[SOLVED] power surges

[Nvious]

Hi guys,
Recently moved back home due to covid thingy, and I just noticed this place doesn't have grounding (asked my parents they said it's cause its old house we only have 2 prongs outlet here) i did plug my pc through both UPS (that said it have AVR) and surge protector, here's the thing last night there was a brown out while i was using pc ( i heard that after brown out there could be surge when power come back on) and today i tried 3dmark benchmark and notices i keep getting scored regularly 5-10 percents lower than what i used to get.(I tried 5 times and all scores are lower) my question is am i just being paranoid or could surges cause damage to pc in such a case that it perform worst ? or is the old saying i keep hearing on internet is true? that pc components usually doesn't perform worst over time it eitehr works or it doesn't?
Thanks in advance guys , please help me, cause i'm getting really paranoid now especially since I wouldn't be able to replace any parts atm if it were to failed.

 

[Nvious]

also does plugging pc into ups and surge protector do anything to protect my pc at all if there's no grounding ?

 

[Paperdoc]

It is unlikely that your PC has any damage. Most damage would cause much more severe results than a 10% reduction in performance speed. Besides, normal computer power supply units do have some surge protection included, and the Voltage Regulation circuits on the mobo also help to protect your system.

Even without a Grounded outlet and house wiring, many UPS's give you some protection. Unfortunately we can't tell you for sure because the type of UPS you have is a big factor. The simpler ones basically keep your system powered directly from the wall power supply lines, but also keep a battery and inverter system on stand-by. When the power lines fail, the circuits inside rapidly switch over to send power out to your system from the battery and inverter parts. In that design, your system IS connected directly to the wall lines most of the time and MIGHT experience surges. The more expensive UPS's isolate your system from the wall supply. Basically the wall lines power the battery charging system only through a transformer. All power actually delivered to your computer system comes from the battery and its inverter circuitry at all times so there is no switch-over when wall power fails and no direct connection from wall lines to your computer.

You say you also have a surge protection system. Undoubtably that will help. But again, that depends on its design. The simplest surge protection systems (like what is often in an inexpensive power bar) just connect across the power lines and Ground line (if you have one) devices called MOV's. These items conduct no current at all under most conditions. But at or above a certain voltage they very quickly convert to conducting LOTS of current. So when a surge comes, it is short-circuited through the MOV and does not get through to your computer. The problem, though, is that this protective action essentially destroys the MOV so that it cannot do any further protection for a later surge. And in most cases you never know this has happened because the "dead" MOV is just doing nothing at all, and has no impact on any normal uses. Much more complex (and expensive) surge protection systems do it differently and can survive the surge and keep protection going.

 

[Nvious]

It is unlikely that your PC has any damage. Most damage would cause much more severe results than a 10% reduction in performance speed. Besides, normal computer power supply units do have some surge protection included, and the Voltage Regulation circuits on the mobo also help to protect your system.

Even without a Grounded outlet and house wiring, many UPS's give you some protection. Unfortunately we can't tell you for sure because the type of UPS you have is a big factor. The simpler ones basically keep your system powered directly from the wall power supply lines, but also keep a battery and inverter system on stand-by. When the power lines fail, the circuits inside rapidly switch over to send power out to your system from the battery and inverter parts. In that design, your system IS connected directly to the wall lines most of the time and MIGHT experience surges. The more expensive UPS's isolate your system from the wall supply. Basically the wall lines power the battery charging system only through a transformer. All power actually delivered to your computer system comes from the battery and its inverter circuitry at all times so there is no switch-over when wall power fails and no direct connection from wall lines to your computer.

You say you also have a surge protection system. Undoubtably that will help. But again, that depends on its design. The simplest surge protection systems (like what is often in an inexpensive power bar) just connect across the power lines and Ground line (if you have one) devices called MOV's. These items conduct no current at all under most conditions. But at or above a certain voltage they very quickly convert to conducting LOTS of current. So when a surge comes, it is short-circuited through the MOV and does not get through to your computer. The problem, though, is that this protective action essentially destroys the MOV so that it cannot do any further protection for a later surge. And in most cases you never know this has happened because the "dead" MOV is just doing nothing at all, and has no impact on any normal uses. Much more complex (and expensive) surge protection systems do it differently and can survive the surge and keep protection going.

So from your reply , eventhough my home does not have grounding , surge protector and ups should still provided some protection against brownout/surges right? unless it's something severe like lightning strike or sth is it safe to assume that I can continue using my pc here without worrying too much about it? both of the surge protector and UPS are the normal lower end of things so I'm not sure how effective it will be, but my psu is currently using this one https://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-SSR...075M4FVPT/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8, and also is it correct for me to assume that majority of the time pc components will either work or stop working and not degrade in performances if it's damaged?
Thanks again for your reply

 

[Paperdoc]

Yes, what you have does provide some protection. It may not be top noch stuff a huge server farm wouls consider, but it certainly does help you. And yes, real damage tends to prduce substantial symptoms or total failure, not modest performance changes. Small changes more likely result from new background jobs or other such legitimate use causes.