Recommend me a surge protector/battery backup!

[Bags159]

Stuff I want to plug in:

-Comp
E7300
2GB DDR2 800 MHz
460 GTX
(500w PSU)

-24" Acer 243H monitor

-$30 speakers with subwoofer from logitech

My current surge protector is rated at 325W and doesn't work any more, and when it didn't it would get overloaded under intense gaming. Any advice would be great, as I've never personally bought a surge protector/battery backup and don't have any idea what wattage to get; I don't want to buy a more expensive one than I need.

Thanks.

 

[westom]

My current surge protector is rated at 325W and doesn't work any more, and when it didn't it would get overloaded under intense gaming.

Your surge protector is a UPS - does not even claim effective protection.

How big must it be for temporary and 'dirty' power during a blackout? Well, your computer draws about 200 watts. And may intermittently peak at 300 watts. What is the wattage of that display? Add those numbers. Wattage (or current) must always exist on a label adjacent to where the power cord connects.

What happens when a degraded 325 watt UPS tries to output 300 watts? Intermittent failure.

UPS batteries quickly degrade - have a life expectancy of maybe three years. So that degraded batteries can provide 350 watts in three years, get a UPS that is maybe 500 watts.

It is a UPS; not a protector. Those are two completely different items.

 

[Bags159]

Hmm, the box said Surge Protector on it. Whatever I have now has surge protection and battery backup, so that's called UPS? Okay.

My monitor uses about 38 watts and my speakers are about 10. Is there a way to figure out how much my computer uses under heavy stress? I've googled and it seems I'd have to buy something... so I should just use your estimate then?

 

[PowerC]

This is a weird Topic...

 

[McGuinty1]

Mine is this one:

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1500LCD

I've had it for over 2 years now and it kicks all kinds of ass. Even with a modern quad-core and SLI it still gives me almost 10 minutes on full battery to save shit and shut down, and it hasn't so much as hiccuped yet. I'm almost 100% positive that it has built-in power conditioning in addition to the regular surge protection features.

Unfortunately it seems to be discontinued, but this is the recommended replacement:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1500G

Seems pretty good, more plug-ins though 1 less on the battery. Also, none of them are spaced out if you happen to have any power bricks for external hard drives or force feedback controllers like I do. I have no idea if it has power conditioning or not, either, but at the very least it has full surge protection.

Keep in mind everyone, that the components in any surge protector only last so long and are usually toast after one good spike.