Advice on what UPS I should get

I'm going to build my first server and would like advice on what UPS I should buy. I know Unraid supports APC so I was looking at the APC BR1000G 1000 VA 600 w 8 Outlets Power-saving Back-UPS. I'm wondering if this will be enough and if anyone has any other suggestions.

Here what my server looks like so far.

Motherboard:

JetWay JHZ03-GT-V2-LF AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:

AMD Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 45W Single-Core Processor SDX140HBGQBOX

RAM:

Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3N9K2/2G

PSU:

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

Case:

NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays

SATA Expansion Cards:

SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS SAS RAID Controller x 2

SATA2 Serial ATA II PCI-Express RAID Controller Card (Silicon Image SIL3132)

Cables:

House Brand Molex 79576-3007 Mini SAS / SATA Cable x 2

SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Internal Multilane SAS Cable x 4

Fanplate:

TBD

Fans:

TBD

Hard Drives:

TBD but all green drives

UPS:

TBD

Unraid Addons:

UnMENU

SNAP

Preclear Disk

Monthly parity check

I'll be using J. River Media Center to access/manage most of the files in my Unraid server.

It is VERY difficult for any of us to just look at your specs and determine how big of a UPS you will need.  The power draw from your server will also vary depending on what the server is doing, how many drives are spun up, etc.  Here's some generic advice:

1) unRAID spins up all drives during its shut down process, so you need a UPS that can handle your server at full load for a few minutes.

2) APC brand is best (you already know this)

That said, the APC BR1000G is a very high quality unit, and I do recommend it.  I use that exact model to protect my home theater system (I originally paid $100 shipped for it while it was on sale).  I also have the APC BR700G (essentially the same unit, just less powerful) that I recently picked up on sale for $100 shipped.  I have a CyberPower UPS as well that I don't like very much.

Since you are building a server with a 24 drive capacity, then I think the 1000VA unit is the correct choice.  For smaller servers, I would probably recommend the 700VA unit.

Ultimately we can't know for sure what will and won't work with your server until it is built and you have tested its power draw using a Kill-a-watt or voltmeter.  I feel that the 1000VA is a safe and high quality choice, but I can only be 90% sure that it will work.

I have a similar setup to yours. Different CPU/Mobo.

With 15 drives in(most green drives) my APC maxes out the load around 160 watts. This is during a full parity rebuild so all disks but the cache disk are active.

I have a APC BR1500G that I picked up from amazon for $189 (Its gone up a lot in a week). I added my other smaller server to it and now it runs around 260 watts when both are running full speed.

Looks like I'll get this model, thanks for the advice. For anyone interested I found this Runtime Graph at the APC site. I also used Josh's Build # 1 post. He measured his power usage and I doubt mine will be that high.

Active PFC and dirty sinewave UPS output.  While people may be successful using a "non-pure" sinewave output UPS, what it does to an active PFC PSU is, well, not good in layman's short wording.

I suppose many have been successful because they're having their servers shutdown when the UPS kicks in and/or within minutes of it losing charge.  Maybe they're just lucky.  But the method in which an active PFC PSU operates, rectifies/switches combined with a very non-linear sinewave (more like square) UPS, eh, electronically, not a great idea.

Unfortunately, too many 600w+ depend on active PFC technology, vice using a heavy transformer (though active PFC are more efficient), if not downright all of them worth a darn.  So they're is no real escaping this.

So, go for the purest sinewave based UPS, which is expensive, or go adaptive/"pure"..  I decided to go adaptive:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102134 as I really didn't want to drop $600+ on a UPS for the home.

I've yet to take it on my oscope during battery based operation, I was more in a rush to get my unRAID up and running.  <grin>

I found CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD UPS 1000VA / 600W PFC compatible Pure sine wave, same spec/price as APC. I'm a bit concerned since Rajahal stated he didn't like CyberPower that much and it looks like he's been around a long time. I'll look into CyberPower tomorrow.

Yeah, they're not confirmed, by anyone that I've seen thus far, to perform a proper shutdown I believe was his concern.  Many seemed to have used the non Smart UPS just fine.  <shrug>  My luck usually isn't the best, so I opted for the Cyberpower.

