New guy needing suggestions for 2 UPS's

[Anonymous user]

I am starting to research UPS's for my office setup and also for my home theater setup. I have a DLP TV and when power pops on and off its not good for the bulb since it doesnt power down right (I do have surge protectors on everything of course). I am not looking to spend a fortune, but I am wanting to protect my equipment (beyond just a surge protector) so I am willing to spend money if its worth it. I dont need it to run all my equipment for hours if the power goes, simply to protect it against quick poweroffs and allow me to shut it down properly if needed. As such maybe 15mins of power for each setup is more than acceptable.

Here is a list of the equipment I need to protect. For the most part all the equipment is never on at the same time, however I want to be able to have it all connected to the UPS.


Home Theater Setup:

TV:
Panasonic PT-56LCZ70 DLP (360w when in use)

Receiver:
Integra DTR 5.9: 660w max I think. Manual lists Power Consumption at 5.5A with Powersupply being AC 120V, 60 Hz

Subwoofer: Polk PSW125: 150 watts Continus Power, 300 watts Dynamic Power

Gear:
Limited Edition Halo 3 Xbox 360
Wii
Samsung BP-1600 blu ray player
Uverse DVR
Uverse Router


Office Setup:

TV:
25” HP 2509 LCD Monitor (40w max)

Receiver:
Denon 1610: 516w max I think. Manual lists Power Consumption at 4.3A with Powersupply being AC 120V, 60 Hz

Misc Gear:

Main Rig Computer:

Motherboard: ASUS P5E
Processor: Q9650 @ 3.7
Memory: 8 Gig Dominator 1066
Graphics Card: ATI 4870 X2
Storage: 2 Western Digital Caviar Black 640 gig & Samsung Spinpoint 1 Terabyte
TV Tuner: Hauppauge 2250
Powersupply: Kingwin Mach 1 1000 watt

Server: The server is a work in progress and will be connected later on. Currently waiting on purchase of the HDD's.

Motherboard: ASUS P5E
Processor: Pentium D 935 3.2 dual core
Memory: 2 Gig Corsair DDR2 800
Graphics Card: ATI 3450
Storage: None currently (goal is 11 terabytes of storage)
Powersupply: Antec Earthwatts 430 watt

Any and all suggestions are welcome. For the home theater UPS I would like it to be black to go with all my other equipment (if possible).

My DLP is in the shop but when it gets out I am going to use my Kill-A-Watt to measure wattage from all my gear when on as this might help me not overspend. I have had it connected up to the computer gear and normally its pulling under 200ish watts, but I havent had the server connected yet.

Currently I have been thinking that for the computer setup I would go with the APC Back-UPS RS 800VA 120V Black, and for the Home Theater the APC AV Black J Type 1kVA Power Conditioner with Battery Backup. Thoughts?

Message was edited by: EndersShadow

Message was edited by: EndersShadow

[Anonymous user]

Ok. So what would you suggest for the office? The highest one they have in the computer section is this model: APC BACK-UPS RS 1500VA LCD 120V and it only provides 865 watts. Do I need to be looking at the Home Theater ones since they have more power?

[voidstar_apc]

Ho Ender,

>
Ok. So what would you suggest for the office? The highest one they have in the computer section is this model: APC BACK-UPS RS 1500VA LCD 120V and it only provides 865 watts. Do I need to be looking at the Home Theater ones since they have more power?
>

It doesn't seem like the AV line has anything powerful enough for your desktop. I'd look at the [SmartUPS line|http://www.apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=165] which seems less expensive with more features.

I notice you haven't listed the power requirements of your monitor(s).

I looked up the [Kingwin Mach 1|http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=155] and the [EarthWatts 430|http://www.silentpcreview.com/article684-page1.html]. Both are PFC power supplies, so they may draw large currents when the UPS transfers to battery. That's why we want to get a UPS that can handle their full load.

The Kingwin Mach 1's rated output power is 1000W, and is guaranteed 80% efficient or better. That means it could draw 1000W/0.8 = 1250W from the wall during fully loaded normal operation. But if you look at the AC input spec, they say they can draw even more power... 15A at 115Vac which is 1725W.

The EarthWatts 430's rated output power is 430W, and is also 80%+ efficient or better. That means it could draw 430W/0.8 = 537W from the wall during fully loaded normal operation. But if you look at the AC input spec, they say they can draw even more power... 7A at 100Vac which is 700W.

Here's how I would size for both computers:

We should probably size for 1250+537 = 1787W and ideally the UPS can handle momentary excess current. If you get the [SmartUPS 2200|http://www.apcc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMT2200&total_watts=50] which can handle 1980W for your two computers. Then test the UPS by pulling the plug on it. If the computers stay on (most likely), great. If not, you can use it to back up your desktop and use another UPS for the server.

The next larger SmartUPS, 3000VA, would definitely handle the both computers, but it would probably be an overkill.

