I really need help with this question about watt usage please!

[Tetras]

I get what you’re saying. It’s not that I’m unwilling to try this, it’s just that if I’ve established that the absolute maximum output is around 900W then surely I’d want to go above that and get a 1000W UPS? I don’t see why a less powerful UPS would be useful when I’d then need to make sure the PC Doesn’t go into that 900W range.

I’m planning to game mostly but also learn a bit of editing and write too.

The reason you get a less powerful UPS than you need for the system at full pelt is mainly about the price.

Generally speaking: you would only rely on the UPS for saving critical/essential stuff, like say if you're writing a new chapter of a book, though even then most editors have an autosave function nowadays.

With gaming, you'd not normally buy a UPS for this, just because this is not essential and say.. you get fragged a few times, who cares?

To get a UPS that can manage say... 100 watts (should cover the idle/light load of almost all PCs) for 5-10 minutes is going to be a lot cheaper/easier than a UPS to cover 500 watts for 30 minutes.

 

[Firegod]

Personally I go for more than required. Don't skimp on PSU. Get something that is efficient, good long warranty, and has more power than needed to cope with transient spikes and future upgrades. And if you never need that extra power, then so be it, but at least it is one thing not to have to think about replacing anytime within the next 10+ years. And that is how I went with 1300w. Totally not necessary but I can just leave it and not worry about it.

 

[hornetstinger]

Personally I go for more than required. Don't skimp on PSU. Get something that is efficient, good long warranty, and has more power than needed to cope with transient spikes and future upgrades. And if you never need that extra power, then so be it, but at least it is one thing not to have to think about replacing anytime within the next 10+ years. And that is how I went with 1300w. Totally not necessary but I can just leave it and not worry about it.

after so many years you'll want to ditch that old PSU anyway, old capacitors etc. Unless you get your old PSU recapped? Getting one large enough for GPU upgrades is fine, but going totally OTT it just wasting money.

What next 10,000W PSU? Best get that, just in case

 

[Firegod]

after so many years you'll want to ditch that old PSU anyway, old capacitors etc. Unless you get your old PSU recapped? Getting one large enough for GPU upgrades is fine, but going totally OTT it just wasting money.

What next 10,000W PSU? Best get that, just in case

I'll personally swap at or about 12 years (so not long after leaving warranty). Personally, I'd be happy sticking around the 1000w range. As you say, it just gets ridiculous but a we know transient spikes exist and can hit up a good 400w sometimes (if not more). And we all know a PSU is most efficient when not fully loaded etc. So yeah, always plumb for a bit more. We see threads on here with issues around PSU due to age and power (black screens, audio lopping, and other tell tale signs) and usually it is because someone has dropped in a new component. I just personally think a 6-700w PSU nowadays is what I'd class as basic for an enthusiast PC build. Obviously use case vary wildily and I'm generalising.

 

[Gray2233]

Yeah unfortunately we do get a fair bit of power flickers. I’ve switched to the RTX 4080 Super now btw. I think I’m confused about how this works. My maximum usage is around 900W so why would a 650W PSU be enough? I don’t want to limit how much capability I can use. Does the smaller watt just mean it’ll run the pc for less time? (Btw I can’t reply anymore since I have a 15 post limit for a new account)

For a 4080S you're looking at a good quality 750-850w.

That doesn't mean you need a UPS in that range, as mentioned by Tetras a 100w UPS would be plenty to deal with the odd power flutter in the area, and even during an outage it'd give you ample time to save what you were doing and shut the PC down.

 

[jigger]

For the UPS you should also factor in the monitor and switch/router if you need internet access. Monitors can have a pretty significant power use. If basic UPS functionality is all that’s needed than I can recommend APC Easy UPS.

A good quality lower wattage PSU would most likely be fine but the downside is lower efficiency and potential for voltage ripple. Listing your full build would probably help.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Bear this in mind: if you have a power cut, your lights will turn off and your fridge will stop running. I imagine you'll be pausing your game and sorting stuff out in the house!

15 minutes at a couple of hundred watts will be plenty.

 

[weird_dave]

A 100W UPS might fail if you happen to be playing a power hungry game when the power goes, a 1000W UPS isn't massively overkill. What you don't want is a huge battery in the UPS as it'll cost a lot to replace after a number of years and could be quite heavy.
The runtime of the 1000W cyberpower is 9.7 minutes at half load, which should be long enough to quit the game, message the clan and do a clean shutdown.
This implies having your modem/router plugged in too, which I would do. don't worry about all the low power devices you might plug in, you are unlikely to hit 1000W. Do get a watt meter though, it can be a useful learning tool.
Unless you plan on getting a threadripper and/or running 2 high-end cards (which I generally wouldn't recommend for 'normal' gaming), you are likely to see maybe 500W used while gaming.
for PSU I'd go 850W, it'll last longer if you are further away from max power. Don't skimp on the cost of this tho (I like EVGA PSUs....)
I'm sure people will disagree with this, that's fine, this is just what 'I' would do

 

[hornetstinger]

A 100W UPS might fail if you happen to be playing a power hungry game when the power goes, a 1000W UPS isn't massively overkill. What you don't want is a huge battery in the UPS as it'll cost a lot to replace after a number of years and could be quite heavy.
The runtime of the 1000W cyberpower is 9.7 minutes at half load, which should be long enough to quit the game, message the clan and do a clean shutdown.
This implies having your modem/router plugged in too, which I would do. don't worry about all the low power devices you might plug in, you are unlikely to hit 1000W. Do get a watt meter though, it can be a useful learning tool.
Unless you plan on getting a threadripper and/or running 2 high-end cards (which I generally wouldn't recommend for 'normal' gaming), you are likely to see maybe 500W used while gaming.
for PSU I'd go 850W, it'll last longer if you are further away from max power. Don't skimp on the cost of this tho (I like EVGA PSUs....)
I'm sure people will disagree with this, that's fine, this is just what 'I' would do

batteries for 1000va could be £140, just did a search and that's unbranded not official APC. You'll also need to reset the UPS that battery has been replaced, I think I had to go into terminal/SSH RS232 to do that.

Just removing the battery didn't reset the counter- it still shows "7 year old battery, please replace"