My i7/930 machine will be down for at least the next month due to a failed UPS. It will take at least that long to get a replacement. My apologies to all of my wingmen/women/persons for this inconvience.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

I used to worry about running my systems without a UPS. I can honestly say I haven't had a UPS for at least 4 years and nothing has happened to my systems with a power failure. windows XP and 7 are very good at saving themselves in case of a power interruption. Unlike older versions corruption is unlikely in the advent of a power failure.

Also of note, Parts are actually not that expensive to replace compared to actually purchasing a UPS that can handle a high end PC. The only major part I'd worry about is the HDD and it might fail if the spin down occurs as it is writing. 0therwise, I've not had 1 hardware problem with a poweroutage

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

The only major part I'd worry about is the HDD and it might fail if the spin down occurs as it is writing.

Not with any "modern" hard drive (where modern in this case is anything I'd expect to be still in use). In case of power failure the HDD uses the energy from the spinning disc to move the heads to the parking position, so the worst thing that can happen is some data corruption. I never had any UPS on any of my private machines, I also don't see any reason to have it with maybe 1 power failure every few years (I actually don't remember when we had the last one).

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The only major part I'd worry about is the HDD and it might fail if the spin down occurs as it is writing.

Not with any "modern" hard drive (where modern in this case is anything I'd expect to be still in use). In case of power failure the HDD uses the energy from the spinning disc to move the heads to the parking position, so the worst thing that can happen is some data corruption. I never had any UPS on any of my private machines, I also don't see any reason to have it with maybe 1 power failure every few years (I actually don't remember when we had the last one).

In my area (Eastern Mass.) we get occasional (more likely in the summer) momentary interruptions of power. They rarely last more than a second or two. So I use cheapo UPSs to bridge that gap, quite successfully. But a solution good for more than 5 or so minutes would be too expensive, but we get those about once every couple of years, so I grin and bear it.

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Short power "hits" are what cause all the problems with me.(Eastern NY) We probably have about 2-3 a month caused by a tree hitting the power lines or ice or lightning. We have a major power branch running right by the house, and it is fed from either end and while the switching from one source to the other only takes a second or so, it is enough to turn off a computer. Problem is the power supply does not turn off as quickly and you can loose them and have them fry the MB as well.

I used to never worry about it when the power went off for at least 3 minutes, but the power "burps" can cause havoc. I have a UPS on each of my computers and they have been protecting my computers for some time now, and they do not go down during the short interruptions.

As a side note, the OS can tell when the UPS kicks in and it is considered to be on battery so if you have a UPS you can stop SETI with the option not to process while on battery. Not just for laptops.

I also have my TV and entertainment devices protected as well.

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SETI@home classic workunits 4,019
SETI@home classic CPU time 34,348 hours

I was living in a place where there were power spikes, rather than power losses or brownouts. It only cost me a few power supplies, a motherboard, and a set of memory before I bought a new UPS.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

I looked into a battery backup for my 1350W cruncher; they get expensive that big.

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As a side note, the OS can tell when the UPS kicks in and it is considered to be on battery so if you have a UPS you can stop SETI with the option not to process while on battery. Not just for laptops.

I did not know that. I assume this is why, in a recent outage, my machines went to sleep after the UPS ran out of juice. (I have BOINC set to start on Windows startup because I wanted it to start when power came back up after an outage if I was away).

Where can I find the place to set this properly? (Win 7)

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As a side note, the OS can tell when the UPS kicks in and it is considered to be on battery so if you have a UPS you can stop SETI with the option not to process while on battery. Not just for laptops.

I did not know that. I assume this is why, in a recent outage, my machines went to sleep after the UPS ran out of juice. (I have BOINC set to start on Windows startup because I wanted it to start when power came back up after an outage if I was away).

Where can I find the place to set this properly? (Win 7)

This first requires that the UPS is connected to the computer, mine is via USB and a program monitors that, running in the background. As far a setting it in BOINC, it is in your Preferences.

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SETI@home classic workunits 4,019
SETI@home classic CPU time 34,348 hours

If you have your UPS connected USB it should wake once power is restored. Unless your UPS does not support sending a wake command.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

Many, many moons ago when I first started I lost my only machine because of a spike, and have had an UPS connected to each of my machines ever since. I even had one hooked to my mini-reef when it was in use. Saved many an expensive salt water fish that way until the power came back on. Right now the machine is set to NNT so I can get as much work done before things time out, and I think I'm taking a chance having it connected to a power strip until the old UPS can be fixed or replaced. The damn thing is almost as old as me.

With all of the loving care and money that we put into our machines, it would seem to be a foolish error not to protect it against such mishaps. I would rather spend $250-$400 on a device that will last 20 years and not need it than have to replace a MOBO, PSU or other component because I didn't have one. The only bad thing I hate about them is replacing the battery every 5 years or so. This particular UPS has gone through 4 of them at $80-$100 a pop depending on who has them.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!