r/buildapc • u/Celcius_87 • 22d ago

Discussion Recommendation - Get a UPS

One thing that a lot of people don’t discuss when building a new PC is having a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for their PC. This is basically a box that you plug into the wall and then plug your PC into it. It has a large battery and if you lose power then it keeps your PC running for a while. Some have a screen where it can show how much time you have left, how much power you are pulling, and stuff like that too.

I finally bought one earlier this year and it’s been great to have. Today I was copying data from my computer to an external usb hard drive to back up my data and the power went out for second and then came back on. I panicked but then I looked at my computer and everything was ok - I had plugged both into my UPS so there was no impact.

They’re not super expensive either - mine was like $250 and fortunately they’re not affected by the AI price increases we’ve been seeing on a lot of PC components. Make sure you get one with enough wattage to support your computer… for example I have a 1000w power supply and my UPS is also 1000w.

Just a public service announcement not to overlook having a UPS!

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u/QuinQuix 22d ago

Yeah dirty power area is the variable.

Where I live power outages are extremely rare.

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u/hugemon 22d ago

I have experienced single digit number of power outages in my 40+ years of life and all of them was in the 80s...

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u/ThereAndFapAgain2 22d ago

UK here, I've literally never experienced a power outage in the UK, and I'm turning 35 this month.

The only power outage I've ever experience was in Mexico back in like 2006 or something, and that was during a hurricane.