I searched a bit for pre-built gaming pc's available in the UK, and you mostly get a bad value for that.

An example (and one I saw a lot): Geforce GTX 750Ti graphics. It can run GTA V, but the 380 gets a much better result. Most of the time you also get an AMD processor (not one from Intel), which is not fast for todays standards. Their cores cant do a lot in a work cycle compared to Intel's offerings.

The best value one I found: This pre-built gaming pc from Scan Computers. Would cost £579.49 to buy there.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor | £97.26 @ CCL Computers
Motherboard | Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | £49.99 @ Novatech
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory | £33.14 @ Amazon UK
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | £39.95 @ Amazon UK
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card | £119.99 @ Amazon UK
Case | Corsair 100R ATX Mid Tower Case | £39.95 @ Amazon UK
Power Supply | Corsair VS 450W ATX Power Supply | £33.14 @ Amazon UK
Optical Drive | Samsung SH-224FB/RSMS DVD/CD Writer | £15.95 @ Amazon UK
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) | £71.81 @ More Computers
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £501.18
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-13 20:13 BST+0100 |

Performance of the 950 is in the benchmark I listed above. TBH I didn't know that GTA V is so optimised for nVidia GPU's.

Essentially, you pay them £80 to let them assemble that thing and to get a 2-year warranty. If you register the products you bought at the manufacturer's websites, you get that for free. Mostly even longer lasting warranties.

Building a PC yourself is not hard. Search some Youtube videos on how to build a PC and you'll realise that it is very easy.

And yes, this the /r/buildapc side of me poking through. You gotta live with that. :P

---

If you require an OS in the budget, this is what I would build then.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor | £170.44 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | £49.99 @ Novatech
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory | £27.99 @ Ebuyer
Storage | A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | £46.79 @ Novatech
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | £39.95 @ Amazon UK
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card | £119.99 @ Amazon UK
Case | Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case | £24.99 @ Ebuyer
Power Supply | EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | £44.50 @ Amazon UK
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) | £68.00 @ Amazon UK
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £592.64
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-13 20:54 BST+0100 |

Compared to the Scan Computers pre-built you get an i5 which will improve multitasking a lot (true 4 cores as opposed to the hyperthreaded dual-core i3), faster RAM which brings a measureable boost in performance, an SSD which will greatly improve daily usage and snappyness of the system, and a higher quality PSU (the Corsair VS series is meant for office and home systems, they even write it on their webpage). The key for Windows 8.1 is also accepted for a Windows 10 installation, so just download the Win10 installation files and put them on a USB stick. For most people optical drives are not needed nowadays.

Wow, this got very long lol

TLDNR; Without having more info on what I described in the first paragraph. I'd say just buy a couple 10TB Easystores on sale ($180ea) and use your current SBCs and smaller server setups. After I wrote all of this I saw that you are from AUS(I think), so no clue if you can get close to $18 per TB in your area, but prices are coming down every year so sometimes better to just save $$$. It is super fun to think about a new and more powerful setup, plus buying it and putting it together, but as you can see I've done a lot of this thinking already. You are also probably feeling guilty that you have to make use of all your 2TBs, but lots of little HDDs do require more electricity to power up and cool. You need storage density and you cant get around that. Upgrade to 10TB and use the 2TB as a cold storage (backup). You are at a heck of a crossroads because the cost to go from SBCs to a "Proper" server plus buying storage isnt a cheap one. Currently there are limited stepping stones, but more powerful SBCs and Ryzen Embedded are here and on the way so wait if possible. Either way you go, you will spend more money and use up storage faster than you planned... The more powerful SBCs arent always cheap either, once you factor in cost of: memory card, power supply, case, possible heatsink/extra heat sinks, a fan, etc. Their lower price starts creeping into the middle range...


What brand, how many, and how long have the 2TBs been powered on for? It sounds like you are currently swapping out the 2TBs for others depending on what you want to watch and on which HDD it is? Do you have any projected storage numbers and what is your current and future budget? You mentioned that you have a small dedicated server? Is that another SBC or what is with that setup and how many sata ports? I'd forgo the transcoding ideas and nix buying any sort of new "Server" options. Focus on reusing what you have or going with a "Used" setup, so you can start saving that money for when 8TB or 10TB Easystores go on sale.

IMO for a true new build you'd want to price in ECC RAM, UPS, and I personally prefer a case that has hot swap access to HDDs. The Rosewill that meemo linked cant be beat for the price especially since it comes with 7 fans, but it requires extra steps to access the HDDs (internally only), which may be fine for you. There is Mediasonic (JBOD version only) that you could plug into your SBC, but that technically isnt hot swappable either, plus it is USB 3.1 to USB-C which isnt the worst but it isnt the best... I know you wanted to get away from SBCs, but if you disable transcoding there are some SBCs that use SATA to SATA connections that are very viable. Any SBC or standalone storage that uses USB is a potential risk, since USB can suffer connection issues when doing rebuilding, parity, and scrubbing maintenance (same if your power goes out, hence a need for UPS). Helios4 is a time restricted option, since they only open up orders once or twice a year (they are currently taking orders). *I saw a post saying that since the Helios4 is a 32bit processor, so it is limited to 16TB volumes. You get 2GB ECC + 4x SATA and I believe you can use any HDD size with that (double check tho), so 4 separate 10TB volumes (4x$180sale=$720+tax), not including parity... I'm not sure how the 32bit and the 16TB volume limit effect drive pooling... I gotta research more into that. I'm not familiar with the UnRaid, FreeNAS, or the other options that you mentioned, but OpenMediaVault4 has MergerFS drive pooling and Snapraid plugin, you could run 3x storage HDD and 1x parity or you could forgo parity for now. If you prefer Windows (You can also run omv4 on windows in a VM) there is Stablebit Drivepool (Not free) for pooling and then Snapraid (not completely novice friendly) for parity. Depending on the HDD type you could reuse the discarded Easystore enclosures and put your 2TB drives in there (still USB connection). If they are a different brand (non WD/HGST) I think you have to desolder something on the Easystore board? I lost the link on how to do that. You could also just keep the 2TB as cold storage backups, but that still carries a risk, but it's cheaper. You could also get 2nd Helios, but for about the same price you could use that money on a 10TB. That would replace 5x of your 2TB drives... Not too mention the extra electricity to power and cool 5x drives vs 1x drive... As you can see, storage density starts coming into play here, big time.
UPS https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N18S/
Mediasonic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078YQHWYW/
Helios4 https://shop.kobol.io/collections/frontpage/products/helios4-full-kit-2gb-ecc-3rd-batch-pre-order?variant=18881501528137
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/as17od/helios4_batch_3_available_for_preorder/

There are other SATA SBCs that you could use and you could also do a janky setup and put the SATA SBCs inside a hot swappable case like this Silverstone one. There are other cases, but this is the only name that came to mind. This case also doesnt have any power supply or fans to cool the HDDs so there will be extra cost there, plus you'll need a power supply, PLUS a way to turn on your power supply (with a power board), since that SBC setup wont have a motherboard. You can also make your own "Dumb" JBOD HDD enclosure and connect that to your mini server. Another option to SBCs is the ASRock cpu+mobo line: J3455-ITX, J4105-ITX, annd J5005-ITX. The issue with this that it appears you are still limited to 4x SATA or other variations of these boards have a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot at x1 or x2 transfer lanes/speed instead of x8 or x16... Also you have to factor in the price of ram and a mini PICO power supply. There is a subreddit+website that focuses on used parts for cheap server setups, but you might want to verify the power consumption of those setups when they are idling. With the NAS killer option, you gotta make sure all of the parts are still available on ebay or refurb sites, plus make sure you have time to build your setup to verify everything is working plus stress test it before the return window closes to weed out any weak used parts.
Silverstone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IAELTAI/
HDD enclosure option https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-5-25-Inch-3-5-Inch-Hot-swap-SATAIII/dp/B00DGZ42SM/
Power Board https://www.amazon.com/Super-Micro-Computer-Supermicro-Cse-ptjbod-cb2/dp/B008FQZHZE
J3455-ITX https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-728
https://www.serverbuilds.net/nas-killer-v30/

Another option if you really want transcoding and a more powerful "Server" would be a Dell Optiplex 7010, which are used business computers that are "Refurbished", but I think they just take them from that company and wipe the hard drive, nothing else. The Minitower Desktop version is roomier than the slightly cheaper SFF (SmallFormFactor) version, which might be important if you want to swap out the power supply, watch the youtube video to get an idea of what you are getting into. Since a cheap power supply is a weak point plus a potential hazard I'd recommend swapping in a new power supply, but you could risk it with its current power supply. Everything else should last for a good while. You'll also need to install a HBA card. You can get Genuine used cards that were in good working order or you could get a new knock off from China. Both options are viable, but personally I prefer the used option. Theartofserver, ebay seller, also has a youtube channel, so I purchased from him, but I have also purchased from other sellers and got good working parts (I think Ebay still has the most honest and accurate rating system out there?). Since the Optiplex doesnt have room for internal HDDs then you are left with a few options with various HBA cards (internal vs external), expander cards, and adapter setups (SFF-8087 to SFF-8088). If you want it to look "Proper" there will be a lot of wasted money on 2x adapters (1x Optiplex + 1x external HDD enclosure) and an extra SFF-8088 cable between the two. I'd just go janky with it and get a longer reverse breakout cable of 3.3feet (4x SATA to 1x SFF-8087), which should be long enough to go from your external HDDs setup into the Optiplex case and internally connected to the HBA card, like the popular 9201-8i. The janky part being that you'll have the reverse breakout cable snaking directly into each case, instead of plugging into an adapter in the back.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K0GNUOG/
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-Breakout-SFF-8087/dp/B018YHS9GM
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-LSI-6Gbps-SAS-HBA-LSI-9201-8i-9211-8i-P20-IT-Mode-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162958581156
Single adapter https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133055
Double adapter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GPD9QEQ/
SFF-8080 cable https://www.amazon.com/Norco-Technologies-C-SFF8088-External-SFF-8088/dp/B003J9CZCK/

Hi r/audiophiles!

Context/Background:

I'm an FPS gamer (and plan to start streaming) and am building a new silent gaming rig! I currently have some terrific headphones and am looking to find some minimal bass 2.0 Speakers for my sit/stand desk. Parts being considered are below. Questions at end. Thank you! Also, regarding "minimal bass", that is an absolute requirement - unless it's easily adjustable. Speakers are intended for casual gameplay/music, whereas headphones are used competitively (e.g. pinpointing reloads/footsteps)

​

Currently Using (don't plan to replace):

1. Headphones: Sennheiser HD 598 and Sennheiser HD 599 (they're open-back, btw)
   
   ​
   
   Purchasing Plans:
   
   
2. Sound Card or AMP/DAC: NONE
   
   1. Motherboard Built-In Sound Card: Z390 Taichi Ultimate
      
      1. 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec)
         
      2. Supports Purity Sound 4 & DTS Connect
         
3. Speakers: Maybe Klipsch R-41PM or DIY?
   
4. Microphone: Audio-Technica's 2020 USB+
   
5. Microphone Boom Arm: Rode PSA1
   
6. Microphone Shock Mount: Rode PSM1
   
7. Microphone Pop Filter: VocalBeat WindScreen
   
8. UPS/SP: Cyber Power CP1500PFCLCD (1500VA/900W, 10 outlets, AVR) - mentioned, due to interference potential
   
9. Wall Acoustic Panels: DIY + Satin Fabric
   
10. Window Sound Proofing: DIY Window Inserts, else possibly Acoustic Curtain (12 lbs, adhesive/velcro wall backed)
    
    ​
    
    Questions: <in order of greatest importance to me, if you're time crunched>
    
    
11. What 2.0 speakers would you recommend, given my serious bass concerns?
    
12. Does any of the equipment I mention really "need" an AMP/DAC (or independent sound card) to enjoy the quality of it? Also, again, I'm personally not an audiophile, so please bear that in mind!
    
13. Am I a fool to go for a windscreen instead of a traditional pop filter? I'd prefer to not have something obtrusive in my face while gaming and I do have some resonance concerns I'm still trying to resolve in-room (which leads to next two questions).
    
14. Sound Proofing: I linked above the best DIY video I could find, but if anyone has a superior window insert solution, I'm DYING to find out. Or, if people think the super heavy velcro-adhesive backing curtains will suffice hold a candle to the window inserts, that would be great to know, too!
    
15. Sound Deadening: I'm planning on the DIY linked above, as opposed to traditional acoustic foam cut-outs, given the reasoning explained in the video (if you didn't watch, it purports ~10x superior deadening, aids proofing further, and is far cheaper). Are there any flaws with my approach, before I go and churn out a dozen of these in a maker space? Granted, I understand one can "over-deaden" a room, if not careful.

Of course, happy to help!

22K! That is insane!! I'm very jealous! I ran with ~9000 for years, now I'm at about 12,000... that must be a beast!

There is cheaper DAS units as well... I have seen a 4 drive one that doesn't do RAID's for 80-130 dollars. I think I saw a few on newegg. I say this if your looking to save some money... some people can't afford a nice NAS with nice drives etc... as it can quickly cost thousands.

Correct, a NAS would be connected through your LAN. I doubt there would be any lag if both your server and the NAS are on the same network and hardwired (ethernet). You would have incredibly fast times. Also just a helpful tip regarding speeds/throughput... most hard drives (especially the cheaper large 3.5" HD's) don't have good enough read/write speeds... People use RAID's to improve these, however typically will not get anywhere near full GB read/write speeds. It all depends on how nice of HD's you get, how many, and the RAID configuration. But don't worry about it too much, because my highest bitrate movie is only 75mbps (not even MBps)...

Correct, so if you loose your public IP or the ISP drops your internet, your local network would remain up and be fine. (Unless you have a power outage and the router turns off at your house...) But if its just the Internet outage, you can still watch all your Plex content and see it just fine locally (ethernet or wifi). The server and NAS would be able to talk to one-other without any issues as well, as the connection doesn't leave your LAN. I actually put my server on a UPS to help protect the server (more the HD's) in case of power surges and even short term power outages. I can now run my entire network and Plex server for about an hour and a half on battery backup alone. Unfortunately my TV doesn't have a UPS... so I'm limited to streaming on a laptop or phone that is charged... first world problems I guess? lol

Yes depending on how you RIP them, 12-15TB seams like it should be plenty of storage. Also if you RIP them and make them slightly smaller files (Like 20-30GB) you can easily save a TON of space. I honestly have not been able to really see a difference between my 25GB files and my 75GB files.... HEVC is another great way to insure that you save as much space as possible. Just be sure your server/clients can use it! Maybe do a few tests first?Test 1) Try doing HEVC to see that your server and clients can support it.Test 2) Try to RIP the same movie in full lossless, and another with something like 25GB HEVC etc... then watch them and see if you can really tell a difference.

Also I would keep in mind that if you RIP them in full quality (say a 75gb movie). It is streaming at 70mbps... that means if you want to watch that movie outside your home... you not only have to have very good (at least 75mbps upload) at your house, but you also must have 75mbps downloading speed wherever you are at trying to watch it. Transcoding files that big can be extremely hard on the server as well, so keep that in mind and maybe test out a few transcodes before your RIP your entire library.

This is why I have an entire movie library of smaller 1-5GB movies, and an entire 2nd movie library for my 4K UHD, HDR content. You can also use Plex's "optimize" feature to optimize a lower bitrate one for people remotely.

