, but nowhere does it mention it has UPS function.
  • I can go also go for Microteck Super Power 1100which is much cheaper, and it does specify that it has UPS and Inverter function . However, i dont like the idea of Battery and wires strewn across the floor and such. I live in a tiny room in a PG. This is why the elegant solution of Luminous Icon caught my eye.
Are there better options right now? Something you guys have owned and can testify its reliablilty? I will only buy online (Amazon/Flipkart) as i live in a small town in Mizoram, where we only get 5+ yr old electronics and everything is 30-40% more expensive.

Moreover, what size battery will give me 1 hour backup, assuming i am playing AAA games at full load?

Some people say any Sine Wave inverter will work for gaming PCs. But then some say the PSU has to be good quality for Sine Wave Inverters to give uninterrupted power supply. Like some PSUs can hold electricity charge longer than 30ms which is enough for continuous power. Can my PSU,Corsair Rm850e manage it? Apparently its a budget verion of RMseries PSU with cheaper componenets so it may not hold the charge for more than 30ms.

Btw, can both of these handle my PC and Monitor?
 
Hi, i feel you need 3 items (their value doesnt depreciate, so its a good investment):

PC connect to:
Your existing 1000va UPS: Only for providing temprorary backup around 15min (Can handle load upto 600w) (This is needed because Inverters have slow swtich times and can restart your PC incase of Power outage)(Please see: UPS will cutoff incase of low/high voltage. It doesnt have voltage uplifter or hi-voltage stabilizer)

UPS connect to:
Copper Stabilizer model 140up: Provides 220 volt even if main voltage drops to 140 volt (This will avoid UPS/PC tripping due to low or high voltage, as it rectifies voltage and brings it to normal 220v)

For whole house:
Sine wave Inverter: Uses battery power to supply 220v pure sine wave AC to devices
Battery for inverter (Tubular batteries give good life and backup) 135Ah or 150Ah

Hence::
PC-->UPS (you have)-->140vUP Stabilizer (This will avoid any voltage drops from Mains AC or while Inverter switches between mains AC and Battery backup)-->Pure-sinve Inverter with battery backup

TLDR: Inverters or UPS cannot handle low or high voltage, Hence the need of a 140up Stabilizer.
 
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Mike Messiah said:
Hi, i live in the north east
Click to expand...

That's actually one of the best places to buy second-hand UPSs and inverters, ha.

Mike Messiah said:
Earlier i bought a APC 1000VA UPS , and then Micortek 1000VA UPS. Both had 2 main problems.

1. When voltage is low, the UPS just shuts off along with my PC. I have to disconnect the UPS and connect my PC directly to main line. Apparently my PC can handle voltage fluctuations better than these two UPS.
Click to expand...

The shut off is likely from being overloaded. A 1000VA UPS is severely undersized for most gaming systems (those are rated for only 600W). APC's 1500VA UPS is rated for 865W. You should be looking at 1600VA or 2200VA.

Mike Messiah said:
2. Low backup time. I play online games (Dota2 etc) so i need LONG backup time. At least 30mins+ so that i can finish the game without abandoning my team and getting a "Leaver Penalty". Neither of these two UPS last over 5 mins.
Click to expand...

The ideal situation is a hybrid UPS + Inverter setup. UPS for fluctuations, Inverter for backup. Most UPS only provide enough backup time for a safe shutdown, so you'll need the inverter if you want to continue using your PC during a power outage.

Mike Messiah said:
Some people have said get an Inverter with UPS function.

Some people say any Sine Wave inverter will work for gaming PCs. But then some say the PSU has to be good quality for Sine Wave Inverters to give uninterrupted power supply. Like some PSUs can hold electricity charge longer than 30ms which is enough for continuous power. Can my PSU,Corsair Rm850e manage it? Apparently its a budget verion of RMseries PSU with cheaper componenets so it may not hold the charge for more than 30ms.
Click to expand...

That is only true if the system is at a fixed, non-varying load (like a video export), or at idle. For your system, it's unlikely any PSU would keep it running during a game while the inverter switches over. And if it somehow works, it won't always work — the power draw during a gaming session is far too demanding. Maybe if you had a lower tier graphics card with a larger >1000W power supply, the reality would be different.

