Which one UPS or SPS for my desktop

bear266

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Apr 18, 2013
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I live in a rural area and we suffer from outages ranging from momentary to minutes to hours. I use surge protectors rated somewhere around 4300 joules for just about everything electronic but want something for my desktop so I can power down when these incidents occur.
First, for home use, is a UPS better than an SPS for my needs? The power supply for the desktop is a thermaltake ATX 700w and the monitor is a flat lcd but not sure of the power consumption. Printers, etc. do not matter for power backup.
Can anyone out there guide me on what to look for and some good choices based on experience?
I do plan to connect the backup device to one of my surge protectors as an added means of protecting the computer and the backup device. My home also has built-in surge protection devices mounted to the foundation walls. The unfortunate part is we are surrounded by very tall hardwood trees so a lightening strike would probably cook everything regardless.
Thanks for any guidance you can give me on this.
 
I would suggest one of the Cyberpower APFC units. They output a "clipped triangle" waveform that is a lot closer to true sine than a typical cheap UPS produces. Some PSUs are particularly sensitive to stepped approximations, typically because they spend too much time at "0" rather than crossing it the way a true sign does; the clipped triangle also crosses it smoothly. These UPS units are not as expensive as typical true sine units by companies like APC. On the down side, run time is limited, but it sounds like you don't care about that.
 
Onus,
My main concern is to avoid a hard shutdown if power is interrupted for a brief moment. If we lose power for any length of time I'll just read a book. I just want to be able to shut the system down properly if/when the time comes.

Thanks.



 
Then the Cyberpower would be good. I have an Antec SG-650, which is very sensitive to input waveform. It will shut down on a cheap UPS. My Cyberpower APFC unit will keep it running, however, as will an APC true sinewave UPS. The former is only a little more than half the price of the latter.
Note though, that Cyberpower has multiple lines; make sure you get an APFC model, not just the AVR one.
 
Onus,
I am going through the cyberpower website now. I have verified my PSU is an APFC model so it appears something like model CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave is what you are speaking about. My PSU is a thermaltake 700 W unit. Am I correct?
Thanks.



 

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