Yes, the NAS is perfect for the storage closet! Just throw it in, power it up and get it on the Network and forget about it. You can treat it like your personal "Cloud Storage". If money is not a concern, I would go with a NAS for sure. You likely wouldn't need to upgrade for the rest of your life... and can use it for all sorts of stuff (Computer backups, Phone backups, and of course Plex movies/music/tv shows, pictures etc...) A 6 bay might be more than what you need, but would be extremely scaleable and could easily allow for a 2 drive failure, so you wouldn't have anything to worry about.

Lastly, I would use a RAID Calculator to help determine what size drives you need. Remember that different RAID's will lose some of your overall storage available. So play around with it to see which ones allow you to have more drives failed, and which ones give you the storage you want. (typically "Less Storage" RAIDs means more drives can fail and its more redundant and faster speed/performance, "More storage" RAIDs means less drives can fail, and typically less redundant and less speed/performance)

If money is NOT a concern and your needing/wanting roughly 12-15TB of storage. I would plan to have a little extra for growing room...I would get a 6 bay NAS, with (4) 6TB Drives, configured in a RAID 6. It's not a perfect setup right now, but is laying a very solid foundation for you to grow into for many years to come.This would get you realistically around 11TB's of storage, and you would be able loose 2 Drives without any data loss. You also get 4 times the read speeds, which is fantastic for streaming out to others. I would then start ripping movies... and see where you get to... You may find you don't even use that much, but if you do... you can easily drop in 1 more 6tb drive bringing you to a total of 18tb. Then for your "wiggle room" you can drop in yet another drive bringing you to a grand total of 24TB of storage. (Same 2 disks can fail and 4 times read speed).If your buying a nice NAS (Like Synology) and using quality reputable drives (Like WD RED's), along with a very conservative RAID configuration (Like RAID 6). You will likely NEVER have any storage issues. The only thing I would do to further guarantee this, is to throw the NAS on a UPS to insure power outages don't get the best of the drives, and shut down the NAS if the UPS is going to run out of battery.... (this can be automated).

Again for a more budget build, you can simply just attach (2) 8TB external drives, mirror them and have 16TB of storage to use, with double the read speed. *Bonus, you can get 2 more to back up everything to*This would be just a few hundred dollars compared to nearly $1500 dollars for the above setup... AND you can later shuck (take apart the casing of an external drive) and add the drives to a DAS or NAS.

I am not arguing. Just making some things clear.

Note: When I say, "cheap PSU," I mean PSU like Corsair VS. I am not even considering brands like Circle or any other low quality brand.

Now it's more about choice. But a cheap PSU costs around 3-4.5K And I personally don't think spending 1-2K more on a quality PSU that is way better than the cheap PSU is a bad investment. Another thing, Cheap PSUs don't last very long. It was a different era when our P3-P4 desktops ran for decades with cheap quality PSUs.

Now let us consider two secnarios:

1. Cheap PSU that cost you 3K blows up and takes away a 12K VC with it. Now you have to buy a new video card and a PSU. This totals to 15K. Technically, your total expense includes the cost of PSU and VC you lost. But we are not taking that into consideration here. In 17 years of my gaming life, I can assure you that 80-90% of the time, when your cheap PSU blows up, it will take a component with it. In worse situations, a blown out PSU can send a surge so bad it can destry all your hardware. But this is rare even with cheap PSUs. But still a possibility.
   
   
2. A quality PSU that cost you 5K blows up but keeps your hardware safe. Now you have to just spend 5K on a PSU because your VC is safe.
   
   So, how much you saved in the worst case scenario? 10K. But how? Because you spent extra 2-3K on a quality PSU. So, you saved effectively 7-8K.
   
   Now, if you are buying a VC that costs way more than 12K like the 1060 6GB or 1070 or the 1080(TI), it makes sense to spend even extra 5-6K on a quality PSU just to be on the safe side. A cheap PSU, whereas will slowly kill your hardware, especially VC. Now you can replace a VC. But what about HDD/SSD? My cousin brother's friend had his HDD and motherboard gone kaput just in May this year because he cheaped out on a PSU. Now his important office data is lost and cannot be recovered. But this happens rarely. Investing money in a quality PSU is like insuring your computer to be safe.
   
   Now, I agree to your statement that you can get a cheap PSU with a quality UPS. It will work most of the time. But do you know that those cheap UPS are not reliable and are not quality UPS? We cannot see electricity, so it is normal to think that, "hey! My UPS is running fine." But how do you know?
   
   This is a cheap (believe me it is cheap) UPS, but you have to see how much this costs:
   
   https://www.amazon.in/APC-UPS-Model-BR1000G-Battery/dp/B0038ZTZ3W/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1504164088&sr=8-5&keywords=APC
   
   It is overpriced here, I think, by 2K. Now This 8K UPS with 2-3K PSU is not a good combination. A better combination is a 6K PSU with a 3-4K UPS. In this regard, you are spending almost the same amount but a bit less.
   
   8K UPS with 2-3K PSU = 10-11K
   
   6K PSU with a 3-4K UPS = 9-10K
   
   Note that the cost is real. A Seasonic s12II 520W will cost less than 6K. You can argue that a cheap PSU can also cost to something like 1K. But seriously brother, you want to cheap out on that that much?
   
   Real Life example: A person who has never been in an accident will still spend money for the insurance of his bike or car. It is just like that. One cannot be like, "hey! I have neve been in an accident in my entire 30 years of life. Why bother with the insurance?" But you know how important an insurance is?
   
   I know people can do whatever they like. They can power their computer with a potato if they can. But if you ask me, I would never suggest anyone to cheap out on the heart of a system just to save 2-3K.
   
   Now I hope you understand what I am trying to tell you.

I think you're going to want to look for something that doesn't require a consistent internet connection, so FireTV and the like is probably out. Raspberry PI is not a bad choice but, you might want something a little bit simpler and more straightforward.

You want it to boot straight to Kodi and I'm guessing we won't really have a tremendous amount of use for android apps (because of lack of internet). So, I would recommend something linux based and, of course we're probably going to need something that can easily accept a USB connected hard drive. I imagine as a hospital you probably have a ton of thumbdrives that vendors have given you somewhere to act as the hard drive, if not, you should be able to get a 64GB one off amazon for under $20, type mostly doesn't matter.

For the power issue, you might want to add a small UPS system, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NTQYUA8 it should power most small devices for a good long while (rated for 4.5 hours, for just a media player, it should last considerably longer). I'm guessing you might have a standard power outlet available for charging in the ambulance? The one I linked is around $40 now but, it frequently goes on sale for $20.

For the actual box, I would recommend one of these, these all run linux, boot straight to kodi and should accept a USB hard drive (update the firmware when you get them, pivos devices have a linux and an android version available, i would recommend linux):

• OpenELEC Box: http://openelec.tv/openelec-box
  
  
• Xios XS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815645005 (Hard to find but, this is actually my top pick, should be a new one coming at a similar price point with better specs in a month or two if you can wait).
  
  
• Xios DS: http://www.amazon.com/XIOS-Streaming-Media-Player-capability/dp/B0088IGPM8/ (If money is an issue, this one is pretty cheap and comes with everything you need, will be somewhat sluggish when navigating menus though, playback should be fine.)
  
  
  

I got this one on a sale and it's been great, $43 I believe. Currently it's about 55.

Has a UL listed charging port, a USB-A to connect to your PC to display the battery status, and then 5 power/battery + 2 power outlets. Basically when the power goes out, you have 5 power sources available on battery.

I've only needed it once so far and I didn't want to drain it any more than I needed, but basically the PC, monitor, my speakers and desktop vaporizer which are all best to not have power suddenly cut.

Also has wall mount.

Just note that not very many UPS have great battery life past 20 mins or so, and I believe not many have a ton of cycles. I believe you're meant to replace the battery after 3-5 years as well. The main thing to look out for is battery quality and build quality (the wires, solder). The main thing is that when power cuts, you have some time to save your work, shut down safely, and ignore the issues that come with a power outage, even with the protection of a surge protector.

I'd definitely recommend one if you live in a high-outage area, possibly even if you're a light user. It's just a nice assurance knowing that any game you're playing or work you have open isn't going to go bye-bye because of fucking PG&E unreliable coverage.

Okay, I've read through the other comments and feel I still have something to contribute as I've just set this up for my parents and plan to run it at my place some time in the future.

• PoE Switch - If you want to use a PoE switch, you have to get the PRO APs, the LITE and LR only support passive PoE. I was lucky enough to have inherited a Cisco SG300-10 802.3at PoE+ Switch from my former employer when they shut down. It's very convenient to use, but not a necessity. The PoE Injectors that come with APs have a nice mounting plate so that you can attach them to the wall/shelf/what-have-you. If you're dead-set on using PoE, Netgear has some decent, inexpensive offerings. 8-port PoE without VLANs $80, 8-port PoE with VLANs $100. If you're running out of outlets, and are on a budget, I would suggest buying a bigger power strip (Belkin makes a nice one I've used in a lot of applications) (or, if you're moving to rack mount, a PDU plugged into a UPS)
  
  
  
  
• Patch Panel - For flexibility, what you'll want to look for is a keystone panel and then populate it with your own jacks as needed. (If you want to throw in Coax you can, and if you want/need a phone jack in there, just use another CAT5E)
  
  
• Rack - Based on what you said, I think you are looking for something like this? You could also look at making a lack rack, if you're into DIY.
  
  
• Additional thoughts - If you are sharing the internet connection with your tenants in the basement, you may want to look at using a "proper" firewall that can VLAN them onto their own subnet, and keep them out of your internal network (for security reasons). When I set up my parent's network, I put all of the "Internet of Things" devices (thermostat, sprinkler controller, solar monitor, etc) on their own subnet and VLAN because they are something that I have very little control of, and I see as being a big network risk. Just my $0.02
  
  Let me know if any of this didn't make sense to you.
  
  Cheers!
  
  Edit: additions in bold above

It's all about DC vs AC and how DC is converted to AC.

DC is the type of power that comes from a battery and AC is the type of power that comes from your household outlets.

DC is always positive or always negative (always flowing in one direction) but AC changes between positive and negative very rapidly. In the US we use what's called a split phase system that gives us 120v for our homes but regardless of what voltage it is it will fluctuate between +120v and -120v and in our case it will do so 60 times a second.

Pure Sine

The way the electricity changes from positive to negative can be represented mathematically and on a graph where it would appear as a wave going up and down. The shape of that wave and mathematical properties of the wave determines the name. The power provided to your home is a pure or true sine wave and is a smooth flowing transition between positive and negative, to be precise it is given this name because of the trigonometric function 'sine'.

Modified Sine

A modified or simulated sine wave makes sudden transitions to predetermined voltages until it reaches the desired voltage. This would appear on a graph like steps going up and down. Because our devices are designed for the pure sine wave in our homes, a modified sine wave is obviously less desirable. Different devices respond differently to modified sine waves, anything with an AC powered motor tends to have the toughest time and in some cases not work at all (like a ceiling fan) depending on the quality of the modified sine wave (how many steps).

DC > AC

Converting the DC from our UPS's battery to AC requires what we call an "inverter", a device that switches the power back and forth between positive and negative and also increases the voltage. A basic inverter that produces a modified sine wave will power most things but might have fewer steps between voltages to make the transition. A nicer one might have many more steps but the nicest inverters will actually fully simulate the smooth sine wave we have in out homes.

An inverter that produces a pure sine wave will be much more expensive but has a few benefits:

• Powers any device as long as it doesn't exceed the inverters load capacity.
  
• Devices might run cooler
  
• Devices might run quieter (modified sine may cause devices to hum)
  
• Will place less stress on devices
  
• Devices might consume less power than they would running on modified sine.
  
  UPS
  As far as a UPS goes, like I said, modified sine is usually fine and getting a pure sine is not usually worth the extra cost. If you loose power frequently and have a ton of money in equipment invested already, then maybe it's worth it to you.
  
  If your new to choosing a UPS you should also know that all these UPS in this form factor will basically have the same amount of run time. They all have a ~9Ah battery in them and the only difference besides features is how much of load the inverter can take. This inverter has a very high load capacity considering its size and battery capacity and would work for almost any PC, even with multiple monitors, router and modem hooked up. The catch is that if you run this at capacity you might only get a couple minutes out of it. If you are more interested in run time you would want to get something more like this that has two batteries: https://amzn.com/B000FBK3QK
  
  

I'm hardly an expert on the subject, but I just went through the same process...
I put together a Skylake build this month and I've already had the power go out once which really got me thinking.
So basically passive surge protectors (I've had a Belkin $40 thing for 5+ years) are good but having an Active Inline filtering UPS that can run your important hardware for a few minutes is a lot better. I looked into your EVGA PSU unit to see if is has PFC but can't find concrete evidence (it will be damaged/not work unless the UPS has "Pure Sine Wave" output). I think it's safe to say you should buy one with that capability for sure. The next thing to consider is the VA rating and more importantly the Wattage. I decided to look for at least 600W for my gaming PC so worst case scenario (Gaming + monitor + console) I have a few minutes to safely shut things down on battery. I found the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD meets my needs (the lower power ones do as well but that model is currently on for $180 which is a reasonable sale price). There is also a similarly priced line by APC which is highly regarded (sorry no link)

The one I bought, for $178.98: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00429N19W/ref=pe_386430_121528420_TE_dp_1
It's cheaper at CanadaComputers but not after shipping in my case: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/cyberpower-ups-cp1500pfclcd

If you want to start playing, I suggest the APC 1500; https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-BackUPS-BX1500M/dp/B06VY6FXMM/

Get a feel for your power requirements to run various things in the house (the UPS displays power load and run time estimate). A Kill-A-Watt is cool, but plugging your entertainment system into a UPS and then unplugging the UPS from the wall is really cool. Plug it in, yank the cord... no interruption or flicker... nothing. It just works.

Now imagine a whole house UPS like the powerwall kicking in. All is good, except the powerwall can't power everything. Your A/C for example. When we have power outages in Southern California, it's usually during very hot days where everyone is pulling from the grid for A/C. A/C is definitely something you want.

My solution was a combination of whole house backup generator, and individual UPS systems distributed to critical areas that don't prefer to see a 15-30 second outage. My lights still flicker :-(.

Now if I could get a whole house solution (UPS) that handled 100 amps for 30 seconds, I would be all set!

[Edit; heavy draw for a short period. Sounds like a job for super capacitors!]

> Has it saved you?

All the freaking time. I use one for my personal server, home desktop, as well as probably 50 or so computers and servers over about a dozen offices in a professional setting. For us, they are absolute must haves.

> Do you only hook up your PC to your UPS and not other things?

I have my PC and home server plugged into one. Then networking equipment and a monitor plugged into another cheaper smaller one, so that my internet stays on and I can see what I'm doing to save and shut down. If I'm not around, the UPS sends shutdown commands automatically after a couple minutes.

> What should I look out for when I purchase one?

That it can support your load, and for a modern computer, you'll want one that is pure sinewave, not stepped. The cheaper stepped units should be fine for peripherals, networking equipment, and monitors though.

For your system, I would not recommend the one you picked. It's likely too small. PCPP says you pull 464W, but if you're overclocked at all (and remember GPUBoost is a thing so it'll auto-overclock), you're power draw will go up a good bit. Plus you have to account for the inefficiency of your PSU too, which can add a good 15-20% on top of that. You'd probably want to go with a 750W capable unit minimum.

