Recommended Posts

Hi Peeps,

I am in AUSTRALIA, so please consider that for pricing...seems to make a big difference sadly =(

I am running a pretty standard bubby home server. i3-2120, 500W Platinum Rated PSU, no dGPU, 7 WD Greens (which windows can turn off) and 3 low power 120mm fans. It doesn't really do much 99% of its life, just sits there and looks pretty.

I am after a UPS primarily for the sake of nice clean power, and also to accommodate for very short power outages (<5mins). Generally if the power goes out here for longer than a few seconds its cos something major has gone wrong and half of the grid is down.

Basically...what brands do people think will be good? I mean there are plenty of "K-Stars" and "Ritmos" which i know are crap, but what about something like a Power Shield? I was looking at the <$200 mark ideally.

Thanks for any help you can provide =)

Cheers,

UL

Oh, and I have read the other UPS threads - that means I am aware of the UPS/SPS debate thing =P

Edit: Just found a Belkin. Seems good for the price. While I know they are a 'brand name' for some things...would you trust them to be semi-reasonable for a UPS? (I don't need enterprise-grade quality remember)

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1118517-ups-suggestions/
Share on other sites

I highly recommend APC (American Power Conversion by Schnider Electric)

I have the Back-UPS XS-1000 and it powers my system that has a 620W PSU for approx 32 minutes using browsers and media player and encoding (using all 4 cores) at about 18-22mins.

I paid around 120 for mine, however the price is prolly lower.

Thx for the tip RMC, Yeah I saw the XS-1000 mentioned on the other thread, however I don't seem to be able to find it, only the 650 VA. There is a 1000VA APC, but its the Smart-UPS and they're >$500 =/

Australia, the ugly sibling of the tech world, seems to be stuck with the brands of UPS people haven't heard of =P (Socomec, Eaton, Upsonic, CyberPower, etc)

No problem ;-)

Eaton is actually used in a buncha datacenters. I know of that brand.

I'll bet shipping is a killer from the US so that's not an option unless you get someone to buy it for you and ship it to you for less then direct.

How long have you searched for this????

I have an APC - replaced an earlier APC but with a lot more VA. Both work perfectly. I'm in a remote rural location with long overhead power lines, and short (<1 min) outages are pretty common. The APCs hnadle those, no problems, the current battery gives me about 20 mins max.. The software is also pretty good; I'm configured to hibernate the PCs when the remaining battery life is 5 mins, which guarantees minmum problems for the rarer 1/2 hour outages.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Ford execs say they made a mistake when they replaced human engineers with AI by David Uzondu Ford recently announced that over the last three years, it's had to rehire about 350 "gray beard" engineers to mentor younger staff and reprogram diagnostic systems and AI tools that were failing to meet up to quality expectations. The company's VP of vehicle hardware engineering, Charles **** said that leaders overlooked the deep experience of veterans who survived many product cycles. **** admitted that simply replacing them with AI was a huge mistake, and that while AI is "a fantastic tool," it remains "only as good as the information you use to train it." The rehired engineers now run mandatory meetings to troubleshoot vehicles and reprogram automated engineering software and AI tools to prevent glitches before production. These technical specialists hunt for failure points before parts ever reach the plant floor, helping prevent the massive recalls and defects that previously cost the company billions as it aims to cut one billion dollars in expenses this year. In last year's JD Power Quality Survey, an annual study that measures the quality of a car during the first three months of ownership, Ford finished 10th among mainstream brands and scored below the industry average. But this year, JD Power ranked the automaker as the top mainstream brand, placing it above the likes of Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ford attributed this massive improvement directly to the expertise of these returned engineers. Ford's realization that AI cannot magically design and test quality vehicles without senior human oversight is just the tip of the iceberg. When Careerminds looked at companies that conducted AI-driven layoffs, researchers found out that 35.6% of those companies had to rehire more than half of the employees they previously fired. Another 32.7% had to rehire between 25% and 50% of them. In 2024, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, proudly announced that its new chatbot was doing the work of 700 full-time customer service agents. As a result, the fintech company froze hiring and cut hundreds of positions. But by mid 2025, and into 2026, Klarna was scrambling to recruit human agents again because customer satisfaction had plummeted. It turns out, while AI is very good at answering basic questions like how to check an account balance, when faced with complex customer issues that require nuance, the thing usually resorts to the unhelpful, robotic corporate jargon we all know and love.
    • Free AI in IDEs is shifting to paid models Or you know, you could just learn to actually design and code apps, use frameworks to handle the repetitive parts and not use AI at all - and voila... free for life!
    • In a sane world US antitrust laws wouldn't even allow these companies to be in the position to be subjected to EU directives. As you say, better than oligarch nothing.
    • Apple reportedly has a second-generation iPhone Fold planned for 2027 Good grief, Apple hasn't even released a first folding phone and the Apple faithful is already obsessing over the sequel? Seriously people, go out and touch grass... because this level of obsession is borderline stalkery/neurotic.
    • I checked on the IPs associated with every login and they're all mine... And whenever I get a new prompt, there is no activity to show for it. 
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Enthusiast
      Xonos went up a rank
      Enthusiast
    • Conversation Starter
      Admir earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      405
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      169
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      129
    4. 4
      neufuse
      69
    5. 5
      Xenon
      68
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!