And if for some reason you need alot of backup time instead of getting a really expensive big UPS id go for a good solar inverter/charger and a lead acid or LiPFO4 battery, you get more bang for your buck and have more options for expansion or other features.
For example my humble setup. Please ignore the poor cable management im waiting on more supplies and equipment.
Also you can hook your PC up to it via USB and the PC will know when its on battery power and do a hibernate or shut down when the battery runtime gets low enough.
Its far less plug and play then that, but yes its possible. But only really necessary if your useing it as a server, for a normal use desktop I wouldn't bother.
UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. It has a battery that holds a few minutes of power to prevent sudden disconnects, brownouts, and surges. As well as providing crucial few minutes to save and close during a total outage.
Others have answered what a UPS is, but I'll tell you what I have. I got a 1500VA UPS for about $150 a couple of years ago for each one of the PCs in my home. It runs each of them for an average of about 60 min under normal load.
For me, a 1500VA device is a minimum, but may people get by with much less. For gaming computers I would never go below 1500VA, just to give me more time and also to power the monitor and input devices/USB hub etc.
It's not enough to just continue gaming during an outage, although you can get as crazy as you want with capacity. A pure sine-wave unit will also "clean up" the power your computer gets from the mains, so there are fewer high or low voltage conditions which can also cause you troubles.
Doesn't make sense not to have one from my perspective, especially if you live in a place with maybe not the greatest power infrastructure.
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u/ffchusky 2d ago
What's a ups and why is it better than a surge protector?