It also isn't pure sinewave, and since your PSU has active PFC tech in it, that may cause some issues ranging from simply not working, to being extremely inefficient.

I'd recommend this instead to combat both those problems: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429N19M/

Or if you want a longer runtime, they make a 1500VA version too.

I will note, that the prices on amazon right now are pretty much the highest they've ever been according to Camelcamelcamel, the unit I linked more regularly goes for around $160, and I frequently see them go on sale between $130-$150.

You might want to look up a relevant subreddit for your specific needs but something like this: https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-Charging-BE600M1/dp/B01FWAZEIU/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JP7ZHHLLWA8D&keywords=battery+surge+protector+for+computer&qid=1559103578&s=gateway&sprefix=battery+surge+protector%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-1

I think you can have something fitted to your home that does the same thing but for whole house but you might as well check the easier/cheaper routes first. Good luck with your neighbors I hope they're nice :)

Hi,

You seem to be quite knowledgeable so I have a question. Right now at my cottage (40 years old with somewhat old electricity I guess) I have one of my monitors plugged into an extension cord plugged into a UPS, and I have an Xbox One X plugged into a (cheap) surge protector plugged into the wall. My question is, is it better if I plug my monitor and Xbox One X directly into a UPS (this one: https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1000PFCLCD-Sinewave-Outlets-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N192) instead of my current set up? Is it safer to use a UPS directly into the wall instead? I already have two UPSes but I could buy a third since one of my wall plugs is far from my Xbox One X and it is near another one that does not have a UPS plugged into it.

Also, when it comes to extension cords, if you can afford it is 12 AWG always better than 14 and 16 or are there situations where 12 is worse and less safe than 14 and 16?

If it matters at all, I am not sure if I have any AFCI or GFCI breakers. I have a lot of electronics and I just want to make sure everything is safe and is not going to catch fire. Despite the fact that I have a lot of electronics, my breakers don't trip ever from load (which I understand is a good thing) so I believe my load levels are fine (I think under 70% is what an electrician said?) at least according to one or two electricians.

I will admit I am a bit excited for your response, you seem to leave very detailed and informative responses.

Thanks.

I personally am using this Cyperpower UPS for both my Home Theater/Xbox 1 set up and my desktop computer for almost a year now. It's awesome because in the summer sometimes we have brown outs and when the power dips below 116-120V at the outlet it swtiches to battery power to protect your computer from the under-voltage.


The 1000va/600w keeps my computer powered for about 5 minutes if i'm in the middle of gaming (GPU and CPU both on full power). If i'm idle, or just browsing the web I've got like 10-15 minutes before I have to shut down. A UPS isn't designed to keep your computer on like a laptop battery does, it's meant to provide enough power for long enough for you to save your files and safely shut down.

That same unit was probably overkill for my Xbox 1 and TV. If the power goes out I've got 20-30 minutes before I have to shut everything off.

Additionally, make sure the UPS has a Pure Sine Wave output when on battery power because that is what all modern computer power supplies require. The reason why I went with that CyberPower one over a APC or TrippLite unit was because to get a true sine wave unit from either APC or TrippLite was waaaayyy more expensive and the APC units had a smaller wattage rating. Both APC and TrippLite are good companies as well though.

If you're looking for more plugs I like this model from Belkin. At a minimum/everything else go with these. Both have built in plug covers so little ones as well as animals and dirt will not get into the plugs.

As far as your UPS goes, that model is quite dated. That model and even new models usually do minimal surge protection. I like to have a good quality surge protector before the UPS and and then just put cheap power taps behind it. The UPS you have puts out what's known as a "square" wave while on battery. This can seriously harm audio amplifiers and newer active PFC computer power supplies. Some power supplies will just shutoff instead of accepting the battery power, others may self destruct, or it will just "seem fine" when you're actually shortening the life of the power supply...just depends upon the power supply.

As far as the life of the UPS you have, APC recommends changing batteries every 3-4 years. And the electronics are typically good for 5-8 years from what they say. However the electronics on these things can last a good bit longer. I would definitely see what the run time at your average load is with your current batteries. If it's enough for you, then I'd say stick with it till it dies...maybe put a UPS on both sides of it though in case the electronics in it go. Replacement batteries are pretty cheap if you use a 3rd party battery. If the linked above unit is the white tower model it requires battery kit RBC33.

If you decide a replacement would be better, I suggest this CyberPower model. I think it's the only thing I recommend from CyperPower. A very decent UPS for the price.

Multiple routers inline is not the right way to do this.

Ideally it would be something like this:

Cellular connection -> Router -> network switch -> wireless access point(s) -> devices in the home

You seeing your wireless connection still present just means that your wireless broadcasting device that you're connected to (ie. the last wireless router) is still operating. The drop of the internet connection points (usually) at the internet connection itself - in your case, the cellular connection.

Aside from that, you can do a couple other things. Check to make sure the Netgear LB1120 has the latest firmware available (check Netgear's site for this) and put each of the critical network devices on a battery backup (UPS). You can pickup a basic unit for a low cost. It isn't enough for a gaming PC, but its plenty for just your cellular device and the router too. This will help stabilize the power getting to the device and remove it as a potential issue.

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-BackUPS-BE425M/dp/B01HDC236Q/

Also, on the top of the Netgear, it has LEDs that show your cellular signal strength. When the internet is being crappy, head over and look at the signal LEDs. If the signal is 2 bars or less, then you'd need to contact AT&T and inform them of the issue. If you have 3+ LEDs illuminated, then signal isn't likely to be the issue. At that point, put your hand on the Netgear device - see if it feels hot. It is does, then it might be smart to move it to a darker/cooler location.

It goes without saying that cellular devices need to be near open windows for better connections. So, a balance of a cool, but good visiblilty location needs to be practiced.

There is an app for mobile phones (yes on Android, not sure about iOS) called OpenSignal. It contains a 'compass' feature. You could walk around and find the direction of the best/strongest cellular signal - you might want to look into that too.

Cyber power UPS is great, not super enterprise grade but still great. Comes with easy to deploy OVA template for esxi to safely shutdown the machine. Also with web panel to configure shutdown parameters and calculated energy used. Tons of other stuff but those are some of my favorites. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429N19W/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_e-BszbWD7CF3V

Get a actual surge protector like this one to help protect your computer from fuzzy power transmission as well as voltage spikes and dips.

A UPS like this one will be a good investment to make, protecting your computer even further by allowing time for your computer to shut down safely. only $67+free shipping for both the UPS and surge protector so its definitely worth it considering how much computer hardware costs. not to mention amazon's awesome customer service when you need them.

>Does that mean that I can do 400w for 7.5 minutes?

Mostly, yes, but it will probably be more like 5 minutes.

And, yes, you can plug in a power strip to support more devices.

Keep in mind that high-capacity backup units are pretty cheap so it isn't the end of the world if you have to buy another.

Fun fact, you can daisy chain them to run them longer.

thank you for the list

I am still researching DORI and differences between cameras, but from what I gathered so far here is what I need:

• blue iris $70 (with a phone app)
  
• pc (since it only supports windows) likely i7-6700 something like this
  
• PoE switch: something like this
  
• router, I have an old lynksys with dd-wrt which should do it
  
• several very long ethernet cables with some couplers
  
• most likely also a UPS
  
• ONVIF, PoE cameras
  
  the last bit I am still looking at. I am not ready to spend several hundred dollars per camera (one of your examples is Dahua 2MP Starlight which seems to be super expensive). While I understand it might be much better than the rest, I'd like to see if I can be in a $50 to $100 dollar range per camera. Is there any such cameras you can recommend?
  
  I can see some (ONVIF, PoE): Hikvision 4MP, ONWOTE 5MP, ONWOTE, 4X Optical Zoom Autofocus, Amcrest ProHD, GW Security 5, JideTech PTZ, etc. but I am not sure how to gauge the quality.

Personally I'm not a big fan of just power strips because most of them don't do much to protect your PC. So it depends on how good the power is in your home and how much you're willing to spend. If you have good clean power and rarely experience brownouts/blackouts then I would recommend a decent APC surge protector like this one. If however you have had a few brownouts/blackouts and/or would like your PC to maintain power should one occur then I would recommend an APC UPS. How much you spend will be dependent on how long of a battery backup you want. This one would give you a good 5 - 10 minutes (approximately, depending on your PC) of power while this one would give you around 30 minutes.

What you listed all seems to be good. I really wish the TS440 was $300 a year ago :'(

I suggest keeping MC and CS:GO on an SSD because every second the server is loading game data / maps is extremely noticeable. You may want to get a 250gb SSD right away but 120gb might end up having enough space for everything.

From what I understand about Plex, it caches transcoded files on the drive it's installed on (SSD). If the SSD is full, Plex performance could deteriorate.

Incase you aren't familiar with running CS servers you need to setup a fastDL server on some host online. Even using free hosts would be better than having players download map data off your server.

It's just laying on the bottom of the case. Not wrapped with anything. There aren't any moving parts so a caddy isn't as important with SSD's. If I had room to mount it somewhere nicely I would but the TS140 is pretty compact. You can buy a universal 2.5 to 3.5 adapter that will let you mount it in a Lenovo caddy.

Something else to consider getting is a UPS. This is the one I got and I'm happy with it. When the weather gets really shitty the power will sometimes go out for a couple seconds or a couple hours. With a UPS the server / modem / router stay online for about 90 minutes and my server is setup to safely shutdown if the UPS is almost empty.

Ok, I'm going to take a whack at this. Here is my full build list with everything I'll need.


CPU ($190-not sure if mobo is compatible, seems like AMD has different socket?): AMD Ryzen 5 1500x

RAM ($270): - 2x of Crucial 16GB DDR3 ECC

MOBO ($200 - includes 10 SATA 6.0GBps ports: bypass needing HBA): ASRock X370 Taichi AM4 AMD

PSU ($110) - EVGA 650W Gold

Case ($220- fit's 10x 3.5" drives and ATX to match mobo) - Lian Li PC-A76X Full Tower Desktop Case

Drives (10x 8TB reds @ $200 + 120GB SSD for OS)

Server NIC ($160) Dell x520 Intel 10GbE..says it only works on dell?

Switch ($750) NeatGear 8-port 10GbE switch

UPS ($60) APC UPS

TOTAL PRICE: $3940 with a 10Gbe switch...thinking it's worth just biting the bullet and going 10GbE if I'm already doing all this.

Couple more questions.

Red 8TB's are out of stock so I'm considering going with 12x 6 TB reds instead. This is better since I'll lose 12TB to the Raid z2 instead of the 16TB I'd lose with 8TB disks yeah? They're the same price per TB. I guess I'd just need to find a bigger case and a MOBO with 12x Sata or maybe I need to get a LCI HBA instead and a cheaper mobo with ECC. Preference? Seems nice to do it all out of mobo and let freeNas take care of the raid.

Looks like a fiber NIC is similar in price to a 10GbE switch, so maybe it makes sense to just get 10GbE? If I got a 24ch gigabit with 2 fiber for cheap, can I run fiber to 1 PC and have 10GbE speeds and run the rest of clients at 1GbE no problem? I'm wondering if the 2 fibers on the switch are input only, or if they can go either direction. It would be really great to save the money and get a switch for around $200, because only one client really needs 10GbE speeds anyways right now.

I see that on the X520 NIC adapter that there are 10GbE ports. Does this mean I can daisy chain to other clients? Or is it recommended to go direct from switch to each client?

This server will be plugged into a shared workroom. I'm a bit worried it's possible for it to somehow get unplugged...my guess is that this would be catastrophic. Are there "security boxes" that the server can be locked into so its impossible to unplug?

I highly recommend this UPS

CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System

You can get whatever capacity you need. They're rated in VA (Volt-Amps), which if you're familiar with Ohm's Law, is really a description of power. But it's important to note that that's power IN, not power out. Power out is 60% efficient on that UPS at 1500VA/900W. It's also important to note that this efficiency trade-off ONLY matters when power is being supplied from the battery of the UPS. Otherwise, power is passed through from the wall. I'm not sure if it's cleaned - I'd have to look at the UPS spec.

I've purchased two of these - one November 2016 and another November 2017. I got both of them for $120ish with holiday deals. I like getting the warranty, because these things sometimes fail. I've been really happy with the CyberPower - it's the best sine wave you'll get out of a consumer product. Mine are still running strong @ 1 & 2 years old, each.

Here is my CR-10S.

I added the Petsfang fan fang. Added this fan to the fang.

I added these Z-Axis braces. Added these LEDs to the Z-Braces.

I'm printing on a mirror tile with a sheet of PEI bonded to it.

Last week I added the TH3D EZABL and have been encouraged by the results. It creates a Z-offset map of the build plate before every print. I can see the Z-steppers move during X-Y moves so I can tell it's working. Manual bed-leveling was working OK for smaller prints, but I could never get all 4 corners to agree with the center height. I suspect my aluminum bed plate is shaped like a Pringles chip.
I really like the Marlin Firmware over the OEM version. I don't mind not having auto-resume since I plugged my printer into a UPS system.

Right now my printer is about 20 hours into a 60-hour print of a T-Rex skull. I've been really happy with this printer! It was my first and I've been having a ball with it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00516547C/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1374986466&sr=8-3&pi=SL75

Check this system out. I recently installed a similar system for a client. 480 TVL is the typical entry level camera resolution. Zmodo is easy to install and there is a ton of support in forums. Of course I installed a 1tb zmodo system with 8 dome cameras. Wired is definitely the way to go. I recommend installing a battery backup as well. Youll want to make sure you have internet and a router hooked up at the house.

Here is a link to a decent cheap battery backup: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FBK3QK/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1374986911&sr=8-2&pi=SL75

Let me know if you have any questions ill be happy to answer any you have. Also if ya end up installing this type of system make sure to tell your insurance company they usually give you a nice discount.

APC and CyberPower both make very good quality UPS's. I have this APC and It's perfect. I had brownouts a couple weeks ago and the unit safely powered my rig 9 times in an hour. Get a UPS with a little higher wattage output than your computer needs. I have a 750W power supply and the UPS is 1500 watts. This is probably overkill, but better safe than sorry. Also, the APC connects to your computer via USB and self monitors. Every month it runs an automated battery test to ensure it's still in good condition.

If you have friends, consider Tabletop Simulator. It pretty much has an infinite amount of replay-ability. I would also vouch for Rocket League.

If you're into mods there's also a lot of games on Steam and in general with lots of mod support. (Minecraft comes to mind)

Also consider getting a better mouse, or microfiber cloths to clean your PC area, or save a little bit more and buy a UPS to protect your investment.

If you're just looking to put your modem and router on the UPS, get one designed for it. The main benefit is that since it is designed for it, it is much more efficient putting out small amounts of power. Mine lasts about 2-3x as long as another "normal" UPS with a larger battery putting out the same amount of power.

The APC BGE90M is an example, and it only costs $30.39 on Amazon right now. I've had the older one for a few years, and it'll power my modem, router (with a built in hard drive, so it sucks more power than some), and 5 port switch for about 2.5-3 hours. And that's with the original 2 year old battery. If want more run time you can hook up other batteries, but please research before doing that, or ask me, I've done it before and it's pretty awesome.

