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What type of UPS for Mac Pro?

Toups said:
More than likely not. Take into account each harddrive at a minimum of 30 watts, video cards at 150-175 watts each, processor/motherboard at 100, optical drives at 35 watts, and you will probably want a monitor too I am assuming (50-200 watts)?

At a minimum, you will need 800 or more (assuming 100% efficiency), I would recommend no less than 950/1000kva for that setup.
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thanks very much! and sorry for the double post. If i dont plug a monitor, just the macpro, will 600 VA be enough?

This is the sum I am making and I am guessing 600 are enough:

Cpu+motherboard (100)+ 4 HDs (30*4=120)+ 2 Video cards (110 (8800)+50 (2600)=160)+ optical drive (35)= Total of 415

thanks in advance :)
 
I have the Back-UPS XS 1300

I have my Mac Pro (see sig), 23" ACD, Router, Cable Modem plugged into it.

With all of that on, it shows: Runtime of 16 mintues, 264w load, load 33%
With the display off: Runtime of 21 minutes

-Kevin
 
Thanks!

I am a bit confused, the only purpose of a UPS is to keep the computer going if the power source is gone, right? so even if my computer needs more than 600va it will run fine? and if the power is gone what will happen?
With kbmp answer I am guessing my 600 va will be enough then, I will only be pluggin the macpro to it, so if the power is gone how can I calculate how many minutes I have until the ups runs out of power?
also, whats the difference btw VA and watts? 600VA=600 watts?
 
faumble said:
Thanks!

I am a bit confused, the only purpose of a UPS is to keep the computer going if the power source is gone, right? so even if my computer needs more than 600va it will run fine? and if the power is gone what will happen?
With kbmp answer I am guessing my 600 va will be enough then, I will only be pluggin the macpro to it, so if the power is gone how can I calculate how many minutes I have until the ups runs out of power?
also, whats the difference btw VA and watts? 600VA=600 watts?
Click to expand...

If your system needs more than 600va, which it does, you will have a brown-out and the ups will shut down. Do NOT go cheap on a UPS, since you can get some really nice 900va+ units for around $100 or less.

This not only protects from outages, but from those times your a/c kicks on, or a hairdryer, microwave... all it takes is a very small dip in power while writing to a drive to corrupt it.
 
I've got the APC Back-UPS RS 1500 with an additional battery for extended run-time. Presumably this will be ok with the Mac Pro 8-core 2.8GHz? In a few years when I need to renew my UPS is it worth paying the extra for Smart-UPS? Do things like sine waves vs square waves actually make a practical difference?
 
Thanks :), could you guys point me to a few good not very expensive ups for my setup?:
single 2.8
4GB Ram
ati radeon 2600 & nvidia 8800 (for 3 monitors)
4 harddrives: 2 of 500 GB each + and 2 of 1TB each
single optical drive


thanks in advance :D
 
Which of these 3?

I think I mam going the APC way, unless anybody has any other recommendations, which of these three is better? they all cost the same..
1500
800
900

thanks
 
faumble said:
Thanks!
also, whats the difference btw VA and watts? 600VA=600 watts?
Click to expand...

My answer to the exact same question in another thread.

amik said:
Va is volt-ampere and it is a weird unit because Volts X amps = watts, but Va is used to describe power to reactive loads. This is where some current is being returned to the source as the current flow changes, and therefore the peak amperage draw is higher than would be indicated by a consumption rating using watts. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volt-ampere . So 550 Va means at 120v it can deliver 4.58 amps to a reactive load. Va matters when you are sizing a cable or other component to carry the current and the power factor is less than 1 for the device being powered.

The 330w rating is for purely resistive loads, so it can deliver 2.75 amps into resistive loads at 120v (330/120).

A computer has a power factor less than 1 so it is important to size UPS units based on the maximum instantaneous current flow in either direction. That's why you typically see that the .6 power factor used in their calculations, 330/0.6 = 550.
Click to expand...
 
faumble said:
I think I mam going the APC way, unless anybody has any other recommendations, which of these three is better? they all cost the same..
1500
800
900

thanks
Click to expand...

