UPS/Surge Protection

[Vhailor]

Hello everyone,

I've been reading a fair bit about this subject today after deciding there is no good reason for me to be running my PC without some form of protection.

I've just moved into a new flat and I have no idea what kind of state the electrics are in and a bit concerned about things considering the amount of stuff I have here.

First of all here is a list of things I'm running.

3x Dell 2209WA Monitors (Rated at 52W Typical)
Creative Gigaworks 7.1 (Rated at 700W peak RMS, no idea how much it pulls from the wall itself)

My PC itself is quite heavily overclocked and has a Corsair AX1200 PSU in it. I expect at peak this would be pulling no more than 1050W or so from the wall assuming 85% efficiency. I would prefer to leave a little headroom in here though to work with in future

I have right behind my desk 2 power sockets. At the moment I'm using ~6 plugs with having the PC on one and the monitors/speakers/misc on the other.

After having a read through the Surge Protector sticky in the other section of the forum and doing a quick bit of math I understand I shouldnt have any issue running all of this off of one 13A plug, is this correct? If that is the case then I should be fine getting a 6 or 8 socket surge protector for this lot. Is there any particular model that anyone would feel comfortable suggesting?


A second suggestion that got thrown my way was to use a UPS. My first concern with that is finding one that will play nice with Active PFC, I've read a few different places that for most A-PFC power supplies it would be recommended to run a true sine wave UPS. Is there anyone with more experience in this area that would be able to confirm or deny this?


Thanks

[westom]

My PC itself is quite heavily overclocked and has a Corsair AX1200 PSU in it. I expect at peak this would be pulling no more than 1050W or so from the wall assuming 85% efficiency. ... A second suggestion that got thrown my way was to use a UPS. My first concern with that is finding one that will play nice with Active PFC, First learn what you really have. Your PC would be as hot as an electric space heater if drawing that much power. Most who make computer recommendations do not first learn facts. Also why so many hype 1000 watt power supplies for computers drawing only 200 watts. As if more watts means better quality. It doesn’t.

Same with a UPS protector myth. If a UPS really does hardware protection, then you can post each relevant number from its spec sheets. And good luck. A UPS surge protection is listed as near zero. Just enough above zero so that others will hype it as 100% protection.

Most of what you are seeking is already inside every computer's power supply. A UPS provides one function. To provide temporary (and dirtiest) power during a blackout. To protect from data loss.

'Dirtiest' power seen by most computers comes from a UPS in battery backup mode. So 'dirty' as to be harmful to small electric motors and power strip protectors. And made completely irrelevant because computer power supplies are (and are required to be) so robust. UPS power can be so 'dirty' as to sometimes confuse a PFC circuit.

Is any UPS acceptable for that PFC type supply? Nobody can say due to so many different PFC designs. And due to facts you have not provided. The only way to know with certainty is to buy a UPS that costs maybe £400 or higher.

Let’s be clear. An example of why so many myths are so easily created. I did not say a £401 UPS would be sufficient. I only said a UPS to avoid that PFC problem will be something above £400. A subset of all £400+ UPSes.

But this you do know. Any hardware protection provided by a plug-in UPS already exists inside the computer. Same circuits also make 'dirtiest' power from a typical UPS irrelevant.

Do not entertain hearsay from a majority. Most do not first learn facts and numbers. Your only useful answer always includes reasons why with numbers. And due to insufficient facts and numbers in your first post, only speculation can specifically answer your question.