EDIT:
Link to the product on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NTQYUA8/
It bothered me that Amazon didn't have the max power, so I looked it up on APC's website and its 75W/125VA. Here is a link to the battery time graph: http://www.apc.com/products/runtimegraph/runtime_graph.cfm?base_sku=BGE90M&chartSize=large

This is the one I have. It's been a little over a year that I've been using it and it works great. For my setup it gives more than enough time to save your progress and shut down. I have had times where I kept playing and the power came back on before I decided to save and shut down, granted the power was out for only a few minutes. But at least for me it gives me the piece of mind that all my gear is protected from any surges.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBK3QK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

hmm, maybe a little bit, but largly during a storm your trying to protect agenst lightning, wish is near to impossible to fully protect yourself from, current fluctuations that can cause to much or too little power or sudden loss of power that can cause data loss or windows errors.

That device will only somewhat protect against surges. Its better than nothing but not ideal. What you would really want is something more like this to offer piece of mind. It also has a program so if the power is out too long your computer can do a safe shutdown in addition to the things I talked about protecting above.

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BR1500G/dp/B003Y24DEU/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503203746&sr=1-3&keywords=apc+1500

If it goes out that frequently, then yes it could have some adverse effects. The main one being if it loses power during a write operation to the HDD or cloud such as saving a game. For instance if your game is trying to save and the power goes out right in the middle of it doing it, when you try to load back up your save might be corrupted and you may lose your progress in the game. You may be totally screwed and have to start over, or you may only lose some progress between when your last save was uploaded to the cloud.

Since I'm assuming there's not much you can do about the outages where you live or being able to move where the utility is more reliable, the best way to protect yourself from future headache is to get one of those UPS battery backup power supplies that they use for computers and stuff to prevent against blackouts such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BE550G/dp/B0019804U8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1484415526&sr=8-3&keywords=apc+battery+backup+%26+surge+protector

What you do is plug your entertainment center into one of those and when a blackout happens it will keep enough power to your console for a few hours to operate until the power from your utility comes back on. For example, you notice the power goes out such as your lights in your room go out, but your console and TV will still be on if plugged into one of those. You then are able to finish up whatever it is you were doing, save your game, then shut down your console properly without danger of something happening until the power comes back on. They also protect against surges. If you are a little bit more flexible with your budget, you can also look into something called a 'line conditioner.'

Build looks pretty good, the 1070 should be plenty to max any games you want to play at 60 fps, as long as you aren't doing 4k, multi-monitor surround etc. Even then it could do alright, just with appropraitly tweaked settings. If you're doing 1080p or 1440p @ 60 Hz then you should have no problems whatsoever.

As for the UPS:

You need to be careful shopping for one that will be used for sensitive electronics like a PC, as you'll need one with specific features. Something like this would probably suite your needs. In general though, you'll want to look for a UPS the is made to be used with computers and other sensitive electronics; not all are. Some don't regulate incoming power and don't guarantee a clean 120V AC current, since they don't do any regulation of incoming power. "Dirty" power like this can destroy PSUs and other computer components (though it should stop at the PSU if you buy a good one). If you buy an appropriate PSU, they actually offer the added benefit of protecting your system from any kind of electrical anomalies such as surges and brown outs, as well as preventing unsafe power cuts. Also, keep in mind that even high end PSUs will only have enough power to keep a system running for a handful of minutes; if you wanted extended uptime from them you'd have to expand the battery banks extensively, and that ain't cheap.

If you want to see how long your system could run off a particular PSU, they all measure their available up-time with Volt Amperes. It can be a little mind-boggling so here's some links:

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/34745/choosing-power-supply-how-to-get-the-voltage-and-current-ratings

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/256419-28-rails-voltage-amps-explain

P.S. I'm from the U.S. so everything is 120V AC @ 60Hz. You may be running 220V? Something else to be aware of.

Totally offtopic of home theater -- but, how did you figure out what size APC to use to support your NAS, switch, and the like?

Currently have a NAS / mini-itx server / networking equipment but have no idea how to choose which one would be best. I see a lot of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWAZEIU/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2VUE3DDHWTH4Y&colid=12Z7TORHW0YTP&psc=1

go on sale from time to time but don't know how to figure out if it's enough.

Also I love the setup of the wiring, so clean.

That's actually the exact same model I have! I bought it over 2 years ago. Still going strong.

It definitely earned it's price at my old apartment. Where I'm living now I've only experienced two brownouts, during one storm. While I may not really need it now, its great for those one or two times a year where it gives me reassures me my computer won't fry randomly. I think of it as insurance.

I agree with the OP though, it's not worth it to everyone. But definitely at the minimum get a well rated surge protector.

Edit: It's cheaper on Amazon

What I have is basically this, https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-Back-UPS-BE425M/dp/B01HDC236Q/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=apc+modem&qid=1565154753&s=electronics&sr=1-3 I bought it when it was the year end model and is white. Apparently it is not as cool as the black one, but I paid like $30 for it, maybe $25, I am not sure. But any how it keeps my cable modem online for about 3-4 hours. Supposedly at least. I think the most I have had it tested was about 2 hours. But anyhow for $25 its well worth it for me. I have an apc on my desktop that I work from, so they kind of work in tandem.

Edit:

Oh wow I looked it up because I bought it off amazon. This is what I bought. https://i.imgur.com/nEFgdZU.png which apparently now is worth worth $100 to some people, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NTQYUA8/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sorry for being noob...but what's %output THD? For example, here's the simulated sinewave cyberpower model:
https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500AVRLCD-Intelligent-Mini-Tower-Features/dp/B000FBK3QK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486670594&sr=8-1&keywords=cyberpower+ups

They talk about how it's great for "desktop computers" but in their table they don't say it is rated for active PFC power supplies. Most of the people here (if they follow advice on BAPC) will buy an 80+ rated PSU that will always be active PFC. My impression is that it might work, but the only guaranteed ones are "pure sinewave" UPS units. I assume there is something better about the "pure sinewave" models that make them rated for PFC power supplies.

Does this %output THD have something to do with that? How do we determine it? (I didn't see anything on the product page on amazon, for example)

Coming from a guy who bought a DS713+ for exactly this purpose -- get the DS416play. Nobody wants to buy a 3 year old 2-bay Synology when you're ready to upgrade.

Then start to use an off-site backup solution like Glacier or CrashPlan (which uses roughly 1GB of RAM per 1TB of backup which a DS416play can handle much easier than a j series). DSM6 has really solid support for Glacier and Crashplan can be had from the Synocommunity fairly painlessly.

You're going to outgrow the 2 drive capacity and will realistically only ever be able to put 6TB or 8TB in there until you hit your limit. This is especially true if you start using the DS416play as a media station (for SABnzbd, Couchpotato, etc). It's almost criminal not to if you're into downloading your media automatically on a low-power always-on NAS.

Get the DS416play and put your 4TB drives in there. When you're out of space there buy two 6TB/8TB drives and then replace your old 4TB's as you have the chance to.

No sense in restricting your RAID to RAID1. SHR with BTRFS is a really good solution and can take some failures (more so with a 4-bay drive).

Buy a UPS because ~$120 is worth not having to risk it. Get something like this APC 1500 (https://www.amazon.com/BR1500G-Back-UPS-1500VA-10-outlet-Uninterruptible/dp/B003Y24DEU). Costco has a 1500 Cyberpower (which OEM's APC) for ~$120).

/edit: clarifying everything to the DS416play model. It's much, much better.

I do smoke. But never in the house, or around the computers at all.

We have two cats and a dog. The "server" also sits near floor level. So yeah, a whole lot of dust and dander do get in there. We also live in a small condo so the whole house is pretty much a high traffic area.

I really do need to clean them a bit more often. I usually wait around 3-4 months. Now it seems like I should be doing it about every month or so.

In the future I will definitely be using a case that has an Air Filter. A RAID cage as you described will also be on my list of required features.

I had built this on a tight budget a few years back. At the time I just wanted to get it up and running. I had most of the parts already laying around my house and I just needed to buy the drives to get it going.

I usually keep it pretty clean, and overall it's been very stable ever since I built it. This is actually the one and only issue I've ever had with it.

In the past this system was used as a desktop. It runs headless now though, alongside another headless box that runs pfSense and acts as the router. It has a few roles, but none of them are as a desktop. (File/Video/Media Server, Print Server, WSUS Server)

My main system is a mostly stock Dell XPS 420. (shameless battlestation photo) You can't really see it out of frame, but the XPS is on a platform under the desk.

I think I did do one thing right though at least. All three systems, one monitor, a switch, and the cable modem is all running off a 1500VA UPS.

Thank you for the suggestions! I will put them to good use in the future.

• Use a good Battery-Backup/UPS that has a line-conditioner.. (like this: http://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1500G-BACK-UPS-10-Outlet-1500VA/dp/B003Y24DEU/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420127071&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=pac+back-ups+1500 ) ... that way your system gets good/clean/reliable electricity.
  
  
• Install as little software as possible. Don't rush out and install every thing everybody suggests. The more stuff you install.. the more Startup Items and Registry crud is created. The cleaner and simpler you keep it... the cleaner and simpler it will work.
  
  
• Stay up to date on all your Updates. RELIGIOUSLY. (I check 1 or 2 times a week). Windows updates... Browser updates. Updates to things like Flash, Java, Quicktime, etc... basically make a list of all the programs you use frequently (or a valuable to you).. and stay on top of updating them. This will help keep your system more secure among other things.
  
  
• Keep your system clean/dry/ventilated. Take the cover off maybe once every 3 months and (lightly) use compressed air to blow everything out (especially the Vents and Fans).
  
  

For anyone that might read this and have the same question:

Ended up finding a couple options.

1. https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-550VA-Audio-Backup/dp/B000WS0CRQ Not bad but too heavy duty for what I need and more than I was looking to pay for something like this.
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWAZEIU/ref=psdc_764572_t4_B000WS0CRQ?th=1 More in the price range and should fit nicely in the encloser and has the outlets on top which should be ideal for how I'll be using it.
   

How the two people below can even conceivably think that there is a variation in stability and safety for electronic devices on a UPS is just unfounded knowledge.


YES OP. You can use a UPS such as this in your situation. Obviously the "safety" regarding your electronics varies on the actual UPS-model/make just like any other product.


A UPS is supposed to regulate your power, provide backup power in case of a power outage, and also act as a surge protector. READ what your UPS can do when you're buying it, they all have different level of protection and make sure to buy accordingly.


And to add a UPS is generally used as a back-up power supply so you have time to properly shut down your devices and unless you're buying an extremely high capacity UPS; you probably won't have much time to play for hours one end like a giant generator (Conceivably, again depends on the UPS) I.E. the ups would have to power both your console and tv to "run" and generally unless you have a LED tv, they eat up alot of watts = powers out quickly.

TLDR: Yes you can use a UPS with ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE. But remember UPS is for temporary short-term backup power, don't expect it to power your stuff for hours on end.

For heating Im someone who gets over heated in 50°F weather (idk the celcsius conversion but essentially its cold for most people). In my case i would find a personal space heater, as the one i own already makes me sweat with one blanket on and the thing on low heat pointed at me. Idk what the power consumption is but if u just keep the van well insulated and are cozied up with a bigger electric heater than maybe you'll be fine.

As far as water goes I would just get a big 5 gallon bottle from the grocery store (unless that's just a stupid American thing idk). Often keeping one and just bringing it back to the store u can refill it for way cheaper than the original purchase.

Also for a toilet ive heard composting ones are pretty great but thats something I havent looked into yet.

When it comes to how you would power the van id say that one will be hard because I heard the UK is mostly cloudy meaning solar could work but youre not going to get much out of it and really only could charge a phone or something off it. There are giant battery packs you can buy like
this: CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS System, 1500VA/900W, 12 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBK3QK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_gLXqDbNZ1G63C.

obviously that's american plugs so find something suitable for your power draw and for your socket type. That you would have to plug in somewhere else to charge though which could take some time #1 but it would at least be portable in a sense rather than strapping batteries down and having those external camper plugs that you would have to drive somewhere to charge up.

I bought a Cyberpower 900W recently and love it. I upgraded from an APC 600W and it's remarkable how much better it is. My PC can last about 30 minutes on power now (3 minutes on my old one) and the UPS has the ability to connect via USB to the PC. It even shows a battery icon in the task bar, exactly as if it was a laptop. Solid buy for anyone needing a good UPS.

Don't get a cheap outlet like that. You should definitely get a good surge protector, its a very good insurance. Also if you live in a place where your power goes out occasionally i would recommend an APC. This is the one I have, not only does it protect against power surges in case of a power outage my computer can stay running for several hours. Very handy if you are working on a project, document, or even that Skyrim play through.

http://www.amazon.ca/APC-Back-UPS-BE750G-10-Outlet-System/dp/B000Z80ICM

Usage calculators are rubbish. You need a Kill-a-Watt like device to tell you what your actual usage is, under load. Honestly, I don't bother finding out. For basic, non graphic intense desktops, I always recommend 500-600VA backups. For high end, I recommend 1000VA units (or larger VA, which just gives more run time, but in a power outage, are you going to continue to play games?) IMO, you're best bet would be this unit from CyberPower. I've used APC, Tripplite, and Belkin over the years, and my CyberPower (not this exact model, an older, but similar 1250VA) one has been rock solid, and has out lasted any of the others. YMMV of course.

Look into GeoVision camera and 8ch NVR. Then like the last guy said have the contractor lay down the cat5 where you want the camera to NVR.

With geovision you can have the NVR plugged directly into internet and stash it in the closet. Then you can use a mini shitty old pc, download their remote viewer called “edge recording manager”, plug the pc into the tv in the lobby, and have it broadcasting off tv in the lobby for everyone to see.

The for the mobile they have an app called GV-eye. It’s pretty good! Just make sure you have the correct ports open on your router, so everything can talk and play nicely!

NVR: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F323421060448


Cameras: https://www.nothingbutsavings.com/Product/388784-GeoVision-GV-EDR2100-2F-2MP-H264-Low-Lux-WDR-IR-Mini-Fixed-Rugged-IP-Dome-783555124574?ai=1550&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=1o5&scid=scplp388784&sc_intid=388784&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_vfcBRDJARIsAJafEnHsjkdQyFEOQC-ZHK9Ir0FPrfdQd7DDv5ZUvG87HWdsfun-4F0iHtgaAvUhEALw_wcB



EXTRA BROWNIE POINTS: add a UPS and plug your router, internet modem, and NVR to have backup power in outages! CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS System, 1500VA/900W, 12 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBK3QK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_p.UNBbW9VZVD1

I’ve had a APC UPS unit for the last two years and it’s been great. Only keeps the computer running for about 5 minutes upon loss of power, but it’s enough for a safe shutdown.

Heck, when the power went out for two days at my house we relied on that unit to charge our cellphones. Overall great $32 investment.


Here’s a similar one that looks good. It’s about double the power of mine and a little bit more expensive:

APC UPS 600VA Battery Backup & Surge Protector with USB Charging Port, APC UPS BackUPS (BE600M1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWAZEIU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_s2s7BbVABWT1R

Sounds like a Raspberry Pi Zero or similar SoC computer would be right up your alley. For the 24/7, I'd recommend a little battery backup for the core of your networking infrastructure. I have a couple of these for low-draw items (in addition to conventional UPS on normal-draw items). I believe folks have used various FriendlyArm SoC computers successfully: http://www.friendlyarm.net/ Last I looked into it, the C.H.I.P. had some quirks to it's flavor of Debian that kept it from running pihole (tho I haven't looked into that for close to a year now).