The 900 will power it fine in a power outage or brownout, but anything below the RS1500 has the issue of being overloaded if the Mac Pro tries to wake from sleep while on battery power - just something to consider.
 
I have mine on a Belkin F6C1500. It does not overload on wake, but my machine has only a single CPU and single disk.
 
My UPS came today and I am very impressed. I have my friend's Mini, a 19" LCD and powered speakers and two external hard drives plugged into it, and this load is 5% of what it can handle according to the LCD on the outside. Also I plugged the USB cord into my hub and I got this in energy saver: Picture 5.png


Very awesome. The battery was a bit difficult to connect but I got it after a minute or two.

Another screenshot:
 

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From experience, note the following compatibility with the Apple "energy saver" UPS panel:

APC: Works in Tiger and Leopard

Belkin - server grade (tall towers): Works in Leopard but not Tiger

Belkin - desktop grade (mid-sized UPS): Did not work in the Leopard system I tested it one on at work; never worked in Tiger.

Tripp Lite: Does not work with Tiger. I have not tested it with Leopard.

---

As of about 1.5 years ago: Tripp Lite offered software for Mac to run their UPS. It was for OS9. It was not useful.

Also, Belkin offers software to support UPS on Mac called Bulldog. The "desktop grade" one created a nice, huge security hole in Tiger...I assume it does so in Leopard too (the security hole did not exist on the server grade version). It loads it's app before the login screen as root. Then, because it is running on the "root" user, you can access the entire system from the login screen as root. It essentially removes the security to prevent root access during login by running an application in a way that shouldn't be run before login, thus giving you access to the menus, thus the control panel, and thus anything that can be spawned from the control panel such as help, which can in turn access other stuff. I managed to get to stuff where I could really disrupt the system, such as create a new Admin user. As for functionality, both the "desktop grade" and "server grade" software wasn't great, though it did function.

---

Also, I was mistaken about the UPS I was getting. I got a 1250VA Belkin server grade UPS. I was thinking I got a 1000VA when I posted last...thinking I went the next lower rather than the next higher of the desktop grade UPS.

Also, if you are driving monitors off the UPS, you need to bump them up a little more in output. Think of this: a 3A LCD draws 120V; that is 360VA. It can add up fast, especially if you have multiple monitors.
 
Can anyone tell me if these models would be sufficient for a 3.2 Mac Pro with 8800GT with 4 1TB Drives?

APC Smart-UPS 1500VA USB & Serial 120V SUA1500 or
APC Back-UPS RS 1500 LCD 1500VA 8 Outlet BR1500LCD
 
About that APC 1500VA unit...

I've been reading that the last rev of the Mac Pro killed the UPS when running on battery and comming out of sleep. Can anyone confirm this? If your Mac is asleep when the power goes, can you wake up the Mac Pro and shut it down? Or does the UPS overload and instantly power off the Mac Pro when you wake it up?
 
krye said:
About that APC 1500VA unit...

I've been reading that the last rev of the Mac Pro killed the UPS when running on battery and comming out of sleep. Can anyone confirm this? If your Mac is asleep when the power goes, can you wake up the Mac Pro and shut it down? Or does the UPS overload and instantly power off the Mac Pro when you wake it up?
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Certainly the Smart-UPS 1500VA version works fine.
 
You shouldn't plug your laser printer into the battery backup. Those things take gigantic amounts of power and dont need to be run while the power is out in the house. The UPS gives your workstation ten minutes of power so that you can save and shut down your applications.
 
Will the APC 1300VA work fine with the new Mac Pros? Mine is the standard config 2.8ghz 8core with only 4 hard drives added. Only other thing I will plug up to it is my Dell 24" monitor and possibly my speakers which draw 45VA. Reason I ask is that it is on sale at Circuit City for 129 right now.
 
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