2

This is a SuperMicro station very heavy on video processing, with 4 hard disks and a 26" monitor. It has two AMD Firepro graphic cards and two 1400W Supermicro reduntant PSUs.

I understand the actual usage won't be 1400W, so how can I pick the proper UPS for this station? I have to plan for the worst case scenario, which is a power outage during a video rendering process, when the usage will be the highest.

Zopiro
  • 51
  • 1
  • 1
  • 4
  • 7
    1) Measure power consumption 2) Determine required runtime 3) Determine battery capacity and current supply required 4) Buy product – Tim Feb 22 '17 at 21:58
  • 2
    If it is that important, I'd get a UPS big enough to carry on the full wattage plus some for however long it takes the generator to fire up and switch over to its power. – ivanivan Feb 23 '17 at 03:28

1 Answers1

7

You pick a UPS the same way you always pick a UPS:

  1. You measure the power consumption of the server under typical load (for you that will be when actually rendering)
  2. You figure out the runtime you want
  3. You plug that data into your vendor of choice's product configurator
  4. Out pops a product recommendation

Remember that most good UPS's you can attach extended-runtime modules. So if you can't match all your load considerations in a single unit, buy a base unit that covers the load you need (e.g. 1500VA), then add extended runtime modules until you reach your desired runtime.

Mark Henderson
  • 68,823
  • 31
  • 180
  • 259
  • Thanks. So I guess my question should actually be "how do I measure the power consumption during typical load". I'm kinda new to superuser, should I create a new question for that? Best regards. – Zopiro Feb 23 '17 at 12:04
  • PDUs, clamp meters, any other UPS, metered plugs for power saving, all can measure the load. Or guess based on the spec of each component in the system. – John Mahowald Feb 25 '17 at 22:46