Highly responsive is an odd request tho: dnsmasq / pihole (now that FTL has been released) is never going to push your load averages higher than 0.05...are you looking to run other programs on, or are you just interested in DNS requests being served quickly? If it's just the pihole, then pretty much any hardware that's newer than ~15 years old and has an Ethernet port should be able to handle a server install of Debian + pihole (and easily service a couple dozen clients without breaking a sweat).

Couple from APC, don't have these myself but I do have a pile of other APC USP that I'm very happy with.

https://smile.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Connect-BGE90M-Charging/dp/B00NTQYUA8/ref=sr_1_2

The USB ports on the one above are interesting. 2.5 Amp total, 1.5 top, 1.0 bottom, so it could power a lightly loaded Pi3 and a Pi0w.

For a bit more power to keep your modem, router and Pi(s) alive this isn't bad.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01HDC236Q/ref=psdc_764572_t1_B0019804U8?th=1

The http://www.apc.com site has full specs and manuals for these.

After more research, this is what I've come up with.

If the base station unit does not store info to upload later, then keeping the base station powered but not your WIFI will not help with data retention, but it would give you visibility into the outside weather.

With this in mind, I am going to get a UPS - One of these: http://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Connect-BGE90M-Charging/dp/B00NTQYUA8/ref=sr_1_1?tag=slickdeals&ascsubtag=d33a23d0a4c711e5a251ee6214610d160000&s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1449285342&sr=1-1&keywords=B00NTQYUA8

This is a cheaper one I found, and sometimes I've seen it on sale for 19.99

This device would let you plug in your base station and your WIFI - in the event of a power outage, the base station and WIFI router / cable model would stay powered. You would get weather data on the base station, while keeping internet working as well.

Internet, depending on what kind you have, can stay working in a power outage, much like phones (landlines that is) work without power.

This is the solution I think I am going to use instead of trying to build a battery back. I would have liked to have the base station mobile, to bring it around with me, but I've found the Wunderstation App on iTunes to be very helpful and even shows indoor temp. Only for Ipad though, not Android.

2 600w LEDs and it doesn't exceed 850w on the whole smart plug.
power pictures

Edit: in the power pictures you can see I took extra precaution. Most everything in the tent has built in trips, but I don't trust those or my apartment. I bought these extension cords then routed every plug through one of those to my battery backup using a 1ft extension when needed. Finally, everything is going to a smart plug with energy monitoring so I can calculate what I cost the energy bill every month. This allows me to make sure I grow the value of what I spend on growing at least. So far, I'm still running about even at $40 a month.

Ok, a 365 watt PSU is too little, so you'll need a new one (400+ Watts) , but make sure a modern psu fits with the motherboard, if not ,buy a new one that's compatible with the processor (Most 4th / 5th gen i7s & i5s have the same socket, please tell me the exact name of the cpu e.g. I7-4790 so i can know what generation it is). If this confuses you, just go to a local pc shop and ask for a motherboard there.

I dont know particularly much about if mac cpu's are different or not but someone might

And HELL YESS it will be able to play modern games ultra-high 60 fps and probably still be great for 5 years and ok for the next 10. I salvaged a bad PC and re-used the CPU, RAM and HDD. It now has a 1060 and I7-4790 and high settings give me a consistent 60fps and ultra gives around 45fps(on the best games) But most games give me ultra 60 FPS.

The HP case seems fine but i'm not sure about the motherboard fitting a modern cpu. My only problem is if you're standing it landscape as PCs are best upright.

Suggested PSU

You're welcome - keep in mind that the batteries in those won't keep things running for long if the power is out. Maybe 5 minutes so if you have a computer hooked to one, it's best to start saving your work just in case.

I've got my home stereo on an older, less powerful version of this one and if it ever craps out, I'll likely replace it with this one. I think mine is like 650VA and that's enough for the receiver, TV and cable box being on at one time but if I try to turn on the PS3 also, eventually it'll over draw and shut down everything. The 1,000VA could easily handle that....but honestly, I don't need all that on at one time so the 650 works fine.

Morning everyone!
Every once in a while I like to come in here and ask what everyone's thinking of buying.
Nice to get an idea about things that I might be interested in grabbing or something that I should get for some peace of mind.
Earlier this week, my CyberPower UPS arrived in the mail (delivered by UPS. Coincidence? I think not!) and I can rest easy now. We've had some power surges, brownouts and blackouts recently.

The Desk/Workspace:

• GeekDesk Max (78.75")
  
• APC BE750G Battery-Backup UPS (mounted under desk on the far right side with 5" metal brackets)
  
• IKEA Signum cable organizer (mounted under the far edge)
  
• 10 port USB hub (mounted near cable organizer)
  
• IKEA's Aeron knockoff, Markus
  
• Sublime Imprint Anti-Fatigue Nantucket Series Comfort Mat
  
• JVC HARX900 Headphones
  
• Keyboard: Microsoft Natural 4000
  
• Mouse: Microsoft Trackball Explorer, the world's most comfortable trackball - in use for 8+ years and counting
  
• Monitors:
  
  • Center: Dell Ultrasharp 24" (IPS display)
    
  • Left: Samsung 24" Syncmaster
    
  • Right: Gateway FHD2401 24"
    
• Monitor Arms:
  
  • Right: Ergotron LX Dual Side-by-Side
    
  • Left: Ergotron LX Desk Mount (single)
    
• Monitor connectivity:
  
  • Center: Direct DVI (PC)/DisplayPort (Mac)
    
  • Kensington USB-DVI Multi-Display Adapter (DisplayLink)
    
  • Plugable UGA-2K-A USB-DVI (DisplayLink)
    
    PC:
    
    
• Case: LIAN-LI PC-7F ATX Mid Tower Case
  
• PSU: Kingwin LZP-550 80+ Platinum 550W PSU
  
• MB: MSI P67A-GD65(B3)
  
• CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K
  
• RAM: 16GB Crucial Ballistix PC3-16000
  
• HDD: Crucial 256GB M4 SSD
  
• GPU: EVGA GTX 460 Superclocked EE
  
  Mac: 15" MacBook Pro, Core i7 2.5 GHz, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
  
  Usage:
  
  I don't have a KVM, but I simulate having one. All my peripherals - keyboard, mouse, webcam, left & right monitors, are plugged into the USB hub. In PC mode, the USB hub is plugged into the back of the Dell monitor, which is in turn plugged into the PC. In Mac mode, the USB hub is plugged directly into the MacBook Pro. I keep both a DVI cable (for the PC) and a DisplayPort cable (for the Mac) plugged into the Dell monitor, and I use the monitor controls to switch inputs when going between platforms.
  
  I know there are software solutions for sharing keyboard/mouse between computers, but I'm generally working on one computer or the other - I'm rarely, if ever, working on both.
  
  I use the MacBook Pro for daily work (Java/web development, Photoshop/Illustrator), and the PC for hobby work (C#/.NET) and gaming.
  
  The MBP is thin enough that I can slide it under the keyboard to get a total of 4 screens. I generally use the MBP screen for Skype & Campfire windows.
  
  EDIT:
  
  T-Rex Themed Art for those interested, clockwise from the left:
  
  
• Drinking With the Dinosaurs from Unusual Cards! on Etsy
  
• But you won't exist until the late cretacious period from Tiffany Ard on Etsy
  
• T Rex by Ryan Berkley on Etsy
  
• Useful Appendages by Miranda Brandon on Etsy
  
• Mr T. Rex by Jon Stich on Etsy
  
  

EMCXRKBE2

for easy copypasta
Today only (2017-09-14, ends 11:59:59 PDT or before). Email says this is targeted, so YMMV. I was able to use my shoprunner for free 2 day shipping, though shipping should be free regardless--just slower without SR, probably.

---

Per the Amazon page (which actually has reviews) this will do a decent job of powering your modem & router through a brief power outage, as well as providing brown-out protection. Useful if you have a laptop or tablet to use during a power outage, and/or your main PC with UPS isn't located in the same place as your networking.

For reference, here's the Amazon price history: https://camelcamelcamel.com/APC-Back-UPS-Connect-Battery-BGE70/product/B00KH07WRC

A total of 7 separate orders. It was a bit annoying because I was mostly on my phone and the mobile apps/chrome wouldn't load properly. Also I would have preferred to bundle orders but oh well. or try to use more coupons but they only give you so many minutes in the cart and sometimes the next item that you're waiting for a deal to start is right outside that window.

• the microSD cards for my nvidia shieldTV's so I can run plex server on them. - 2x SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC - $19?
  
  
• For my server at home - 1x SanDisk Ultra II 480GB SATA III - $94
  
  I used the Visa30 coupon for above.
  
  
• Needed a new one since the one I have now has a crappy battery life - 1x Black+Decker BDH2000PL MAX Lithium Pivot Vacuum - $54?
  
  
• 1x Mental Blox 360 Degree 3-D Building Game - $18
  
  
• 1x Origami Paper - $12?
  
  
• For the server - 1x CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS 1000VA 600W PFC Compatible Mini-Tower - $85
  
  
• 1x
  Spoga Mop, Broom and Sports Equipment Organizer Wall Mount - $10
  
  
• set of door stoppers - $10
  
  
• 1x Golfsmith Gift Card $25 - $20
  
  
• 1x Aukey dual car charger Quick Charge 3.0 - $18
  
  
• 1x Magformers Vehicle Zoo Racing Set (55-pieces) - $84
  
  I missed out on the $50 gift card because I didn't have the physical credit card with me and it asked for the full card number. I also wanted this Anker BT Speaker but it went pretty fast and everytime the waitlist message popped up on my phone the app was too laggy and I couldn't get it in the cart. oh well.
  
  edit: bargh! just realized i needed a smaller UPS of which there was a cyberpower one on sale. d0h!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N19W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This runs my r510, Synology DS 212j, hp 2530-24G, modem and AP (Average power consumption of 162Wh). An added bonus it works great with their free virtual appliance power management software and will safely shutdown my vm host in the event of an extended power outage.

Got it on sale for 137 5 months ago.

Having worked in a datacenter for quite a while, and with computers for some time, I've come to trust APC UPSs. The company I work for has had the Tripplites and the APCs, and it seems that the Tripplites seem to have a shorter life span. We also have all APC power systems installed in our datacenter, and they work quite well. Here's a link to the one I have for my MacMini and NAS. The [APC BE650G1] (http://www.amazon.com/APC-BE650G1-Saving-Battery-Back-UPS/dp/B005GZRUZW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343073545&sr=8-1&keywords=APC+BE650G+650) will set you back $80 US, however just think about what it will save you if you had to replace that nice iMac from a lightning strike or something else. Now, how long the battery will last depends on how much you have plugged into it, I usually get about 10-15min with my rig. If you have a 5.1 home theater system, you may want to consider getting one of these for it as well. Call it peace of mind.

EDIT Added Home theater part, I have one for my expensive HT rig.

Aside from thanking everyone who replied, I want to take the time to update on whats going on.

After I posted, I was leaning into purchasing a Fluval Spec V to house Fishy. 170). I started looking for other options such as buying another tank, buying at a LFS or commissioning a tank.

A reputable tank maker quoted me US$45.00 to make a 15 Gallon tank, with the following dimension 16.25''x16.25''x13.25'' (LxWxH) made with .88 mm glass or aprox 1/3''.

In turn, I would have to buy a filter, a heater and light (as well as substrate and plants). Here is what Im leaning towards, advice would be very much appreciated, as its my first tank in about 10 years:

Heater: Eheim 25 watt.


Filter: Aquaclear HOB Power Filter 20.



Light: Finnex Stingray 16'.

An acquaintance suggested I buy this filter instead:

Aquaclear Power Head + Aquaclear Powerhead Attachment.

Even suggested I fit my tank with two of those instead of the HOB filter.

Being a noob, I dont really know much about those types of filters.

For plants Im thinking something like this:

Fluval Anubias 12'.

Fluval Lizard Tail.

Substrate: Im looking forward to adding real plants in the future.

Soil - ADA Africana.

Sand - something along that color.

I already own an APC UPS, similar to this one or even the same one (i dont really remember).

Again, any tips or suggestions are welcome.

APC and Cyberpower are decent consumer brands and you can get units that have been refurbished with new batteries for a bit cheaper than new. Amazon has a better explanation of what this 600VA battery backup can do per wattage: https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Protector-Charging-BE600M1/dp/B01FWAZEIU

So if a 600VA unit can power up to 10W for about 4.3 hours then if your system can take up to 500W at max load it should last up to 5.16 minutes, though I'm not sure of the exact conversion rate and if other efficiency factors may be involved (IE, it may get less efficient nearer to its capacity). At that small amount of minutes you definitely want a UPS that supports USB connectivity to the computer to allow it to send a shutdown signal, which I believe this one does as part of the "PowerChute" software.

Yes, they are definitely worth it. I recommend one of these (they make a 1000 watt version that I use). Drastically increases life of PSU. Also has easy replaceable batteries (should be available at best buy).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003Y24DEU/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1465213051&sr=8-5&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=battery+backup

I put 1000 watt version on all our PC's, and a 1500 Watt version on our home theater/entertainment system.

Also if you can, install this into your main panel, full home surge protector. Tis highly recommended and relatively cheap (takes two breakers).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CONA1OQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1465213282&sr=8-3&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=home+surge+protector

Should be available at home depot, is fairly easy to install, but because electricity I recommend paying an electrician for half hour of work to install it.

I highly recommend this unit: http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W

Fantastic unit. Pure sinewave, gives decent runtime and overhead so I can run all my stuff on it (monitors etc), has enough outlets. Nice lcd display that shows battery level, wattage etc. Has usb charging ports on it as well. Unfortunately the price is a bit high, but definitely worth it. There isn't really much under about 100-150 that will be suitable. I got lucky with mine, microcenter price matched it to a different APC unit they had been selling (which were sold as refurb, but turned out to be new old stock with completely shot 8+ year old batteries)

I don't have the one you linked to but I have one similar.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N18S/ref=oh_details_o03_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's pretty awesome. I have it set up with a VM on my ESXi box to automatically shut the entire machine down in the event of a power failure. Also does email notifications. Completely silent and plenty of information available on the little screen. Probably the best investment I have made.

I know it’s nothing special, but this is my macsetup! I work primarily on video editing projects, some Photoshopping, with some Wordpress website building sprinkled in there. But this setup is used mostly for generic browsing, YouTube/Netflix, and Plex server hosting.


So this is my setup that I’ve built over the course of 4 years.

• Monitor - ASUS Designo MX279H 27”
  
• Wallpapers - Reddit user u/aenami
  
• Computer - Apple 13” Retina MacBook Pro (Late 2013), 4GB RAM, 128 GB SSD
  
• Computer Stand - twelvesouth HiRise for MacBook
  
• Desk mat - PRÖJS from IKEA
  
• Keyboard - Apple Magic Keyboard (AA battery version)
  
• Mouse - Logitech MX Master Wireless Mouse
  
• Tablet - Apple iPad Air 2, 64 GB, Gold
  
• Tablet Stand - Griffin A-Frame
  
• Phone - Apple iPhone 6, 64 GB, Space Grey
  
• Phone Stand - Twelve South HiRise for iPhone/iPad
  
• Speakers - M-Audio AV32
  
• Headphones - Audio-Technica ATH-M50x
  
• USB Power Hub - Not sure exactly what brand it is, but it’s similar to this one.
  