Mike Messiah said:
Moreover, what size battery will give me 1 hour backup, assuming i am playing AAA games at full load?
Click to expand...

Using TechPowerUp's numbers, the 5700X pulls 212W under a stress test and the 3070 Ti FE peak draw is 350W, so both would be 562W and after adding the rest of the system with monitor, 650W would be around what the actual power draw would be. We're disregarding the efficiency of the power supply to keep things simple, but it'll probably be around 90% — so add 10% to the final calculation.

If you're looking a single battery inverter, it'll have to power 0.65kW for 1 hour, at 80% efficiency which is typical of most inverters, so you'll need around 0.65/0.8 = 0.8kWh from the battery, or 800Wh / 12V = 66Ah. Inverter batteries have a usable capacity of 50%, so you'll need a battery that's 2x 66Ah or more — so a 140Ah or 150Ah battery if you're buying new.

Keep in mind that it'll take up to 20 hours for the inverter to recharge after a 1 hour power outage, so if you have multiple power outages in a day, you'll need more batteries. Also keep in mind that this will increase your power consumption because you'll be consuming at least 20% more power to recharge the battery after it's been used (if you used 1kW during a 1 hour power cut, your electricity usage for charging the battery is 1.2kWh)

Mike Messiah said:
I have eyed Luminous Icon 1100 which is the most UPS-like in design, as we can place a battery inside, but nowhere does it mention it has UPS function.
Click to expand...

This is a pretty sleek model but you'll need the 1400VA version (Icon 1600), not the 900VA (Icon 1100).

As you're realizing by now, this UPS and Inverter setup can get pretty expensive. Which is why I started off with recommending buying second hand, like from dealers on OLX.
 
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rsaeon said:
The ideal situation is a hybrid UPS + Inverter setup. UPS for fluctuations, Inverter for backup. Most UPS only provide enough backup time for a safe shutdown, so you'll need the inverter if you want to continue using your PC during a power outage.
Click to expand...
Please note: UPS wont handle voltage fluctuations very well. This is the misconception many people have.
Even a Rs. 17000 UPS from APC which has a AVR (automatic Voltage regulator) feature built-in (not present in normal UPS) is just rated for 170-295v which is not good.
1719746283557.png

In India we easily see voltages between 140volt-330volt (We have electrical business, and have data of many households)
 
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sato1986 said:
Hi, i feel you need 3 items (their value doesnt depreciate, so its a good investment):

PC connect to:
Your existing 1000va UPS: Only for providing temprorary backup around 15min (Can handle load upto 600w) (This is needed because Inverters have slow swtich times and can restart your PC incase of Power outage)(Please see: UPS will cutoff incase of low/high voltage. It doesnt have voltage uplifter or hi-voltage stabilizer)

UPS connect to:
Copper Stabilizer model 140up: Provides 220 volt even if main voltage drops to 140 volt (This will avoid UPS/PC tripping due to low or high voltage, as it rectifies voltage and brings it to normal 220v)

For whole house:
Sine wave Inverter: Uses battery power to supply 220v pure sine wave AC to devices
Battery for inverter (Tubular batteries give good life and backup) 135Ah or 150Ah

Hence::
PC-->UPS (you have)-->140vUP Stabilizer (This will avoid any voltage drops from Mains AC or while Inverter switches between mains AC and Battery backup)-->Pure-sinve Inverter with battery backup

TLDR: Inverters or UPS cannot handle low or high voltage, Hence the need of a 140up Stabilizer.
Click to expand...
thats a lot of money needed
 
sato1986 said:
Please note: UPS wont handle voltage fluctuations very well. This is the misconception many people have.
Even a Rs. 17000 UPS from APC which has a AVR (automatic Voltage regulator) feature built-in (not present in normal UPS) is just rated for 170-295v which is not good.
In India we easily see voltages between 140volt-330volt (We have electrical business, and have data of many households)
Click to expand...
140-330V is a wider range than I would have guessed. Which states/areas does your data cover?
 
sato1986 said:
In India we easily see voltages between 140volt-330volt (We have electrical business, and have data of many households)
Click to expand...
what would you recommend? Got a servo to handle household wide fluctuations, I have got a relay hooked up to my PC setup (UPS + 2 inverter batteries) to avoid most of the fluctuations, what else do you think?
 