Yeah, they're not confirmed, by anyone that I've seen thus far, to perform a proper shutdown I believe was his concern.  Many seemed to have used the non Smart UPS just fine.  <shrug>  My luck usually isn't the best, so I opted for the Cyberpower.

 

Not a lot of info on CyberPower working with unRaid or how well it works as a PSU.

Right, CyberPower UPSs traditionally don't work as well with the apcupsd plugin.  This means that the UPS may work fine as a 'dumb' UPS, but won't be able to shut down your server properly.  This is fine for power blips, but it doesn't help you much if there's an extended power outage and you aren't home to shut down the server.

I'm no EE, so I don't know most of what grandprix is talking about.  I thought that the server's PSU cleaned up the power before sending it to the rest of the components, so it didn't matter how dirty the power was coming out of the UPS.  Still, I'll trust grandprix's word if he knows more about this stuff than I do.

Frankly, after reading grandprix's post about non-pure sinewaves, I got a little nervous and did some more googling. From what I gather, everything he said was accurate, however Corsair, at least, claims it's a non-issue with their active PFC power supplies. Here's a sample of what one Corsair Rep responded with:

I can't remember a case where a UPS damaged one of our PSUs. The only thing that I have seen regarding behavior with non-sine wave UPS backups, is that when you are running on battery power, you may hear the PSU buzz/humm. This is typically common with high efficiency PSUs, and would not indicate any functional problem, or increased chance of failure or damage.

Source

Makes me feel a little more comfortable about my recent purchase of a APC SC1000 which uses a Stepped approximation to a sinewave. My Corsair TX750 doesn't seem to make any noise at all when on battery power (Though the UPS hums like crazy).

That said, some other info I pulled from the web, does add the caveat that this is only for N. America (120v)

The conclusion of the conversation was that if you're on a 120V system (i.e. N. America), you can still run their active PFC power supplies on a non sine wave UPS. He said that while the situation is not "healthy" for the PSU, the actual damage to the PSU would be effectively negligible in normal situations, i.e. as long as you don't run your system on battery power for unusually long periods of time, which he defined as "every day and every hours." The engineer compared it to smoking, saying that it was "unhealthy," but it doesn't kill you immediately.

Note: No personal knowledge. Merely repeating info pulled from various forums...

Frankly, after reading grandprix's post about non-pure sinewaves, I got a little nervous and did some more googling. From what I gather, everything he said was accurate, however Corsair, at least, claims it's a non-issue with their active PFC power supplies. Here's a sample of what one Corsair Rep responded with:

I can't remember a case where a UPS damaged one of our PSUs. The only thing that I have seen regarding behavior with non-sine wave UPS backups, is that when you are running on battery power, you may hear the PSU buzz/humm. This is typically common with high efficiency PSUs, and would not indicate any functional problem, or increased chance of failure or damage.

Source

 

Makes me feel a little more comfortable about my recent purchase of a APC SC1000 which uses a Stepped approximation to a sinewave. My Corsair TX750 doesn't seem to make any noise at all when on battery power (Though the UPS hums like crazy).

 

That said, some other info I pulled from the web, does add the caveat that this is only for N. America (120v)

The conclusion of the conversation was that if you're on a 120V system (i.e. N. America), you can still run their active PFC power supplies on a non sine wave UPS. He said that while the situation is not "healthy" for the PSU, the actual damage to the PSU would be effectively negligible in normal situations, i.e. as long as you don't run your system on battery power for unusually long periods of time, which he defined as "every day and every hours." The engineer compared it to smoking, saying that it was "unhealthy," but it doesn't kill you immediately.

 

Note: No personal knowledge. Merely repeating info pulled from various forums...

Thanks for doing the research I feel a lot better about buying APC.

Not to mention that a APC branded sinewave device is $400+ and my power supply is about $70.

If push comes to shove I will just replace my dead power supply vs spending the extra $200 for a higher end APC ups.

Glad to hear what Corsair said though as thats the same PS I have running.

Not to mention that a APC branded sinewave device is $400+ and my power supply is about $70.

 

If push comes to shove I will just replace my dead power supply vs spending the extra $200 for a higher end APC ups.

 

Glad to hear what Corsair said though as thats the same PS I have running.

