I know this is more hardware related, so please let me know if I should move this post elsewhere.

I built my first server earlier this year, and put buying a UPS on the back burner. Unfortunately for me, this might have already been my biggest mistake since going down this rabbit hole. The rental I’ll be in for at least another 10 months has some questionable wiring (a lot of rooms/outlets wired to the same breaker), which I believe has created some electrical anomalies and possibly killed some of my computer components. The memory on my PC went first, and now the 7-month-old PSU on my server is toast.

Bear in mind, I am not an electrician, so I could be entirely wrong on why this has happened. Regardless, it’s time I invest in a UPS. I have searched forums, blogs, YouTube, and cannot find consistent pros and cons for any of the big manufacturers. It seems like APC and CyberPower are the two big consumer grade manufacturers, which is probably what I should be looking at.

Here is what my server currently consists of:

Type Item Notes
CPU Intel Core i3-10100
CPU Cooler Thermalright Peerless Assassin
Motherboard MSI MAG B560M
Memory Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 CL16 Memory
Storage Crucial P3 1 TB NVME SSD X2
Storage Hitachi Ultrastar He12 12 TB HDD
Storage Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC520 12 TB HDD X2
Case Fractal Design Define 7
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 550 Replacement until I finish the RMA process on the dead power supply.
OS Unraid
Estimated Wattage 238W I have not tested this personally, but I will say the server is never really being stressed all that much.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

  • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
    22·
    3 months ago

    PCU: power conditioner unit?

    VRU: voltage regulator unit?

    While the UPS does have lots of upside, there are some downsides to consider:

    Battery is a consumable, off gas venting, perhaps active cooling fan noise

    • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      Yes to the acronyms.

      I’ve not heard of any “gas venting” for these small batteries, but maybe I’m not up to speed on that.

      As far as active cooling fans, that would only be while on battery, not a constant thing. In the case of just preventing line faults from flipping the current on and off, only a battery will prevent that and stop damage to a PSU.

      • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        most AVR, automatic voltage regulators, won’t allow for rapid switching on and off.

        Actively cooled UPSes, especially the ones that do more active double conversions, absolutely always have the fan on.