Mike Messiah said:
thats a lot of money needed
Click to expand...
Not at all.
UPS (you have). No need to upgrade to 1500va as of now. (Upgrading this will be very expensive. Even a Rs. 17000 UPS wont solve your problem)
Stabilizer (Rs. 3000 approx)
Inverter with battery (For your whole house)
variablevector said:
140-330V is a wider range than I would have guessed. Which states/areas does your data cover?
Click to expand...
Chandigarh, Mohali, panchkula. These are good cities with comparitively very clean electricity.
altair21 said:
what would you recommend? Got a servo to handle household wide fluctuations, I have got a relay hooked up to my PC setup (UPS + 2 inverter batteries) to avoid most of the fluctuations, what else do you think?
Click to expand...
Sarvo stabilzer are for whole house. For just a PC, a very high quality 140up-330v, 2KVA stabilizer is enough. Max Rs. 3000.
 
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sato1986 said:
Sarvo is for whole house. for just a PC, a very high quality 2KVA stabilizer is enough. Max Rs. 3000.
Click to expand...
yeah, we have got a 15KW servo for the house (thinking of upgrading it, it couldnt handle 3 ACs this summer), our whole circuit is separated for PCs, but no stabilizer tho, we just use a relay to stop major fluctuations, for the rest, we have got the UPS and for backup the inverter batteries (dont know the specifics for the UPS/batteries, thats my father's domain), but aside from the stabilizer, you wont recommend anything? is the servo not enough for handling all fluctuations? electricity has been pretty stable the past few years here but this summer its really gone to the gutter
 
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sato1986 said:
Please note: UPS wont handle voltage fluctuations very well. This is the misconception many people have.

Even a Rs. 17000 UPS from APC which has a AVR (automatic Voltage regulator) feature built-in (not present in normal UPS) is just rated for 170-295v which is not good.

In India we easily see voltages between 140volt-330volt (We have electrical business, and have data of many households)
Click to expand...

This is true but OP's main concern is power outages, not fluctuations.

I needed to get a mainline stabilizer because urban wildlife got too close to the transformer nearby and we had around 150V for a few hours until someone came to remove it. Highest I've seen is 290V which also lasted a few hours. But these incidents are few and far in between and I'm chasing >90% uptime so my situation is not typical of most people.

Mike Messiah said:
thats a lot of money needed
Click to expand...

Name-brand lithium inverters can function as UPS and are easily transportable whenever you move out of your PG, and if you're buying from Amazon, they're available on EMI.

For second hand pricing, I'd say around 9000 for a 1500VA APC UPS and about 7000 for a used inverter + 100Ah battery. This should last at least half an hour of gaming during a power outage. If you have fluctuations then @sato1986's advice is pretty solid to get a smaller servo stabilizer, they're not expensive at all since they're all locally made.
 
Icon 1100 is a 900VA Home UPS.. at an efficiency of 80%.. its only able to handle a load of 720Watts at peak. It has UPS capability inbuild.

In my experience if your load is close to the peak.. you should give it some headroom.. i've seen very weird behaviours from different inverters when it gets close to the peak load.. some start flicking lights.. some give OL warnings.. some straight up shut down after 5 mins by getting overheated.

the best thing do is give it headroom.

If i was you i would get the Ecovolt 1550 from Luminous or the GQP 1450 12V from Exide.. its still a 12V system so you will only need 1 x 150-200 AH Battery and its going to be about the same price of Icon 1100.

This way you have more headroom to add other things aswell if required and if you ever feel you need more backup.. you can add a battery in parallel.
 
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rsaeon said:
That's actually one of the best places to buy second-hand UPSs and inverters, ha.



The shut off is likely from being overloaded. A 1000VA UPS is severely undersized for most gaming systems (those are rated for only 600W). APC's 1500VA UPS is rated for 865W. You should be looking at 1600VA or 2200VA.