A fair point, though a truly fried PSU can take a lot of other components to the grave with it.  A rare occurrence, but it can happen.  Probably about as rare as a non-pure sine wave UPS frying a PSU (just my conjecture).

this is what i have been looking at the last few days.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0317219

APC Back-UPS XS 1500 with AVR.

I the plan is to put my unRAID server and 1 windows 2k8 box on it (plus the switch). Configure then configure the unRAID to broadcast a "shutdown" to the windows box. have them both shutdown gracefully. I am not looking for any "on battery" time of more then a minute or two. I'm just looking for graceful shutdowns, data integrity and surge/brownout protection. My house gets quite a few momentary light flickers when the AC is on in the summer. I wanted to be ready since my old one fried last year.

The Unraid box is on its way to be 24 drive capable and the win box has a 16 drive raid6 in it. so i might be pushing that UPS. I need to plug them both in and see the total power draw. If i cant, I'll buy two or the battery add-on for this unit. what ever is the better option.

Anyone work with this UPS in unraid?

I'm going to build my first server and would like advice on what UPS I should buy. I know Unraid supports APC so I was looking at the APC BR1000G 1000 VA 600 w 8 Outlets Power-saving Back-UPS. I'm wondering if this will be enough and if anyone has any other suggestions.

 

Here what my server looks like so far.

 

Motherboard:

JetWay JHZ03-GT-V2-LF AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

 

CPU:

AMD Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 45W Single-Core Processor SDX140HBGQBOX

 

RAM:

Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3N9K2/2G

 

PSU:

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

 

Case:

NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays

 

SATA Expansion Cards:

SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS SAS RAID Controller x 2

SATA2 Serial ATA II PCI-Express RAID Controller Card (Silicon Image SIL3132)

 

Cables:

House Brand Molex 79576-3007 Mini SAS / SATA Cable x 2

SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Internal Multilane SAS Cable x 4

 

Fanplate:

TBD

 

Fans:

TBD

 

Hard Drives:

TBD but all green drives

 

 

UPS:

TBD

 

Unraid Addons:

UnMENU

SNAP

Preclear Disk

Monthly parity check

 

I'll be using J. River Media Center to access/manage most of the files in my Unraid server.

Sent from my HTC Incredible using Tapatalk

get the BR1500G, then get the extended runtime battery that goes with it. This is what I just setup with my unRAID system. With the extended runtime battery I get several times more runtime during a power outage.

 

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All I really care about in case of a power outage is that unRaid powers down safely.

What is the differance in the RS and the XS 1500?

What is the differance in the RS and the XS 1500?

The RS has better line conditioning, handling surges and "brown outs" whereas the XS models (which are intended to be the models sold in stores) focus on brown out type conditions.  I -believe- too the RS's have ethernet surge protection as well whereas the XS's dont -- but don't quote me on that particular feature difference.

Go with the RS in short, is what I would do between the two.

Looks like I'll get this model, thanks for the advice. For anyone interested I found this Runtime Graph at the APC site. I also used Josh's Build # 1 post. He measured his power usage and I doubt mine will be that high.

That's the same ups I was thinking for my machine, still haven't added one yet.  I keep my drives going all the time so should not spike when powering down, just haven bitten the bullet on it yet, would love to see it at $100

That's the same ups I was thinking for my machine, still haven't added one yet.  I keep my drives going all the time so should not spike when powering down, just haven bitten the bullet on it yet, would love to see it at $100

Cheapest I've found so far is $114.99 at Costco but you need a membership to get it. Glad I have one 

Cheapest I've found so far is $114.99 at Costco but you need a membership to get it. Glad I have one 

Whoa! I have a Costco membership. Thanks for that tip, I would have never thought to look there. At that price, I might order 2. Put my 3 chenbro servers  on the second one.

Is it online only or can I go pick one up at the store? I have never orded from their website before.

Is it online only or can I go pick one up at the store? I have never orded from their website before.

I have no idea.

I'm fairly sure you can order it online to be delivered, however in my experience, prices online are often a bit more than in-store. You might save a few more bucks if you buy it at a warehouse...

No guarantees of course...

Just realized I'll have to pay sales tax if I order from Costco. 

I just checked Costco. They only have a triplight model in the local stores. The APC is online only.