Question about battery backups...

[Onionsoilder]

Well, after hearing about about the frequent power outages in my area, I got a battery backup for Christmas! Wohoo! The only problem is, I'm not sure it's big enough... It's labeled as 750 VA and 450 w, but my PSU is a 750 w. Does anyone know if I need to get a bigger backup, or will this one work?

 

[Speedo]

That depends entirely on how much power your PC (+ monitor) actually draws. If yours is a fairly average system with an average sized (19-20") LCD monitor, you can probably expect to draw some 200W at idle. Just be sure that the ONLY major components that will actually draw from the battery are your PC and one monitor.

 

[Cutlass]

I have a 350 watt backup battery on a core 2 PC with a 19" LCD monitor. The battery will keep the PC running for 4-5 minutes.

So while you will not get much time out of that backup, you will have plenty of time to save and exit and shut down.

 

[taper]

It's important to note that 350 watts is the amount of power your UPS can source at once, and has no bearing on how long it will last. That would be watt-hours, which isn't always mentioned on the package. VA means volt-amps, and is the unit of complex power, watts is real power. Not really something the average user needs to worry about though. My UPS is 900VA, don't remember the wattage, my rig draws about 350 watts, and it has lasted over an hour on battery with my monitor off.