On the other hand, if you don't need battery backup and just want to protect your computer from harmful surges, a few APC power strips would do the trick.

[Anonymous user]

I did list the monitor, it is a max of 40w per the manual.

I think based on price I am going to just keep the office setup on the surge protectors that it is now. I cant currently justify the price of the battery backup I would need for it. I also have been debating getting rid of the 4870x2 graphics card and going with a ATI FirePro 4800 + ATI 5450. This would allow me to more than likely reduce the Powersupply to something like 600-800 watts. The main reason I got the 1k PSU was to be able to do dual 4870x2 for graphics rendering but the FirePro 4800 will do just as well with a lot less power.

I can however justify the battery backup for the entertainment center stuff since the DLP needs to be shut down right. I may however get the cheaper battery backup and only hook up with DLP, Uverse DVR, Router and Receiver (maybe) to it. I could probably get by with a much cheaper backup like the RS 1300VA then. Any Thoughts?

[Anonymous user]

Gotcha. My only concern is that the way I have the computer (computer -> reciever -> Monitor) connected if the reciever goes down the monitor will stop displaying. I could when it goes down switch the cords quick to disconnect properly, but thats a hassle lol..

Since I am new to all of this my question is when the reciever switches to pull power from the backup will it attempt to draw its full rated wattage or just what it needs to power the speakers I have at the current volume? I only have 2 speakers connected to it currently and normally have the volume pretty low (which should make for low power draw I would think).

If that would still cause a problem as you stated I could connect it to the surge only section.

I guess my question is what backup should I be looking for if:

1) I only want to power the computer itself
2) I want to power the computer, reciever, and monitor

[Anonymous user]

Well in thinking more about this I could always run a secondary VGA cord from the graphics card to the monitor direct. My Monitor does HDMI (in use currently), DVI & VGA. My graphics card also does HDMI, VGA an DVI.

So if I wanted a battery backup for just the computer (450 Watt Corsair VX450) and the Monitor (HP2509m w/ 40 watt powerdraw) what would you suggest?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I am starting to research UPS's for my office setup and also for my home theater setup. I have a DLP TV and when power pops on and off its not good for the bulb since it doesnt power down right (I do have surge protectors on everything of course). I am not looking to spend a fortune, but I am wanting to protect my equipment (beyond just a surge protector) so I am willing to spend money if its worth it. I dont need it to run all my equipment for hours if the power goes, simply to protect it against quick poweroffs and allow me to shut it down properly if needed. As such maybe 15mins of power for each setup is more than acceptable.

Here is a list of the equipment I need to protect. For the most part all the equipment is never on at the same time, however I want to be able to have it all connected to the UPS.


Home Theater Setup:

TV:
Panasonic PT-56LCZ70 DLP (360w when in use)

Receiver:
Integra DTR 5.9: 660w max I think. Manual lists Power Consumption at 5.5A with Powersupply being AC 120V, 60 Hz

Subwoofer: Polk PSW125: 150 watts Continus Power, 300 watts Dynamic Power

Gear:
Limited Edition Halo 3 Xbox 360
Wii
Samsung BP-1600 blu ray player
Uverse DVR
Uverse Router


Office Setup:

TV:
25” HP 2509 LCD Monitor (40w max)

Receiver:
Denon 1610: 516w max I think. Manual lists Power Consumption at 4.3A with Powersupply being AC 120V, 60 Hz

Misc Gear:

Main Rig Computer:

Motherboard: ASUS P5E
Processor: Q9650 @ 3.7
Memory: 8 Gig Dominator 1066
Graphics Card: ATI 4870 X2
Storage: 2 Western Digital Caviar Black 640 gig & Samsung Spinpoint 1 Terabyte
TV Tuner: Hauppauge 2250
Powersupply: Kingwin Mach 1 1000 watt

Server: The server is a work in progress and will be connected later on. Currently waiting on purchase of the HDD's.

Motherboard: ASUS P5E
Processor: Pentium D 935 3.2 dual core
Memory: 2 Gig Corsair DDR2 800
Graphics Card: ATI 3450
Storage: None currently (goal is 11 terabytes of storage)
Powersupply: Antec Earthwatts 430 watt

Any and all suggestions are welcome. For the home theater UPS I would like it to be black to go with all my other equipment (if possible).

My DLP is in the shop but when it gets out I am going to use my Kill-A-Watt to measure wattage from all my gear when on as this might help me not overspend. I have had it connected up to the computer gear and normally its pulling under 200ish watts, but I havent had the server connected yet.

Currently I have been thinking that for the computer setup I would go with the APC Back-UPS RS 800VA 120V Black, and for the Home Theater the APC AV Black J Type 1kVA Power Conditioner with Battery Backup. Thoughts?

Message was edited by: EndersShadow

Message was edited by: EndersShadow