• USB Data Hub - Anker USB 3.0 7-Port Hub
  
• WD easystore 8TB (Not pictured)
  
• 2x - Western Digital 4TB My Book
  
• 2x - Western Digital 2TB My Passport
  Hard Drive Toaster - StarTech.com HDD Docking Station
  
• UPS - APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA UPS (Not pictured)
  
  
  Little sumo man was a gift from a friend. Custom R2-series astromech droid was purchased a trip to Disney Paris. And I name my external hard drives after characters in movies and TV shows that I enjoy.
  
  
  Let me know if you have any questions!

I bought a "CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA GreenPower AVR LCD UPS System" back in March 2009 from Canada Computers for $260

Then, I bought "1 of Set of 2 - CyberPower RB1280X2A 12V 9Ah Compatible - Replacement Battery by UPS Battery Center" in October 2017 from Amazon for $83 shipped to replace the initial batteries.

The unit + replacement batteries are still going strong and have protected me from so many power issues!

Just to be the only one in the neighbourhood with working WiFi during a power outage, it's 100% worth it.

With only modem + router, I can last easily 4 hours (longer outages are rarer, or I'll just go to bed and wake up with power). With my NAS, modem and router, I'm looking at about 2 hours of video streaming during a power outage. With my desktop, monitor, nas, modem, and router, I still have between 5 and 15 minutes of uptime depending on what I'm doing.

Actually, one time I got 16gb of DDR4 ram for $80 when it was going for $150+ because the seller wasn't using an UPS like this, had burnt his computer in a thunderstorm, and was selling his parts for his new build to afford replacement parts instead. So I can say that others not having UPS devices actually made me richer ;)

These days I'm actually looking to buy a 2nd unit, but in the higher end CP1500PFCLCD version for my more sensitive devices (I have a korean UW monitor with mild flicker issues).

I highly recommend using an UPS on all your electronics and computers!

Yeah, it's been a while since I've had any outages. I don't have any specific recommendations because the one I was using was found at my local university's surplus center for $5. I had to replace the battery, but it was fine after that. Something like this should be fine, but make sure you get one that can supply enough power for your printer to run off of it. 500W should be fine, but if you do the same upgrade I did with the additional 24V PSU, you may want to go for the 700W one. Anything should do.

it honestly doesn't matter to much but I'd recommend something like this . but the bigger the battery the longer you have to safely turn everything off before it dies.

Short Answer: Yes, safe bet, can't go wrong (but $$$)

Long Answer: ...

Not exactly as your PC (hopefully) isn't pulling more than 2/3rds of that under max. load. Also something to keep in mind is what else you are plugging into the UPS. Many people put the Monitor as well an accessory or two (like a desk lamp & wireless router/modem) on the battery backup. You can safely put stuff like printers & speakers on the surge protection plugs as they don't pull from the battery.

There is an awesome product called Kill A Watt that you can plug in the wall & see exactly how much juice stuff is using.

But I'm gonna make some assumptions here ... Let's say you want to keep stuff up for at least 15mins (in total blackout) with a monitor, light & modem, likely pushing around ~ 500+ watts , worst case in a "critical gaming session" with everything you want on.

Something like the CyberPower CP1000 or the APC BR1000G would be your best bets.

You can go with a lessor UPS (e.g. less battery power & cheaper), but this will lessen the amount of time you can keep your equipment on & put extra stain on the UPS (or too low, the UPS just won't work & kill the power). Look at a PSU & UPS like a car engine, if you redline it all the time, things will wear out & blow up fast.

Battery backups, I have about 6. I got them for protecting my electronics but they come in handy for times like these. Plug an low watt LED bulb lamp into one of the packs for light.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00429N19W/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_NcilDb5CJP9DP

A Swiss army knife, cause you never know.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00006IS69/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_TeilDbK97VAKG

Food that can be heated with a camp stove, I got the camp stove, a small pot, and the food from REI. Not always needed it's there for emergency and camping. A long click lighter and the long lasting candle as backup. Most important water, I have a Berkey that holds ~3.5 gallons, it's for filtering but holds enough on days the water needs to be shut off for drinking.

Kind of makes me sound like a survival nut, haha, however, life has just brought me things for separate needs, works out.

I just got a ton of the parts for my build and just now realized i may have gotten an incorrect UPS to supply power to it.

The power supply on my build is the Corsair CRM 550. The full list of parts is below.

PC Part picker estimates that my build will use 237 Watts of power.

On top of this build, I also got a surge protector/battery since I want to keep it safe (and my old one is super old).

I got this APC UPS and found that, upon receiving it, it states "550va, 330 watts" on the box.

Will I have to return it and get something bigger if in the case that my build goes over 330 watts of usage?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor | $304.93 @ NCIX US
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $31.99 @ Directron
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $83.99 @ Directron
Memory | Kingston HyperX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $165.57 @ Amazon
Storage | Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $149.78 @ Amazon
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card | $148.49 @ OutletPC
Case | Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (White) ATX Mid Tower Case | $128.38 @ NCIX US
Power Supply | Corsair RM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $107.99 @ Directron
Optical Drive | Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer | $18.16 @ OutletPC
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1139.28
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-24 20:25 EST-0500 |

One thing i'm certain about is that 500W is enough. Your graphic card needs power when doing tremendous amount of calculation like in a game, but doesn't need that much in order to start.
Do you have any way to get your GPU replaced ? If you can and the problem still appears, you'll know it's not GPU related.

Edit : if you often have power outages in your area, I strongly recommend you to buy a battery backup (a UPS, for "Uninterruptible Power Supply"), like this one. It will keep your PSU and the rest of your components safe.

I mean, maybe, but the router is working except for the fact that the radios won't come up. I guess it's possible the power supply is freaking out and changing it may help but I don't see where coax factors into that.
It's always a good idea to have your networking stuff on a UPS anyway as it tends to be sensitive to line voltage changes. There are also dedicated (cheap) smaller UPS devices meant just for basic home networking equipment.
https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Connect-Charging-BGE50ML/dp/B00NTQYUA8?th=1

Having said that, most consumer crap routers live their lives plugged directly into the wall or a power strip so it's not absolutely necessary.
Pure sine wave UPS units are really nice but are not going to be cheap. If you are dealing with a reasonably inexpensive home router (as most are), I would just swap that out first. You can get a fairly decent one for under $50 easily.
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AC1200-Smart-WiFi-Router/dp/B01IUDUJE0

You should look at getting a battery back up, most of those have coax surge protector and some even provide ethernet surge protection as well . Something like this https://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1500G-Back-UPS-10-outlet-Uninterruptible/dp/B003Y24DEU is probably a little overkill for power but will provide you with good surge protection all around (also look at other brands this is just a good example).

They also have protection policies, so if what you have connected still gets shwacked they will pay up to a certain amount to replace it.

> Not sure what an accumulator or torch is in terms of electronics.

He's a gosh-darned brit. A Torch is the British word for flashlight. I dunno what "accumulator" means however. Maybe its a word for UPS??

EDIT: I just want to make sure everyone knows... I'm just saying the above in jest. No hard feelings I hope :-) Its often fun to poke fun at British / American slang and terminology. Them Brits can keep their chips and I'll eat my home fries.

I can not speak from experiance, but here in the U.S I have a UPS for our DVR/Cable box and Router. That way when the power goes out we can still use laptops, and get the TV on briefly. AT&T gave us this and I it works well and has an 8 Hour Battery life.

The one I have has no computer interaction, its just a battery that outputs power when the power goes out. Amazon has this, which seems to be fairly good. Has 8 outlets and computer controlls for to regulate various settings

I'm sure someone else on here can tell you more, but I hope this can give you some more foundation.

I'm looking to get a UPS, but I'm not sure which one to get.

I would only need to it run for like 5-10 minutes, Standard save and shutdown.

My questions is would it be possible to connect two computers to one UPS? Mine is the cookie-cutter 4690k/970 while my girlfriends is just a standard prebuilt dell. Would say this one,

http://www.amazon.com/APC-BE750G-Saving-Battery-Back-UPS/dp/B000Z80ICM

support both computers and 4 monitors? or would I have to buy two of them.

Assuming the total draw is within the threshold I'd just plug both PSUs into a power strip or UPS and then plug that into the Wemo. I wouldn't want to have my mining rig plugged directly into the wall anyway.

I plan on getting a UPS for this eventually but I'm pretty sure you have to get a an Active PFC UPS and an non-active PFC UPS will not work. I'm basing this on when I purchased a UPS for my media server. I bought the non-active one I linked initially and it didn't work, did more research, and had to buy the active one that I linked which did work. Newer ATX PSU's require it I believe. For the time being I'm just using a power strip to plug it in.

Cyberpower or APC.

You're likely going to have to spend minimum $100 and have a size of at least 500W, and for three computers depending on the consumption, more like 750w. These usually come with the ability to power down a single computer.

These are the better "budget" brands of UPS units. Hopefully the unit has a voltage regulation feature for both dips and spikes.

Your electic bill will go up a bit, no matter what you do. Some are better than others.

A line conditioner is a great thing to have in front of any electronic device you care about, but it's not enough to overcome the brownouts and power outages you describe. I agree with SD456 that a small UPS would do the trick.

The reason why you should care is because brownouts cause stress to electronic components. Never use your PS4 during a power event like a brownout or thunderstorm, unless it's hooked up to a UPS.

Yes they are the shit. They protect and some companies will replace any equipment damaged.

I believe apc makes good products.

APC BE750G Back-UPS 750VA 10-outlet Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Z80ICM/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_EvqDwb0HNN3SX

This should keep you powered long enough to automatically shutdown.

Sorry man, UPS is your best bet. There are deals all the time on the CyberPower 1000VA for $85 at Amazon right now. It will save your butt. Just do PMS checks on the battery and you'll be good.

Does your desktop have an efficient power supply? Most of the efficient desktop PSUs employ active PFC. If yours does, you will want a UPS that provides pure sine wave power in case of an outage.

The APC UPSs on sale do stepped sine wave approximation. It might work for efficient PSUs, I don't know. I do know that CyberPower has pure sine wave PSUs that eliminate the question, albeit at a higher price. For example: https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W

I'd personally say plan ahead and go as big as you can afford. A good UPS will last you through multiple rigs.

My personal UPS is an old APC XS1200, which has been in service for almost a decade.

If I was going to buy a new one, I'd personally look at something like their BR1500G. Lots of power (865W) and the option to add on an external battery for much more runtime if you upgrade and find the stock capacity just isn't cutting it anymore.

Though you should look up your specific power supply and make sure it is compatible with a simulated sine UPS. Some power supplies don't play nice with them and require a true sine UPS.

If that's the case, you'll either need a different power supply or a different UPS. Cyberpower makes true sine UPSs that aren't much more expensive than APC.

I'm a huge fan of the Cyberpower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS, it works great with my NAS, has true sine wave output, 1030J surge protection, and EMI/RFI filtering (48dB, 150 Khz-100MHz).

Lots of options but you don't need a pure sinewave, many use a simulated one and it's perfectly fine.

The issue is the pass through.. You need it to be big enough to carry the load of your rig at full power off of the battery.

I have this one and it keeps up with my high end gaming rig with a 1200watt psu..

CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS System, 1500VA/900W, 12 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBK3QK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_HGhwDbZ1PWS6Z

Ah I see. I was actually reading up on power supplies earlier and came up to this post that made me understand the wave lengths.

Do you think that something like this would be solid for my needs?
Amazon Link

Line interactive and uses Pure sine wave.


Thanks for the great info btw. I'm learning quite a bit off this conversation.

I've got two of these and I love them. There's an app that will monitor if the battery backup is being used and you can set to to have the computer gracefully shutdown before the power runs out. nice feature

apc ups

APC Back-UPS 425VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector (BE425M) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HDC236Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_cvqhqhXBnvRwa

Its worth the money. I recently bought one because this same crap happened to me. Had to redownload my game and that took about 10hrs. If you already have a power surge protection you can still use that + this to give you some time to log out of the game and save your ps4 from surges. It pays for itself in the long run.

Next is a charging station.

Bestand Charging Station for Playstation 4/Dualshock 4 Wireless Controller,with Dual USB HUB Charger Ports https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LRPX7E2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_LBo56YWhDQHZ8

I still use it religiously and its great. It really is worth the buck.

Might want to check to make sure it's really the same model. This one is a Pure Sine Wave, not simulated, the equivalent VA at Costco is a 1400va/900w for $180

On amazon this equivalent model is selling for 179.99

If you are patient, Amazon has had the 1400va/900w on sale for $140.

Either way, this is still a good deal for a great UPS.

I run this one -> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBK3QK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00. Got it on sale for $97. It can connect via USB to a VM running on ESXI that can send a shutdown signal to your other hosts/machines. Won't power everything for long but has some good configuration options. Overall I'm very happy with it.

Cheaper, more outlets, works fine.

The TrippLite one I'd use if I was plugging it into a $50,000 piece of sensitive electrical equipment in a controlled lab or something. But for everyday use, a nice power strip surge protector works great.

If I was going to spend close to $50 on a power solution, I'd just get a battery backup anyways.

> APC SmartUPS

i know that the regular powerstrip taht we often use as extension cords dont really protect anything at all. But what are all the different types of surge protection devices? and how do they differ from each other?

For example, there's the simple UPS: these basically dont do anything until a spike, brownout, blackout, power surge happens right? and when it does, it basically gives you a minute or two of time to shut the devices down... so basically it kicks in when it's needed correct?
http://www.amazon.com/APC-BE550G-Back-UPS-8-outlet-Uninterruptible/dp/B0019804U8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463908645&sr=8-1&keywords=ups
http://www.newegg.com/UPS/SubCategory/ID-72

Then there's the kind (like the one more expensive one i linked in main mpost) that continuously convert the power and regulate it into the safest power for your devices, so it ensures that the power going to your devices are the cleanest as it can be. AND it also does everything the simple UPS does as well in case something was to happen. RIGHT?

Is there a need to protect the system this way as opposed to just using a simple UPS that protects when it is needed? For example, if i pick the UPS only route, what am i not being protect from ? What does the continuous regulation of power protect me from that's lacking in a UPS only device?

Have you tested your system to make sure you didn't fry anything? If a PSU suffers a violent ESD, it can smoke your motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU, and SSDs, so you should test them all pretty thoroughly.

In the future, ALWAYS have a good surge protector or UPS. A good quality surge protector like the CyberPower CSP706T is a mere $25. Even a good quality UPS like the CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD is only $200.

Id highly recommend a UPS. A quality APC or equivalent UPS is around $100-150 and is WELL worth it. Imagine youre in the middle of a game and the power flashes, with a UPS youre good to go. I modded a fairly large UPS with external batteries and get around 45-60min runtime with both my rig and server up. Oh and back to the original subject, a UPS also acts as a surge protecter and will cut to the battery if you get a surge.


The BR1000G would work well for most people.
http://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1000G-Back-UPS-8-outlet-Uninterruptible/dp/B0038ZTZ3W

First of all, thank you very much for the help. The TP-LINK is a TL-SF1005D, which is unmanaged, so you are correct, no IP. Not sure how I came up with the IP conflict earlier.

I've updated the future network diagram here (new equipment in orange): http://imgur.com/qoyRQi4

It looks like I will need:

(1) [UBIQUITI USG] (https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Security-Gateway-USG/dp/B00LV8YZLK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495983480&sr=8-1&keywords=Ubiquiti+USG)

(1) 16 PORT SWITCH

(1) [UPS] (https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BE550G/dp/B0019804U8/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1495985064&sr=1-4&keywords=apc+ups)

(3) UAP-AC-LITE

Questions:

• Is it worth spending the extra money for a ubiquiti switch vs netgear?
  
