need a new UPS

[Toxin]

I bought myself a 600VA UPS last year which was more than enough for my old PC.

Now with my new PC (700W PSU, 8800GTX, etc ,etc) when the power goes off the UPS doesn't give it enough power and it goes off as well.

Obviously I need to get a new UPS but which one? Will a 1000VA UPS work? How does this VA thing work?

 

[The_Techie]

vA stands for Volts Ampere which is a unit by which UPS power is measured. The more vA your UPS has, the more electricity it can provide over longer periods of time.

 

[Toxin]

So would a 1000vA UPS be allright for my setup? I don't want the thing to go off when I loose power.

 

[The_Techie]

That all depends, how long do you need your PC to stay on after the power goes out?

 

[killadoob]

well i think he just wants to be able to shut down normally


we have had around 7 outages this year not once has my pc taken hit

but last year my mother's pc got nailed, had to reload windows

 

[The_Techie]

Because of what? Corrupted system files?

 

[killadoob]

dunno windows just went funny everything frozen all her icons where gone


windowz went crazy :/

 

[The_Techie]

Strange... Anyway, back to the topic. If you just want to be able to shut down your PC before the UPS gets drained, then you will be able to get away with a 1000vA UPS. If you want to keep your PC on all night, well you'll need one a bit bigger than that

 

[PeterCH]

Strange... Anyway, back to the topic. If you just want to be able to shut down your PC before the UPS gets drained, then you will be able to get away with a 1000vA UPS. If you want to keep your PC on all night, well you'll need one a bit bigger than that

It also depends how much power his computer is draining while the power supply is online. He should add up all his components (GFX, HDDs, CPU, fans,
monitor etc) and then see if the UPS can supply the power constanly since
the UPS is feeding the system constantly even while the power is on,
the UPS in turn is replenished by the wall outlet.
Apparently power usage spikes at start-up, not sure how much.
For me, I have a Mac Pro (it has a 1000 W power supply), a 1000VA unit
is not enough, or so I read on different US forums.

Best bet is to look it up on Wikipedia or do a Google search for the answers.