Surge Protectors And Uninterruptible Power Supplies (Ups) - AMD Athlon Manual

A Guide to Building a PC with an AMD Athlon™ Processor
22914B/0—September 1999

Surge Protectors and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)

Probably one of the most overlooked items is a surge protector or UPS unit. The
power that runs in most homes and businesses can have substantial variations (i.e.
drops in power, spikes in power, etc.).
The purpose of a surge protector is to protect your computer (and peripherals) against
an electrical spike. You can guess what channeling a very high voltage through your
computer can do. At a minimum, you should have at least one surge protector. Better
yet, if the budget can afford it, acquire a UPS.
A UPS usually has additional safeguards built in which allows your computer to deal
with drops, brownouts, and even total failures, depending on the unit you purchase.
Many units have voltage regulators to keep the power to the computer absolutely
uniform. This is the optimal performance you want.
A UPS is designed to keep your system running, even with a total power failure, but
only for a short period of time to allow you to properly shut everything down. Only the
more expensive UPSs, with substantial additional battery reserves can keep running
for extended periods of time or support additional devices like printers or scanners.
The manufacturer of the UPS can provide performance rating information.
If you can, get a good UPS with power conditioning for the computer, modem, and
monitor. All other peripherals should be plugged into a quality surge protector.
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