External Backup Power Supply

Hi all:

I'm very pleased with my new Digital Storm PC but have encountered an issue and I'd like to appeal to the enlightened assistance of the community to solve it.

The service from my power supplier, Rocky Mountain Power, has recently become erratic.  Case in point:  I experienced 7 unscheduled power surges yesterday; (after the second I shut down my system to prevent damage and further RAID rebuilds.)

Given the value of my system I've decided to explore purchasing an external backup power supply, something that would give me sufficient time (5 minutes) to power down my system gracefully.  Two questions:

1.  My system has 1000W Corsair power supply but the highest draw I see on my Kill-a-Watt meter on the plug is 220W.  (I have a single NVidia graphics board.)  What wattage am I likely to require for my backup power supply.

2.  Is there a particular unit or vendor you would recommend based on your experience or expertise?

As always, thank you in advance.  The Digital Storm community is awesome.

The thing you need is time to be able to properly shut down your system and also protection from surges to avoid the headaches with the RAID. Also, seeing as how you're having cr@p reliability with the power supply company, I would invest in an APC UPS, preferably something that you can add additional batteries to as your system's wattage demands increase. Its probably going to cost close to $400 for one that will keep your system going for around 30 minutes(with an expected potential 400+ watt draw).

Another thing I would do is go after the power company if these damaging surges are regularly occurring and the power company isn't doing anything about it.

APC Power Saving Back-UPS Pro 1500 + (1)BR24BP Battery Unit $394.98
Runtime:   100 minutes @ strictly 220 Watts
Max Capacity used: 25%

Note: This calculation does not include the power draw of other necessities(Wattage drawn by monitor) or 'possible necessities'(modem/router/Wi-Fi, etc.) which is why I went with the above example model, keeping in mind that your system may exceed 400+ watts with future upgrades. When 440 watts is constantly needed to keep everything running, it drops the runtime down to approximately 35 minutes.

Are there cheaper power supplies, I'm sure there are, but the few people I know who use them go with APC. I would contact their company(or another if you know of a better one) and talk to one of their reps so you can get one that meets your specific needs.

Thanks BOTA:146 and Acetylide for your most helpful recommendations.  One additional question:

The APC units have stepped approximations to a sine wave whilst the Cyberpower (which is more expensive) offers a smooth approximation.  Is there any reason the latter is preferable?

Originally posted by Thomas WJ Thanks BOTA:146 and Acetylide for your most helpful recommendations.  One additional question:The APC units have stepped approximations to a sine wave whilst the Cyberpower (which is more expensive) offers a smooth approximation.  Is there any reason the latter is preferable?

Forgot to mention, an example of where you would want a purer sine wave instead of stepped would be for things like synchronous AC motors.


Pure Sine Wave

Been having a problem with the monitor shutting off. Switched minitors and my smaller 19 inch shut off once as well but was able to re start it. afraid it might be my old apc. any thoughts as to what apc ups would accommodate the below build?

System Configuration:

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Digital Storm Velox
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz (Codename Skylake) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS VIII HERO (Intel Z170 Chipset) (Up to 5x PCI-E Devices)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair HX1000i (Digitally Controlled Power)
Expansion Bay: Option Not Available
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 8x / CD-Writer 8x) (Internal)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD M.2 (256GB Samsung 950 PRO) (NVM Express) (Extreme Performance)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 2x SLI Dual (GeForce GTX 1080 8GB (EVGA SC ACX 3.0) (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D15 (Extreme Performance)
HydroLux Tubing Style: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
HydroLux Fluid Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
Cable Management: Exotic Cable Management - White - (Cable Combs with Custom Color Sleeved Extension Cables)
Chassis Fans: Corsair Airflow Performance Edition (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: Remote Controlled LED Lighting System (Multiple color options and lighting effects)
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU - Up to 4.4GHz (Depends on Cooling and Motherboard)
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: FREE: McAfee AntiVirus Plus (1 Year Service Activation Card) (Not Pre-installed) ($35 Value)
Office: Microsoft Office 2016 Office Home & Business (PC Attach Key PKC Only, No Pre-install)
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)