UPS capacity required for high-end PSU

Discussion in 'Power Supplies and UPS's' started by PogiMan, Oct 18, 2011.

  1. PogiMan

    PogiMan Geek Trainee

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    My goal is to understand if my existing UPS can accommodate a high-end PSU, or if I should set my sights to a relatively lower end PSU. I want to know what my options are.

    My existing UPS is a Kebos PowerGarde 1200VA. The output VAC is 220VAC+/-10% (auto sensing). See here: http://www.kebostech.net/product/category/2/4/8/12.

    I plan to upgrade my PSU to an Antec HPC 1200W. See here: http://blog.antec.com/power-suppli [...] hcp-1200/.

    Questions:

    1. Will my existing UPS be able to handle this new PSU?

    2. The output of the UPS is still 220VAC+/-10%. Does it actually matter that it has a maximum capable load of 1200VA?

    3. What's the point in saying (does it really matter) that a UPS can handle 1200VA vs. 600VA, etc., if the output VAC is still 220VAC+/-10%?

    4. Should I get a (relatively) lower end PSU that my UPS can handle?
     
  2. M_Kincy

    M_Kincy Geek

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    I dont see the most important spec on this UPS you posted the link for. and that is how many watts it can handle. as far as i can tell the VA rating has nothing to do with the wattage. I have 2 highend UPS's here at my house. one says its 2200VA -1650 watts nd the other says its 1440VA - 1425 watts. then i have a low end UPS that says its 1100VA but only 650 watts. so as far as i can tell there is no corolation between the VA rating and the wattage.

    What i can tell you is that both of my highend UPS's cost more than $400 usd each. and i don't think you can buy one that will power a 1200 watts PSU for less than about $350~
     
  3. M_Kincy

    M_Kincy Geek

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    also, what do you plan to power with a 1200 watt PSU? unless you're planing to use 3-way SLI/Crossfire with the most high end cards on the market. or 4-way SLI/CF with mid range cards. or a dual/quad CPU server packed FULL of hard drives. or a folding farm with multiple motherboards running off of one PSU or high end workstation with lots of paralel processing. then its likely you dont need 1200 watts.
     
  4. PogiMan

    PogiMan Geek Trainee

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    Thank you for the feedback M_Kincy. Unfortunately I've searched in vain to see the wattage of this PSU; VA does not equal Wattage is something I've come across in my research into this topic as well. This has to do with the power factor of the device.

    My idea of getting a high-end PSU is to "future-proof" my investment. My current rig doesn't need more than 400W from my estimates (using the online tools to help estimate this), so this is more in anticipation that my future rig might need more, as I intend to re-use this PSU investment when the time comes.

    So, going back to my inquiries, technically would my existing UPS handle a 1200W PSU?
     
  5. M_Kincy

    M_Kincy Geek

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    without knowing the rated wattage the only way i can give a best guess is - If the UPS cost alot $400+ usd then it *probably* will handle atleast a couple minutes of outage. If it was inexpensive then it *probably* will not.
    In general though UPS technology has not caught up to computers. high wattage UPS's that are on the market were not intended for consumers who have a high end gaming rig, they were intended for business users who only need the battery to last long enough for the back-up generators in the building to start supplying power. So none of them would run a 1200 watt psu for more than aproximately 15 minutes without add-on batteries which can bring the UPS cost into the thousands of dollars range.
     

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