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Best UPS: our top uninterruptible power supplies for home

To protect yourself against power outages and fallouts you need the best uninterruptible power supply
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Best UPS: our top uninterruptible power supplies for home
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Power outages and electrical fluctuations can cause serious disruptions, whether you’re working from home or running a business. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) helps prevent sudden shutdowns, data loss, and hardware damage by providing backup power when your main electricity fails.

For most users, we recommend the APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA. It offers enough capacity for a PC, monitor, and peripherals while providing reliable battery backup and surge protection. If you’re running a higher-powered setup, the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD remains one of the stronger alternatives thanks to its capacity.

At a glance

How PC Guide tests power supplies

While UPS units aren’t currently part of our hands-on testing program, power supplies are. At PC Guide, we regularly test and review PSUs using a dedicated test bench, evaluating factors such as efficiency, power delivery, thermals, acoustics, build quality, and overall value. That experience gives us a strong understanding of power requirements and system protection, helping inform our UPS recommendations alongside extensive market research and product analysis.

The best uninterruptible power supplies

Whether you’re protecting your home office or networking equipment, these are the UPS units we’d recommend right now.

1. APC UPS 1500VA

Best uninterruptible power supply overall
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  • Black APC 1500VA UPS uninterruptible power supply unit with a digital display showing an estimated runtime of 164 minutes, providing reliable battery backup.
Specifications
  • Capacity: 1500VA / 900W
  • Voltage : 120 Volts
  • Outlets: 10
  • Dimensions: 15.04″D x 3.94″W x 9.84″H
Reasons to Buy
  • The best capacity, with auto-restart
  • Voltage regulation and an LCD display
  • High power capacity to last you a good amount of time
Reasons to Avoid
  • Premium storage comes with premium pricing
  • Some users have complained about the unit being noisy

If you refuse to settle for anything less than the best, the APC Back-UPS PRO 1500VA is the right uninterruptible power supply for you. Its 1500VA/900W capacity should be more than enough for any modern gaming PC, as well as any monitors, TVs, speakers, or any peripherals you have plugged into it.

In addition to the crazy-high capacity of 900W, you also have stellar build quality and software. As the “Pro” in its name implies, this is a UPS intended for professional use, and it shows in its features and quality. All of the most important features are here: USB interface, great quality, great capacity, and a built-in LCD to monitor your UPS.

We really only have one downside of note for this unit: its high price. This is the most expensive unit on this list and is the highest-end UPS available to consumers. If you have truly high-end hardware, though, this is worth every penny. What’s an extra ~$170 to protect $1,000+ in hardware?

2. APC Bundle 600VA

Best uninterruptible power supply for consoles
  • A black UPS Battery Backup with multiple outlets on top, labeled "APC" on the front, and a power cord connected on the right side. This 600VA unit ensures uninterrupted power for your essential devices.
Specifications
  • Capacity: 600VA / 330W
  • Voltage : 120 Volts
  • Outlets: 7
  • Dimensions: 4.13″D x 10.79″W x 5.47″H
Reasons to Buy
  • Fair pricing for what you’re getting
  • Comes with an auto-restart feature
  • Great capacity for low-power PC or console setups, or a small household
Reasons to Avoid
  • Doesn’t have voltage regulation
  • Some users have mentioned there are some regular beeping noises

Next up is the APC 650VA Back-UPS unit. The 650VA here translates to 390W, which makes it ideal for full console + TV setups, as well as low-power PC setups.

In terms of PCs, you aren’t likely to be able to use this with budget gaming PCs. Even when their actual power requirements are lower than this unit’s 390W target, you still face the issue of low-efficiency power supplies.

This UPS will come in handy as a unit for low-power PCs and consoles. Many prebuilt HTPCs and office PCs, for instance, will have much lower wattages than the 390W target required by this unit. The gaming console with the highest power consumption (the PS4 Pro, at 310 Watts) also leaves generous room for a medium-sized HDTV to share the battery backup on this unit.

3. CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD 1500VA

Best uninterruptible power supply for gaming PCs
03
  • Front view of a CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS showing its control panel with buttons for power, display, mute, and setup, an LCD screen displaying 120V input, and USB ports.
Specifications
  • Capacity: 1500VA/1000W
  • Voltage: 120 Volts
  • Outlets: 12
  • Dimensions: 14 x 3.9 x 11 inches
Reasons to Buy
  • Plenty of capacity, informative LCD display
  • 900 watts sustained power delivery
  • CyberPower stands out as a beacon of reliability and functionality
Reasons to Avoid
  • The unit is relatively heavy, worth noting for those who may need to move it frequently

This has over twice the total power capacity as the previous entry on this list. With a modern gaming PC, the 815W wattage is far beyond anything the PC should actually consume… so long as your PSU has a respectable power efficiency and isn’t larger than 800W, of course. (For reference: a modern high-end PC with an i7-9700K and RTX 2080 Ti should consume no more than 375 Watts of power before overclocking.)