The ideal situation is a hybrid UPS + Inverter setup. UPS for fluctuations, Inverter for backup. Most UPS only provide enough backup time for a safe shutdown, so you'll need the inverter if you want to continue using your PC during a power outage.



That is only true if the system is at a fixed, non-varying load (like a video export), or at idle. For your system, it's unlikely any PSU would keep it running during a game while the inverter switches over. And if it somehow works, it won't always work — the power draw during a gaming session is far too demanding. Maybe if you had a lower tier graphics card with a larger >1000W power supply, the reality would be different.



Using TechPowerUp's numbers, the 5700X pulls 212W under a stress test and the 3070 Ti FE peak draw is 350W, so both would be 562W and after adding the rest of the system with monitor, 650W would be around what the actual power draw would be. We're disregarding the efficiency of the power supply to keep things simple, but it'll probably be around 90% — so add 10% to the final calculation.

If you're looking a single battery inverter, it'll have to power 0.65kW for 1 hour, at 80% efficiency which is typical of most inverters, so you'll need around 0.65/0.8 = 0.8kWh from the battery, or 800Wh / 12V = 66Ah. Inverter batteries have a usable capacity of 50%, so you'll need a battery that's 2x 66Ah or more — so a 140Ah or 150Ah battery if you're buying new.

Keep in mind that it'll take up to 20 hours for the inverter to recharge after a 1 hour power outage, so if you have multiple power outages in a day, you'll need more batteries. Also keep in mind that this will increase your power consumption because you'll be consuming at least 20% more power to recharge the battery after it's been used (if you used 1kW during a 1 hour power cut, your electricity usage for charging the battery is 1.2kWh)



This is a pretty sleek model but you'll need the 1400VA version (Icon 1600), not the 900VA (Icon 1100).

As you're realizing by now, this UPS and Inverter setup can get pretty expensive. Which is why I started off with recommending buying second hand, like from dealers on OLX.
Click to expand...
Can ur recommend me a combo for as low price as possible ?
 
inverter battery inverter Been using Luminous Hercules 1500 Pure Sine Wave 1400VA/12V Inverter for Home and Luminous Inverlast ILTT 26060 220Ah Tall Tubular Inverter Battery for my 3060ti and 13400f due to frequent power cuts. Last minimum 2 days (only night) for playing cs with 27inch 170hz monitor. Don't use UPS at all and never faced any problems.
 
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I use a normal house inverter that's connected to every port in my house (which also powers my 5700X3D + GTX 1060 PC) except high power ones. When the electricity cuts out my PC stays alive though I do have to switch of unnecessary lights etc otherwise inverter occasionally trips after a few seconds which I think is due to just how old and low capacity it is.

Inverter: luminous 675VA (has to be over 9-10 years old)
Battery: Mtekpower 160Ah (bought a few years back)

Now my case is special because my PC doesn't consume much power (CPU takes 45W, GPU takes 120W, Motherboard another 50W roughly speaking, Monitor takes 62W max so at most you are looking at 300W consumption). Whereas your PC sports a beefy 3070ti and thank god you aren't using an intel processor (throwing shade at intel processors for being energy inefficient lol) so this setup is definitely not enough. I'd say go with as big inverter and battery you can buy and pray for best. Unvolting your GPU will help a lot and trust me when I say this even setting a power limit to something like 90% will shave off a lot of watts without affecting your FPS much or causing any harm to GPU.

Recommendation:
Get a 1100VA/12V+ inverter (this will set you at Peak Load :- 924W+)
https://www.amazon.in/Livguard-Inverter-Artificial-Intelligence-Installation/dp/B0C6M3KNFH square waveform, not suitable for PC
https://www.amazon.in/Microtek-Advanced-Digital-Inverter-Office/dp/B09WHP9HYQ sine waveform but wrongly listed as 1100VA when its really lower
(tldr square wave = good for motor appliances, sine wave = good for delicate electronics like PC)

For battery check out 220Ah

I'd go with reputed brand over cheaper brands as you never know what going to happen when shit its the fan. I have attached a photo of what my inverter setup looks like (nothing special) just in case. GL
 

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