PC Peripherals Of PSU, UPS, PFC and Sine wave

Very informative post!

Need a small clarification. I have a pure sine wave inverter, and an APC 650va which is connected to the inverter. Now is it advisable to connect the rig directly to the inverter, or is the rig->ups->inverter connection fine?

Also, since the UPS is pretty old (4 years) will its efficiency come down, thus leading to higher power bills?
 
Really informative, and a bit confusing. The prob always is this...if u have high quality components such as 700W SMPS and a powerful rig, u need so much to just to keep it going...One thing just lead to another....sigh that is life I guess!
 
Very informative, but still I don't know which UPS to get. I'm trying to decide between two UPS I have been given a choice. Can anyone help me?

The system specs:

Antec 1200 case

Corsair TX850

Intel Core i7 920

eVGA GTX 295

eVGA X58 SLI 132-BL-E758-A1

Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1

Noctua NHU12P Cooler

Samsung T220

1 DVD Reader + 1 DVD Burner

2 x 640 GB WD HDD

The UPS choices:

APC Back-UPS RS 1500VA LCD - 865W, Simulated sine wave, 325€

or

CyberPower PR2200E 2200VA - 1600W, Pure sine wave, 360€

Why I'm undecided:

APC:

  • pros - it is APC and gives enough Wattage for my system PSU (865W for 850W), cheaper, better looking (LCD etc)
  • cons - it is Simulated sine wave

CyberPower:

  • pros - more than enough Wattage for my system PSU (1600W for 850W), it is Pure Sine wave
  • cons - more expensive, not so good looking

I've bolded the Sine wave parts because of the discussion regarding possible problems with PFC PSUs, which my Corsair TX850W is...

I don't usually have blackouts in my area. I just want something that'll do surge protection and gives about 20-30 min autonomy in medium PC-use.

In this situation and between these two what would you recommend me buying?

Thanks! :)
 
akiso said:
Only problem in TE is that when u ask about UPS.
:ashamed: "Saap suk Jaata hai" :S
Koi reply nahi, badi badi gayan marte rahte ho. Atleast bata toh doh what u r using.
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are yaar a mojority of gyanni janta on TE is from mumbai, which rarely faces any power problem. Infact most of the members over here ( including me) do not use any voltage stablisers with AC's or Fridge. So we are not well informed about UPS. Sala koi bhi khareedo, but in office we are using APC's Online ups.
 
What would be the BEST PSU for my "APC 1100 Backup UPS RS". My current Powersafe PSU 500W L&C(Powersafe-KPL) SMPS(model- LC-B500E) is currently approx 5 years old & giving random problems in powering the devices & abt giving a dead HDD every year. Honestly i need to know from the experts ,should i go ONLY with the Active PFC PSU"s only or can safely go with Non Active PFC or Passive PSU Models from CM, CS,tagan etc. I want total peace of mind & dont want devices & HDD failing randomly((I had enough)

Also dont advise me to changes the UPS, ccoz I just purchased the APC UPS last year end & ATP, there was No Smart APC UPS available @my place & more so, since i required a power backup urgently.

So Plz advice which way to go "Active PFC PSU" or "Non Active PFC PSU" & it would be simply great if u can advise a model too!
 
bigbyte said:
are yaar a mojority of gyanni janta on TE is from mumbai, which rarely faces any power problem. Infact most of the members over here ( including me) do not use any voltage stablisers with AC's or Fridge. So we are not well informed about UPS. Sala koi bhi khareedo, but in office we are using APC's Online ups.
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That is right. For Mumbai ppl like us, our common UPS system is Reliance Energy or BEST. :clap:
 
Hi guys, please help, is it absolutely necessary that i use sinewave UPS with corsair VX450 or the corsair can go without it...
 
tangentray said:
So what to buy?