All the extra wattage here should be suitable for a fully-fledged gaming setup. That means a large TV, speakers, or multi-monitor setup should all be within this UPS system’s capabilities, so long as you aren’t pushing its maximum with your PC by itself. The built-in display will also serve as a great way to measure your power consumption in real-time, so you know for a fact whether or not you’re pushing this UPS too far for its own good.

In terms of battery life and software features, CyberPower offers quality up there with the best in the industry, including APC. Plus, you also have the added benefit of voltage regulation with this unit, which should come in handy in areas with particularly poor or inconsistent power.

The only real downside with a UPS like this one is its high price, but if you truly want to protect your tech investment, it’s worth every penny.

4. CyberPower CP750LCD 750VA

Best budget UPS
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  • A black CyberPower UPS with a 750VA capacity features an LCD displaying "120," multiple outlets, and a green power indicator light.
Specifications
  • Capacity: 600VA/340W
  • Voltage: 110 Volts
  • Outlets: 8
  • Dimensions: 3.5 x 11 x 6.5 inches
Reasons to Buy
  • Fair price for the amount of power you’re getting
  • Good enough capacity for budget gaming PCs
  • Auto-restart and LCD panel
Reasons to Avoid
  • Unit is pretty heavy and bulky
  • Doesn’t have voltage regulation

If you’re looking for a computer battery backup, then you’re in luck; we’ve finally reached a UPS good enough for desktop PC usage.

As you may or may not know, most actual PC power consumption is well under 400W, even with high-end components. Modern PCs especially have low power requirements– my own PC at max load shouldn’t ever exceed 310 Watts, for instance. With an 80+ Gold-certified PSU, that means I should be consuming a maximum of ~370W, with a fair 50W remaining for my monitor and peripherals. Not bad, right?

Well… that is a little bad, actually. At least, it is bad if I were to be running my system at max load when my power goes out, since I would be dangerously close to meeting my maximum threshold. My PC is actually pretty old, though– what about a newer gaming PC?

Looking at our gaming PC build, these parts combined should never consume more than 250W. With an 80+ Gold Efficiency PSU, that’s about 300W of maximum power consumption. This leaves roughly 120W of power free for peripherals and a monitor, which is a much safer range to be working within.

You’ll want to calculate the exact power draw of your desktop PC to be sure, but any modern midrange gaming build or prebuilt PC should fall well under the limitations of this PSU.

In addition to the high-enough-for-proper-desktops wattage, you also have the added benefit of better software, auto-restarting functionality, and even a nifty little LCD panel to work with.

How to choose a UPS

The most important specification on any UPS is its wattage rating. Your UPS should comfortably exceed the combined power draw of the devices connected to it. For most gaming PCs, a 900W-1000W UPS provides plenty of headroom, while lower-powered office PCs and consoles can often get away with significantly less.

Battery runtime matters more than you think

A UPS isn’t designed to keep you gaming for hours during a power cut. Its primary job is to give you enough time to save work and safely shut down your devices. Most consumer UPS units provide between 5 and 20 minutes of runtime, depending on load.

Pure sine wave vs simulated sine wave

Many modern gaming PCs use power supplies with Active PFC. For these systems, a pure sine wave UPS is generally recommended as it provides cleaner power during battery operation and improves compatibility with high-end PSUs.

How many outlets do you need?

Consider everything you plan to protect. A gaming setup may include a PC, monitor, speakers, router, and external drives. Not every outlet on a UPS provides battery backup, so always check the outlet configuration before buying.

How do I connect to my UPS?

An important factor to consider when buying an uninterruptible power supply is its software. Every uninterruptible power supply we’ve listed provides the software you can use to monitor the UPS. If you’re a PC user, this software can also be used to automatically shut down your PC once the UPS power backup battery life is low, which is especially great if you aren’t around to turn off the PC yourself. Aside from this basic functionality, higher-end software will also provide superior monitoring and control features.

In terms of interface, a USB interface is standard. You’ll see a USB interface for every UPS on this list, with the exception of a model that also offers serial connectivity.

Final word

The APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA remains our top UPS choice. This will give most users and home setups the capacity, reliability, and features needed. For anyone running more demanding hardware, the CP1500PFCLCD is a better option. This unit features pure sine wave output and higher power capacity, making it a quality backup supply.

About the Author

With a fascination for technology and games, Seb is a tech writer with a focus on hardware, news, and deals. He is also a tester and reviewer for the site. Contact him @ [email protected]