Advice wanted on Uninterruptable Power Supply for CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES

X

ximo

Member
It's not unusual to have power cuts where I live an am considering getting a UPS but the more I read the less I'm sure what the right thing is.

I have the CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES power unit in the PC which is obviously 650w. Should I be purchasing a UPS that is above that, or one that is just above my system's maximum required power?

Also, how important is having 'pure sinewave' vs stepped/'simulated' sinewave?

The Corsair is apparently Active PFC and I've read mixed comments on this - some say that means it needs to be pure sinewave, but some say that's no longer important on modern systems and stepped/simulated is fine.
 
Wololo_n00b

Wololo_n00b

Bronze Level Poster
Was just about to ask a similar question!! Thanks for asking it xd Yeah I'm not sure about this as well for my PCS system; I'm getting a 1000W RMx Corsair, and I was thinking about getting a UPS for it. Only thing is, from the looks of it on the internet they seem very expensive. I had a look around as well, and from what I saw you want a higher VA UPS than what the wattage is on the PSU? So I saw around that people were recommending something like 1500 VA UPS for 1000 W PSU's. I'm not 100% sure on whether that's the way to go yet though, I haven't done a huge amount of research into it yet
 
Last edited:
Wololo_n00b

Wololo_n00b

Bronze Level Poster
So I'm half thinking of ditching the UPS if it's going to turn out to be very expensive? I get the odd power cut as well so I'm wondering if that's the wise thing to do... could damage be done to the PC if power is suddenly shut off or is it mainly a data loss prevention thing? I'm looking into getting a decent surge protector though

But yeah I'm not super sure on the VA/watts thing so hopefully someone will come to the rescue :ROFLMAO:
 
X

ximo

Member
Wololo_n00b said:
I had a look around as well, and from what I saw you want a higher VA UPS than what the wattage is on the PSU?
Click to expand...

Yeah I've seen it recommended that it should be 20-30% higher. What I want some clarity on is if that means you need to be higher than the maximum capacity of your PSU (in my case 650w) OR just higher than the maximum required power if my set up (in my case, according to to my PC Specialist 'invoice', 292w). If the latter, then obviously I know I need to take into consideration any future internal upgrades or anything else I want to plug into the PC or directly into the UPS which would increase the overhead needed.

Wololo_n00b said:
But yeah I'm not super sure on the VA/watts thing so hopefully someone will come to the rescue
Click to expand...

According to a YouTuber I saw, you just multiply the VA by .6 to get the watts. So if it says the UPS is 500va, then multiply by .6 and get 300w. (or divide the wattage of your power supply needs by .6 to find what VA UPS you need)

I'm sure somebody might come along and say it's not as simple as that though!
 
X

ximo

Member
ximo said:
I'm sure somebody might come along and say it's not as simple as that though!
Click to expand...
...and I've just seen something online that might suggest it isn't - it showed a sticker on a device which reads 1600va/900w.

But 1500 x .6 is 960 and not 900...
 
X

ximo

Member
ximo said:
...and I've just seen something online that might suggest it isn't - it showed a sticker on a device which reads 1600va/900w.

But 1500 x .6 is 960 and not 900...
Click to expand...
It's definitely the odd one out though, and in other examples I've found where both VA and W are shown, the equation does work.
 
X

ximo

Member
The MAIN thing I want to get clarity on though is the 'pure' sinewave vs 'stepped'/'simulated' sinewave issue. Is it important as far as the CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES psu is concerned?

I've seen it suggested stepped sinewave can damage a system if the PSU is Active PFC, which is said to need pure sinewave power.
I've seen it suggested modern systems can handle stepped sinewave.

Which is it?

I'm all ready to buy whatever is needed, but finding an actual straight answer anywhere to what I think should have a straightforward simple answer seems incredibly difficult! But I don't want to spend more money than I need to and stepped sinewave is cheaper if it's perfectly fine to use.

For that matter, is the CORSAIR definitely Active PFC or not? I've only seen one source that suggests it is and the manual isn't very enlightening in that regard.

What it DOES say in the manual is that it has short-circuit protection which "... it also ensures that no damage should occur to the unit, or your PC's components in the event of a short." Does this mean I'm unlikely to need a UPS in the event of a power cut anyway?
 
X

ximo

Member
Looked around some more, and according to a page on the CyberPower website:

"You will need a UPS with sine wave technology if you want to plug-in the following:
  • Apple iMac Computers
  • Computers and Equipment that are Energy Star® or 80 PLUS® efficient systems using Active PFC power supplies.",
https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/blog/buying-guides/choosing-a-ups/

As the COSAIR 650w txm PSU I have has "80 PLUS® GOLD" in its name, I figure that must mean I do 'need' a pure sinewave UPS.

Of course, CyberPower make and sell UPS devices, so I'm sure they will want me to think that! They also don't date their article so I've no idea how true it still is.

They also say "...simulated sine wave output has a power gap at each cycle. Sometimes this power gap may cause stress in the power supply in sensitive electronics, harming them." Although I do wonder if by "Sometimes" they mean "very rarely". How many people are actually getting damaged systems from using the 'wrong' UPS? And how frequently are PCs damaged anyway by power cuts with no UPS? I get the feeling most people don't give them any thought.

I'm not helping myself with these thoughts!
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I'm not sure how to answer any of the queries as I don't have any in-depth knowledge. I do have a curiosity though and it may trigger some thoughts in your head as to the quandaries that you are facing.

With regards to the power output, you want to cover the maximum power that you are going to be using at any one time. If you check the peak draw time of the UPS this will give you an indication of what you need. If you're playing a game and you get a power cut.... all you need is a short period of time covered to shut down the game and then shut down the PC. Unfortunately, playing a game (or utilising the processor/gpu) is where most of the load comes from so you want to cover this particular eventuality. I wouldn't worry so much about the PSU output limit, more the power draw of the system. The invoice from PCS will be a fair indication of this usage so I would work with that.

With regards to the sine wave, the power gap at each cycle..... surely that's when under UPS power and not during standard usage? if it is, I wouldn't be too concerned about the signalling as it's only going to come into play sporadically.
 
X

ximo

Member
Scott said:
I wouldn't worry so much about the PSU output limit, more the power draw of the system. The invoice from PCS will be a fair indication of this usage so I would work with that.
Click to expand...

That was my thinking but I wanted to be sure. So I'm not trying to cover for the potential full 650 watts the PSU can use, but just the more humble max required power of 292 watts my invoice says my system uses. Or rather a UPS that can cover at least 20 - 30% higher than that - or a bit more to cover any upgrades I might add. With that in mind, how much higher can the wattage of my system go anyway if my upgrades are just more ram, more storage and the plugging in of external drives?

Scott said:
With regards to the sine wave, the power gap at each cycle..... surely that's when under UPS power and not during standard usage? if it is, I wouldn't be too concerned about the signalling as it's only going to come into play sporadically.
Click to expand...

Well, I couldn't say with 100% certainty, but yes I think that is the case. My understanding is that any issues around stepped sinewave only comes into play in the event of a power cut and the unit switches to using the battery - and I'm personally not too interested in keeping my PC running for any length of time in the event of a power cut; I just want time to shut down safely. In most cases though, power often comes back on just a few seconds to a minute later anyway (for which I figure the surge protection of the unit could be useful?)

Anyway, thanks for your advice, and I have looked at and considered the same UPS you linked to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top