  
• Should I replace the 5 port TP-Link in the office to match the new 16 port switch?
  
  
• It looks like the UAP-AC-LITE has two ethernet connections. Is one in and one out to a hardwired device?
  
  
• Will the UAP-AC-LITE work like a wifi extener? No hard wired connection in, ethernet out to a device?
  
  Cost effective question:
  
  
• Would it be feasible to disable the 2.4 and 5.0 network on the existing E2500 router and install a UAP-AC-LITE for wifi?
  

you will need to look for a UPS that can support the amount of power you are utilizing. All standard UPS's come with multiple power outlets to support many things. So in theory, yes it can support what you need. Your just going to need to look for a higher wattage UPS.

I have personally been looking to pick up this UPS http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W

So, I'm not in an office environment, but I bought one of these: https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-Back-UPS-BE600M1/dp/B01FWAZEIU/ for my 1019+.

It connects properly via USB, and the NAS estimates my time on battery at 3688 seconds. I have gotten emails when the power grid has gone shaky, and when it's come back. The DS1019+ is rated at 38.59w access and 13.32w hibernation... so very similar specs power wise.

Hope that helps.

This is what I use and highly recommend. It's pure sine wave, cheaper than an APC and includes a super simple utility for configuring automatic shutdown. I had a simulated sine wave prior to this and although it worked my psu made a lot of awful noises when running of the battery so I'd urge you to spend the few extra bucks to get pure sine.

https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W

The cli utility also provides lots of good info like remaining battery percentage, remaining runtime, and power draw. I found a nagios plugin for it and now I've got the data graphing in grafana so I can see how much power my server is drawing and average cost/year to run it. That part was just for fun of course but gives you an idea of how useful the utility is.

I have absolutely no idea, but it looks like you may want this if you want to keep you computer on it (over your budget, but currently on sale), or something like this thats more so within your budget but wont support your PC. You could also get a tool to test and get an exact-imate power draw from the wall for what you want to use and then return it and buy your UPS. For the record i simply went to amazon and typed UPS and picked the top two things.

Oh... Thanks for pointing it out. And I was looking for 3 traditional display ports. :D Thanks again. I have just placed an order for processor, mobo and ram.

I have one more question about psu. I swear this is the last one.. hopefully.

There are 2 psu available on Amazon from Corsair. Corsair VS450 450-Watt @2600 rs and Corsair CX450 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply @3700 rs. The VS series has amazing ratings and it is 1100 rs cheaper on Amazon. Is there any huge difference between both of these in terms of performance and durability?

BTW I have noticed that many US gaming communities say that Corsair VS and Corsair CX is low quality and they tell people to avoid it but I have seen people here only go after Corsair. How is Antec VP550P Plus 550 Watt 80 Plus Non-Modular Gaming Power Supply compared to Corsair VS450 or Corsair CX450... in terms of performance, warranty and support.

For the aerators, we bought a bunch of these Baby Bubbles aerators for bait buckets. They say they aerate up to 3 gallons, but it's more like 55, easily - great for sponge filters, too. The AA battery version lasts about 19 hours.

For everything else, CyberPower 1350VA UPS. Since we live in Pinellas, we can turn the air off and unplug the heaters to reduce load on the battery.

I really hope what I did is enough. We had to evacuate, and I'm fearing for my German blue Rams and my apisto. If it comes to it guys, eat the damn tetras!

You may have already ordered this one but I was thrown off by the question and answers in the listing that it's not "pure" sine wave output and devices with active power factor correction power supplies (like synology NAS) might shut down when the unit switches to UPS. I instead opted for this Cyberpower CP1000PFCLCD which is working well to support a 5 drive DS1019+ (you don't say which type of NAS you are looking to protect.)

A UPS with a pure sine-wave will be just fine and protect your console (Pure sinewave is for sensitive electronics, the xbox isn't that sensitive, but I got it just for peace of mind.) I have this and it works great. I had a quick brown out the other day and everything in my apartment shut down except for everything that was plugged into the battery power.

Edit: Linked the wrong UPS! oops

So, let's do some math.

This is a pretty reasonable unit:

http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/APC-Back-UPS-650/P-BE650G1

650VA / 390W @ 120V. $85/each.

Same Unit is $70 on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Backup-Protector-BE650G1/dp/B005GZRUZW

So, lets call them $70/each.

$70 x 60 units == $4,200 every 2 years at random.

You probably need 100-200W per user of UPS power.
Lets split it and call it 150W.

150W x 60 users == 9,000W of UPS capacity.


Consider this large unit:

http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/APC-Smart-UPS-RT-15kVA-RM-208V/P-SURT15KRMXLT

APC Smart-UPS RT 15kVA / 12kW 208v in & 208v out.

$11,700 rough street price.
Add another $2,000 to install a new electrical panel.
Hardware this UPS to the panel.
Move all your users to that panel.

Drive them all off of a single UPS unit.

Yes. You just spent three times the cost.
But now you have a single large unit to monitor and maintain.
You can put new batteries in it every 2-3 years.

Thats a full on-line double-conversion UPS unit.
The users & attached devices will never see unfiltered power again.

If you want something more highly available, with greater redundancies, the Symmetra RT is the next larger hammer to drive this nail.

For the past two years I've had this one hooked up to my components and it's worked flawlessly. I haven't tested it to the limits or had an instance where it's been utilized for more than 10-20 minutes, but none of the components have shut down yet. I just basically plugged it in and put it to work. It can also be connected to your computer via USB or ethernet so you can keep track of power usage, which is a handy feature.

Components I have on backup protection are my computer (750w PSU, 6 HD's, 2600K, 2x270's), 46" LCD TV & Onkyo Receiver. All other non-essentials are just on regular surge protection and if an outtage occurs, the computer automatically gets thrown into "essentials only" mode.

Every time there's been a sudden power surge or the power goes out, and I hear the unit click on, I get a smile on my face and remember that it was completely worth the $100 I spent on it. I don't know how people can live without one any more!

Edit: Make sure you research your actual power usage and qualify it against the units available at the link I provided. You may not need as much power as the exact one I linked.

Thanks for posting that info. I'm not the OP but I'm building my new rig now and I often have power spikes where my lamps dim when the AC kicks on so I've worried about that. Is there any special type of UPS you'd recommend for this? I saw Amazon has this for $140 which is what I was leaning towards as its well reviewed.

This is the one I have, which is major overkill. Has an available wattage of 810 but I only use about 200.

Something like this should be sufficient. It's nothing fancy with no displays, but it comes with a USB cable and should have software that lets you manage some details like how long to run before shutting down your PC in a power outage.

Alternative Amazon link.

Try this. A voltage regulator/ups will make sure your power is always clean, saving wear and tear on your expensive audio gear. The battery backup is great, you'll never lose a session.

this got me curious. my mk3 pulls close to 300 when heating, <50 to maintain and 50-150 during active printing (reasonable temps, 220/60).

consumer UPS are really designed more for safety and protection rather than outright runtime, which is why you always see them rated for load/VA and battery AH is not mentioned. That said, I have a Cyberpower 1500va pfc unit which has something like 200wh of battery capacity. so, probably less than an hour for a normal 3d printer.

A couple grand???

Why not just use this? http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W

I have three of these. They're amazing. They work fine with the business / agent software.

Is there a way for you to set up automatic periodic saving? :)
Sounds like something like that would save you a ton of trouble.

Also, how long are the power outages usually? A few seconds, to a few minutes?
I'm thinking a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) here, something like https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500AVRLCD-Intelligent-1500VA-Mini-Tower/dp/B000FBK3QK/ref=sr_1_1?tag=hotoge-20 would at least give you a few minutes of warning before the computer shuts down.

I got a UPS/surge protector for free, it was something like this one. (not exactly like that, it has an RJ45 labeled "Serial" I think). Would that be good enough or should I get a different one? (The one I have does have a serial port for remote accessing the Web UI, but it requires a special connector - RJ45 to USB, and I don't think they mean ethernet - and the port might be dead). Do I need some way for the server to shut itself down when on battery power or can I live without that? How bad would it be if the power was cut from the R710? (if the power was out for more than the battery in the UPS, even though that is extremely unlikely where I live)

Is your goal to actually run it for any period of time, or to just be able to shut down properly if you lose power? I run this thing (510W version) for my setup, backing up my R9 Fury eGPU, minor peripherals and three monitors (two 4K, 27 and 31" and one older 20 incher). Note that it provides pure sinewave output: Cheaper units do not and may cause a problem with certain electronics. I did not measure how long it should last when the power cuts out, but it it is definitely enough to shut things down cleanly, even without doing that in a massive hurry. In general, a GTX1060 doesn't consume over 150-160W of power, or 200W for higher-end OC models - Let say 220W after AC/DC conversion inefficiency. A monitor eats up around 20-40W. The Beast has a negligible power consumption. End result, you can easily use a 300W UPS unit for a clean shutdown. Just make sure to get a Pure Sinewave output one.

To answer your surge protector wall socket question at minimum a surge protector. Best setup would be a UPS(uninterruptible power supply) not to be confused with the PSU of the computer, this has nothing to do with that. Having a battery backup UPS isn’t a necessity though, but it will allow you time to save work and shut down in the event of a power outage.

Heres one from APC: APC 650VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector with Dataline Surge Protection, APC UPS Back-UPS (BE650G1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GZRUZW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_zDY6Ab8TQ751G

Thanks, this is very helpful. Would the EVGA SuperNOVA 750 P2 and the CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS be a good pairing? I don't mind spending a little more for the P2 over the G2 unless it doesn't really make a big difference.

The extra VRAM is something that you will appreciate as games use more and more of it with every new release.

The Corsair is a better option.

Also look into a good surge protector, or even a UPS if you can afford one. They are worth it.

https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Display-Protection-SMART1500LCDT/dp/B009TZTGWK/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1473271273&sr=1-6&keywords=UPS

Sure. Depends on how long you want the battery back up up last.

I have this one:

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BR1500G/dp/B003Y24DEU/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1486391778&sr=1-7&keywords=ups

This one gives me about a half hour with tv and console on.

This one gives me enough time to save or get to a save point:

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BE350G/dp/B001985SWW/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1486391816&sr=1-1&keywords=ups&refinements=p_36%3A1253504011

10 minutes or so. (Had that one in the past.)

Of course if the consoles are in rest mode and tv are off, they last much longer. Sometimes an hour or more.

That's not a UPS. UPS is Uninterruptible Power Supply. Essentially a surge protector with a battery that, assuming it doesnt trip/blow due to an electrical surge, can keep you PC running for a few minutes so you can do a clean shutdown and clean you normal power so your components last longer.

This is the one I use. It is the cheapest SINEWAVE UPS you can get (long story short, pure sinewave is better for your components). If you just want a cheap backup, this one is also good.

As a side note before i get spammed, yes I know the one I use isn't a true sinewave, but is infact many, many rapid steps that for all intents and purposes creates a sinewave.

This was a simple cluster, not really designed for running a lot of VMs. We run 3 AD servers, a File Server, and one server for a special piece of software. That's a total of only 5 Windows 2008 R2 VMs, but you can see that it can handle much more.

>SAN $230: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RACKABLE-2U-SERVER-S5000PSL-2-x-INTEL-QUAD-CORE-L5420-2-5GHz-16GB-1TB-SATA-/121402377113?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item1c44254399
x2 VM Server $1200: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-C1100-CS24-TY-1U-2x-XEON-QC-L5520-2-26GHz-4xTRAYS-72GB-DDR3-/261355969100?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item3cda079a4c
SSD $75: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-adapter-Internal-CT128MX100SSD1/dp/B00KFAGD88/
x2 Boot Drives $206: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Desktop-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST3000DM001/dp/B005T3GRLY/
x2 Storage Drives $280: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Desktop-ST4000DM000-3-5-Inch-Internal/dp/B00B99JU4S/
x3 Batteries $300: http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1000AVRLCD-Intelligent-1000VA-Mini-Tower/dp/B000QZ3UG0/
Shelf $31: http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-ARS2-Space-Shelf-Accessory/dp/B0002DV0GI/
Server Rack $281: http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-SR4POST25-Cabinet-Capacity/dp/B004OB8T72/
Microsoft Server 2008 R2 $695: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Server-Standard-Packaging/dp/B00H09CF70/
x2 Microsoft Server CALs $298: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Server-2012-OEM/dp/B0093CBTOM/
Switch $66: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-POWERCONNECT-2716-USED-/251627465136?pt=US_Network_Switches&hash=item3a962a69b0
Firewall $90: http://www.amazon.com/EdgeRouter-ERLite-3-512MB-Ethernet-Router/dp/B00CPRVF5K/
Rack Screws $27: http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-SRCAGENUTS-Enclosure-Hardware/dp/B001DW8J5C/
Drive Converter $15: http://www.amazon.com/Icy-Dock-EZConvert-2-5-Inch-Converter/dp/B002Z2QDNE/

That is the full setup from the rack down to the software licenses that runs 144GB RAM and 4TB usable drive space on ZFS with a 128GB SSD Read cache. It falls short of $4k. We use XenServer and OpenIndiana.

That's only two VM servers, but every VM the client needs can easily run on one in case of a failure. Just thought I would share this setup to show that it is feasible to price a VM cluster out at under 6k. This is not the cheapest build I've done, but definitely near it and much smaller than I would recommend for most people. It is actually smaller than I recommended for this client, but it is what it is.

I normally get Cyberpower PFC1500s. I have been super happy with them.

They go on sale all the time on Newegg and Amazon. You get get them for less than $180 when they are on sale.

link to goodies

A lot of folks do amazing work on reddit and rarely get the recognition. I applaud you for helping out people through the internet!

Anyone have thoughts on this UPS?

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00429N19W/ref=gbmh_mob_s-3_3da4_179e402b?m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&dealid=179e402b&pf_rd_p=6a2ae07a-6047-492d-8b7d-1765bf213da4&pf_rd_s=slot-3&pf_rd_t=35801&pf_rd_i=22&pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_r=BVYQKNC8W0P4ABYBSHGD


It has great reviews outside of Amazon and the specs are great, but based on other sites, it looks like the seller jacked up the price and then put it on sale so that the savings look bigger than they are.

I have a 650W PSU and an Acer X34 - will this do the job? Might throw my network peripherals on here too.

if you aren't having long outages, you could get a pretty small capacity one for less than $100. I use CyberPower, but APC is good too. Go for something like this (Amazon link)

Factory resetting the camera usually involves a reset button on the camera itself (push and hold when powering on) then just add it back to the NVR with the same password. Check the NVR system log carefully for any indications of improper shutdown or power loss. If you see these, consider putting the system on an inexpensive UPS like a Cyberpower to protect it from issues resulting from power loss. If no such entries are found in the log, consider replacing the cable running to that particular camera as you might have an intermittent power loss due to poor/damaged cabling. Good luck.

Good:
https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500AVRLCD-Intelligent-Outlets-Mini-Tower/dp/B000FBK3QK/

Better:
https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Outlets-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W/

No such thing as too paranoid when it comes to protecting your baby.....err... computer.

If that's a concern I'd recommend getting a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). The battery inside the UPS can even out voltage to your computer, protect from surges, protect from brown outs, and if the power goes out it will give you time to safely shut down your computer.

