UPS planning/usage: Active PFC UPS? Skylake?
 

For deciding how large a UPS to buy, I am wondering if its necessary to get one that outputs a pure sine wave...usually that would be for PC's that have Active PFC PSU's, of which none of my machines have.

I don't know what size UPS's you guys use in your setups, but I need to get one for each work area of my studio since I have four sections (each with a PC, some with two via KVM) for different tasks. Also, once I get the funds to build a Skylake based editing rig, if the power supply I go with is PFC based then I would need to get a UPS that will support it. I would assume that you would need to add up the watts on the equipment to get a general idea? I do have a Kill-O-Watt meter that may give me some idea on power consumption.

You'll need a PFC unit, I'm sure. Finding a non-PFC PSU is getting hard to do, especially since most new builds now require PFC power supplies. So just accept that part. And yeah, it'll cost more than non-PFC. That's the price you pay for new tech.

One computer with monitor = one 1500VA PFC UPS
All hard drives, a mini system, a laptop = another 1500VA UPS *(non-PFC)

Buy this: http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1...d8adce34961ada

Don't skimp on power safety or batteries. You'll be sorry later.

Realistic budget:
- Skylake build = $1000
- main SSD = $100 to $300
- secondary 4tb drives = $145 each
- PFC UPS = $215
- IPS monitor = $250
- DVI KVM = $300

Somewhere between $2k and $2.5k is where you'll land.

And then you need to make it last 5+ years to make it worthwhile.

I have no problem in spending the money provided that the new tech works as it should and is dependable. Trust me, as much time as it took to get the gear I have now, I surely can't afford any destroyed equipment. I have a rackmount UPS keeping my two servers in another room running as it should. Unfortunately sometimes in my area power just seems to trip then comes back on right away. I don't notice it where my plasma and HTPC is when I'm watching TV until I see the display come on on the UPS unit. As for my studio I have most of my gear plugged into a tap that when the power is sometimes interrupted the tap does not re-energize until I manually turn the switch back on. Saves my gear from surge damage. The power taps though are temporary until I get the UPS's.

Appreciate the link, I'll check that out!