All APC Smart UPS and high end models have pure sine wave, but the cost a lot. So you can opt for that if you want to( and are rich :hap2: ). For people who are already stuck with lower models of APC UPS(which also do not come cheap :no: ) there is the option of none PFC and passive PFC models. All el cheapo unreliable PSU-s are none PFC. Passive PFC is becoming rarer by the day but still avaiable the Cooler master Extreme Power series and the Gigabyte Superb power series fall into this category. Please add more if you know of.
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Haha, after a year of headaches (I wasnt on the forum then) with "good PSU's" that wouldnt work out i bought a cooler master extreme power with the passive pfc which worked fine for me with the power backup. NOW finally I know why!!

Thanks!
 
guys, I dunno if it's a right thread or not, but...
My friend has LGMYPC with htpc kinda small cabinet with 200W , +12V 10A LG PSU. normal PSUs can't fit in due to the breadth.
Is there any PSU of higher rating which can fit in this cabinet.
 
Very informative thread. But I am still totally confused. The more I research my new rig, the more I have to spend! :D
 
I still have to receive the components for my gaming rig, but I should have some information on APC compatibility with the TX750.

I have the APC Back-UPS RS1500, but it's causing all the power supplies (including the inbuilt supply in the Dell 3008WFP, as well as the VX450) to buzz like crazy on battery power. This is not normal (some buzz in the UPS itself is fine) and I've asked for the issue resolution. The power situation in Calcutta is terrible right now, with scheduled power cuts and horrible power quality. We have extended brownouts and some periods of 260V supply, so an AVR-equipped UPS is pretty much mandatory.

I should be able to help a bit on this thread, never needed an UPS in Mumbai even though I had two of them but Cal is a totally different story and it hasn't changed for the last six years AFAIK, I needed power conditioning and backup back in 2003 and I see they are still needed.

But to just debunk the theory that sinewave is the best, it isn't, unless your equipment has a linear supply. SMPS driven devices have no problems with even a square wave input, except they will run warmer as the duty cycle is higher.
 
One quick note, I think all of us think we need a lot more power than we really do.

I connected up all my PC equipment and threw it at my APC 1500VA UPS. It gave me total consumption of <600 watts, so a 1000VA UPS should be more than enough for the most demanding rigs (without overclocking counted). Here's the tally:

1. PII X2 550, fully loaded with Prime 95 x 2 threads

2. Five hard disks running HDTune and Sandra simultaneously

3. Dell 3008 WFP. Estimated load is 150 watts for the monitor with a predominantly white screen.

4. Two motherboards with 2 and 4GB of memory respectively.

5. AMD Phenom 9950BE@3.0 GHz. The most hungry processor in the world.

6. Palit Revolution 700, 4870X2 card. Again, one of the hungriest cards in existence. Running Oblivion @2560x1600 maxed out with a high-res texture pack.

I can't imagine anybody requiring more power than this, really. The single system I have tops out at 207 watts with Prime95 running full tilt, much more than most people will ever use. For medium load and a more reasonable monitor, a single 500/600VA high quality unit is more than sufficient.
 
Has anybody tried smoothing out a "simulated sine wave" UPS with a passive power line EMI/RFI filter before plugging into the PSU? for example http://www.alliedelec.com/Images/Products/Datasheets/BM/TYCO-ELECTRONICS/851-0394.PDF

The price range is $10-$15 US for a 6-10A filter (assuming US power line 120V, 6A could handle 700W power to the PSU, corresponding to roughly a 500W PSU at 75% efficiency, but I would go with a 10A rated filter for safety margin). I don't have access to an oscilloscope to see if this works "good enough", but it ought to smooth things out some.

Two problems I can see: 1) if the filter truly filters or smooths power at 60 Hz it should produce a very nice sine wave, but since it refers to an RFI filter, the bandpass could be as high as 1 kHz, which wouldn't work as well, 2) how much loss will there be due to the very square simulated sine wave? Will the voltage be cut by 10% or will it be worse.
 
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