I like the APC brand personally. https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BE550G/dp/B0019804U8/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1500430469&sr=1-6&keywords=apc+battery

Thanks so much I have one in my basket now, do you know which psu I should get?

Is this what I'm looking for?
Corsair CP-9020049-UK VS Series ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Power Supply Unit, 450 W https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00X8QBT6M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_vY2GzbTTT52YX

And then there's this one which is almost half the price. . .

Silence 500W ATX PC Power Supply PSU With 12CM Silent Fan And SATA / 24 PIN / 4 PIN / MOLEX https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00P2GE38C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_BZ2Gzb2STNRB6

Or this looks like a cheapest well reviewed option. . .

ACE 400W PSU with 12cm Fan and SATA 24-Pin Model - Grey https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00647L7H8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_l02GzbBB6BC3Y

Ive not tested it with the Pi but the other one I use for travel with my phone. I charge two phones with it while plugged in over night (from a single USB charging brick) and the charge indicator does not "reset", nor does the phone vibrate like its being plugged in again. I assume this is the same for the Pi.

I keep it in a window and it seems to me on a sunny day it would sustain things for quite some time. This is on top of the 100% level the AC power leaves it at. On top of this my modem and router are running on one of these: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B004OR0V2C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OKzfzbBKQX9QT

Even in the even of a power outage I'm generally unaware unless I check logs on another server I'm running but that's a different can entirely.

Looking to get an UPS... My roommates trip the circuit breaker at least twice a week and I really want to protect my investment

Heres my build:

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/p8tfP3

Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/p8tfP3/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

Motherboard: MSI - Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Memory: Kingston - HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory

Storage: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.00 @ Adorama)

Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card

Case: Fractal Design - Define S ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: Corsair - RM 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit

Monitor: BenQ - XL2411Z 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor

Monitor: BenQ - XL2411Z 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor

Keyboard: Corsair - K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard

Mouse: ROCCAT - NYTH Wired Laser Mouse

Total: $49.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-03 04:01 EDT-0400

LMK if the Cyberpower or the APC would be good choices. Im a bit worried since I picked up a massive PSU that I really didnt need. (My build changed over time)

Im assuming that my max power would be under 500 watts but im not sure how that changes under load. Any help would be appreciated

If I plug in straight to my wall I can replicate the "tick" when lights or anything else go on and off, just like you are experiencing. I have anything electrical I care about hooked up to these guys and it completely removes any changes or fluctuations like that.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N19W/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a Cyberpower CP1500PFCLCD UPS. It shows the total pull on the UPS, but not per outlet. It is nice to see though.


But yeah, it's not exactly "cheap", but then again, it's not rack mounted, so it's not obscenely expensive either.

Also, totally worth having. Especially as I purchased mine after having a friend drive into the power poll outside my apartment and damaging some hardware because of it.

> 2tb of hdd and a 64 gb ssd,

Look again; that's 3 64GB SSDs.

You're also forgetting the $150 UPS, almost $100 in fans alone (2 of these and two of these), an $80 OS, a $100 printer, and $150 in peripherals. He probably spent almost $700 on just the stuff you didn't mention.

That's not accounting for sales or anything, and obviously the price will go down since it's used, but this guy clearly spent a lot more than $700 on this thing as recently as about a year ago (the first 7950s were available in early 2012). I'm inclined to be more than a little skeptical of this; it seems like too good a deal, and I can't figure out why the guy (who clearly knows what this stuff is worth) would suddenly decide to sell it so quickly and for so much less than it's worth (especially when he was adding a $300-$400 video card to it just in the past 12 months).

Any regular UPS would be fine for your setup, there's absolutely nothing special about what you've listed lol. Also, 400watts seems pretty high for a laptop, but if you're sure that's the rated wattage, I'd recommend getting something like the CyberPower 1000VA/600W UPS which should have ample headroom for the laptop and everything else and keep you chugging for a little while after you lose power.

You could certainly test your outlets to make sure they're properly grounded. Testers are very cheap at hardware stores.

Depending on what kind of machine you're using/how many outlets you need, a UPS could potentially help protect against future issues. They range from cheap, 10 minutes or so of backup power for a desktop, enough time to shut down cleanly when the power drops and go up from there.

This is the link:
Corsair CP-9020049-UK VS Series ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Power Supply Unit, 450 W https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00X8QBT6M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_n7ZaAbB2JK1K5

Also, would I be able to put something better in? Or which 750ti would you recommend? Thanks mate!

I'm definitely going to get one I'm just having large amounts of trouble figuring out what would be "good enough"

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009TZTGWK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8

this is what i am considering now. funnily, i have been looking at UPS systems for the past hour. Ideally I just want something that regulates the voltage to a strict 120 and let my ISOBAR handle the rest. The power only goes out when we trip the breaker. We have 4 computers and an AC unit on one circuit

• RadioShack 15A PSU
  
  
• Cyberpower UPS
  
  
• kill-a-watt wallwart meter (KAW)
  
  
• Browning magmount dual-band antenna
  
  
• Yaesu 7900R mobile
  
  
• Baofeng HT for testing, 5W TX power
  
  SCENARIOS:
  ---
  
  Test involves TX on the Baofeng.
  
  
• PSU plugged into KAW - drawing up to 8A
  
  
• KAW by itself in wall - 1A
  
  
• UPDATE: Multimeter on the plug of the PSU (no KAW inline) - validates the PSU is drawing at least 1A when the HT is TXing.
  
  As you implied, the inline fuses on the radio never popped, so I know the mobile wasn't actually drawing more than 15A. So either the KAW is being interfered with, or the PSU is.
  
  As far as the UPS blowing up - it was already drawing 325W powering my computers, so I assume that 50W on the mobile might have put it over its rating. I can't believe it didn't have some overcurrent protection (that works).
  
  

Yep it's a good deal, I actually considered buying a second one today. I did have an issue where I had to get them to adjust the price over chat now that I think about it so maybe there was something buddy with the item? Definitely worth the hassle. There's actually another one without sine wave but 1500va on right now as a lightning deal for $138. CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS 1500VA 900W AVR Mini-Tower https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B000FBK3QK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qnAHxb692DZX8

I prefer CyberPower over APC.

I have this one (http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W/ref=pd_sim_e_12?ie=UTF8&refRID=0GEVK7BJS39AB658HGJN) but it is available in a rackmount form factor as well. Super solid unit. Saved my ass more than once.

We use APC at work and I have a CyberPower at home (on Amazon). Happy with both brands. I went with CyberPower for cost as it had great reviews. Have had the unit running for a few years now and it does the job.

There is a difference between surge protectors and a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Surge Protectors protect against excess power surge from your outlet, and a UPS will provide continuous power to your devices during outages as well as protect against surges.

For a UPS I'd recommend: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N19W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What you're looking for is called a UPS, or Uninterruptible Power Supply. A UPS plugs into a wall outlet and provides power to whatever you connect up to it while also charging an internal battery. When the power goes out, the UPS powers the things hooked up to it with the charge in the battery, giving you time to save things before safely shutting down.

This one is reliable and cheap: https://www.amazon.com/APC-BE650G1-Back-UPS-8-outlet-Uninterruptible/dp/B005GZRUZW

Getting a UPS would be a good idea, they are power conditioning devices which use their inbuilt battery to remove abnormalities in the power supply.

They also supply 30-90 mins (depending on model) of battery power in case of an outage, so you can safely play during a thunderstorm or windy conditions.

This is my go-to UPS recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00429N192/

It has voltage correction as it is a line-interactive unit, and also has a pure sine-wave output when running on battery. You could also get a line-interactive simulated sine wave output for about $110. You want line-interactive to keep the voltage correct. Pure sine wave is generally less important but it's hard to find reliable information about whether your power supply can tolerate that or not.

Last bit is about size, just get a UPS wattage rating above your components max power draw. Note that the wattage rating is often lower than the VA rating.

I have an EVGA G2 750W running quite happily on an APC 650W 220V simulated sine wave UPS. This works because my components only draw 340W at peak load (tested) and I talked to EVGA to confirm simulated sine wave was OK.

Last bit is that even if the current capacity matches, you may want a "larger" or "oversized" ups if you need it to run for longer without power. At full load you may only get three or four minutes, whereas at 10 or 20% load you might get an hour.

I would advice you should buy a ryzen instead of upgrading to a already dead platform. A ryzen 1200+b350+8gb ddr4 ram will be ideal choice. I would have waited till zen+ (March-April) next year, but since your pc is dying, it's upto you whether you can hold on.Though 8350 with 1050ti will not be a bottleneck,but may affect in your future gpu purchase. I just checked the total price came less than 300 euros. You can wait till Christmas or buy right away since there are great discounts even now. If you want more cpu performance I would advice you go with r5 1400 or r5 1600, still total price is less than 400 euros.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00J8E90I2/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1509699083&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Ram&dpPl=1&dpID=41ZAB5tT6iL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0741DN383/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509699537&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=ryzen+1200


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B06WW9S5BY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1509699567&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=b350+motherboard&dpPl=1&dpID=51HfbIq-28L&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0088PUEPK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509699605&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=1+tb+hardrive&dpPl=1&dpID=51DmuZNyIGL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00X8QBT6M/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509699642&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=450+watt+psu&dpPl=1&dpID=41EN4y7sk8L&ref=plSrch

Excellent suggestion, thank you!

Do you think an APC 600VA UPS would be good for 2 gaming PCs plus monitors, or should we go for something bigger like a 1000VA?

EDIT - thinking we'll just go with the 1500VA/900W unit to be safe.

EDIT 2 - lots of bad reviews citing problems with those APCs so now I'm looking at other options.

There's a really nice deal on Amazon currently so I just picked up the same unit you have. Can't go wrong with pure sine wave and higher VA/watts... Thanks for the recommendation!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N19W

Cyberpower 1000VA 600W AVR UPS

Got it for free from work. This thing works very nicely and even has a power draw monitor on it as well.

Nice build. I'd recommend an UPS or at least a better surge protector.

Yeah it's probably too small for a gaming PC, if it does work it will be really heavily loaded.

I do have one on my system, this is the model.

Similar setup as your PC, i7-3770k, GTX 1080, 1 SSD, 3 HDD, 750W PSU. I also have my monitors on the UPS as well as my speaker system.

You would be fine with the 1000VA/600W version most likely. I only have the 1500VA because I got it on sale.

Given how much money is sitting in my PC setup I would rather have something I'm sure can handle the load well and has sinewave output.

yeah a good UPS is a good idea even if you didnt have problems with the breaker. I use this https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Battery-Protector-BR1500G/dp/B003Y24DEU/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482612720&sr=1-3-spons&keywords=ups&psc=1

​

|Item|Detail|Amount Paid (Pre Tax)|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Laptop|Inspiron 13 7000; i7-8550U@1.8GHz, 16GB 2400MHz RAM, 512 GB M.2 PCI-E NVMe SSD|$940.79|
|Monitors|2 of Samsung IT LC27F398FWNXZA Samsung C27F398 27-Inch Curved Monitor (Super Slim Design)|$435.98|
|Keyboard|Corsair CH-9101021-NA Gaming Mechanical Keyboard, Backlit LED|$103.99|
|Mouse|VicTsing Wireless Gaming Mouse with Unique Silent Click, Breathing Backlit, 2 Programmable Side Buttons, 2400 DPI, Ergonomic Grips, 7-Button Design- Red|$19.99|
|Dock|Dell USB 3.0 Ultra HD/4K Triple Display Docking Station (D3100)|$108|
|Laptop Stand|Vertical Laptop Stand [Adjustable Size], OMOTON Desktop Aluminum MacBook Stand with Adjustable Dock Size, Fits All MacBook, Surface, Chromebook and Gaming Laptops (up to 17.3 inch), Silver|$25.99|
|UPS|APC UPS 600VA Battery Backup & Surge Protector with USB Charging Port, APC UPS BackUPS (BE600M1)|$54.99|
|Headphones|COWIN E7 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Bluetooth Headphones with Mic Deep Bass Wireless Headphones Over Ear, Comfortable Protein Earpads, 30H Playtime for Travel Work TV PC Cellphone - Black|$62.99|
|Back LED|Megulla Color Bias Lighting for TV and Monitor - Small (39inch), RF Remote and Dimmer -USB LED Backlight RGB Adhesive Strips for HDTV, Desktop Monitors and More -2Pack|$19.99|
|Webcam|Logitech C270 Widescreen HD Webcam and 3 MP designed for HD Video Calling and Recording|$21.99|
|Wireless Phone Charger|Seneo Wireless Charger, Qi Certified Wireless Charging Stand Compatible iPhone Xs MAX/XR/XS/X/8/8 Plus, 10W Galaxy Note 9/S9/S9 Plus/Note 8/S8, 5W All Qi-Enabled Phones(No AC Adapter)|$19.99|
|Flag|Official United States Flag, Flown over U.S. Capitol Building in 2008 (Thanks, Chuck Schumer!)|$0.00|
|Backup Harddrive|WD 2TB Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBS4B0020BBK-WESN|$79.99|
|Total||$1,894.68|

​

If the power in your area is pretty stable yeah this would do fine though if it's a bit sketchy or you get storms that can knock it out I would look into a better-rated one(example) or into a Pure Sinewave UPS(example) if you get frequent outages.

I have this 1 a bit pricey but going on 4 years now it's likely due for a new battery soon it's still working like a champ CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/900W, 10 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429N19W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_evHzDbX6ZCYSE

Hello!

Is there anything I should know/check when buying a used UPS? This is the UPS I want to buy, but it's not really absolutely required for me to go buy a new one, because I don't absolutely need it but it's a nice to have.

Here's the UPS in question. Used ones run like < 50% of the current price.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Z80ICM/

I'm going to start with the assessment that you have an existing UPS like this one. APC 800VA.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073Q3BSPG/
You'll note that it's listed as accommodating 450W.


You've got a 750W P/S in your PC, and probably a ~100W LCD monitor (??). Note also that having a 750W P/S means that it is capable of supplying 750W, not that it necessarily does with your PC's hardware.
Your PC and monitor probably won't be much help, if your router/switch/AP/modem also reboot. So add another ~ 40W for that (not knowing anything about your home network)
Anyway, (750W + 100W + 40W ) * 1.6 == 1400VA


So, you probably want to look at something more like
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009TZTGWK
But... note the the listed runtime at full load. In the case of this one, you get 2minutes. That's enough to ride out any momentarily blips, but not much time to do anything other than immediately commence a clean shutdown.

Holy frick that is so much cheaper than the Cyberpower one I was going to buy (two of!) from Amazon.

Thanks!

Edit: Oh, it's cheaper because, despite APC's claims of PFC compatibility, it's a stepped sinewave output. Rip. Thanks anyway!

Of course it can, mine is natural gas, but not as easy for an electric one. I have a UPS hooked to mine, so I can have hot water during power outages. Mine is a standard PC UPS form APC, with a supplemental extra battery pack hooked into it for a combines 3000VA of power. Mine is US, so 120volt, and is a Rinnai RUC98i, which can heat 9.8 Gal/min. You only need power to run the igniter, and then the brain to allow it to measure and mix the heated water with fresh water in order to bring it to the temperature the unit is set to.

When the unit is on (and mixing hot with cold water) it draws more than when idle. If I leave it on 24/7 it has juice for about 2-3 days of powering just the tankless. If I unplug it when not about to use it, easily a week of power.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y24DEU/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047E5B90/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1