I recently purchased a 1000W PSU with the intention of adding more power-hungry components like an extra GPU in the future. However, I've noticed that the UPS systems that can handle my setup (aiming for over 1200W) are priced above $300, which isn't ideal for me. Currently, my PC only has an SSD, and I'm mostly using it for casual gaming and some personal machine learning projects, so I don't really need to save my work in the event of a sudden power outage. That said, I want to make sure I'm protected against issues like brownouts and voltage surges. Given this, should I consider downgrading my PSU to something with lower wattage to afford a more budget-friendly UPS? Also, I'm curious—does the PSU consume power based on the actual demand of the PC components, or does it always draw 1000W?
2 Answers
Your PSU won't always draw 1000W; it only pulls what your components need at any given moment, which is usually much less than the maximum capacity. So, there's no need to strictly downgrade your PSU just for a cheaper UPS. Your system is likely fine with a smaller UPS if you’re not heavily pushing your hardware.
You definitely aren't pulling 1000W all the time. Even under load, it's unlikely your setup will hit that mark. So, a UPS that's rated for around 750W should still work fine for you.
Yeah, plus if you want to be super sure about energy usage, consider grabbing a device like a Kill-A-Watt to see what your system really pulls.