The best UPS battery backup for PC gaming in 2022

The best UPS backup will keep your machine running should your electricity supply fail. Whether that's a blackout, brownout, or power surge, you'll be covered long enough to save what you're doing and turn off your machine safely. Given that power surges and interruptions can be bad news for PC components, this can ultimately save you money. And who doesn't like saving money?

If you've got a high-end gaming PC, it's a smart idea to pair it with an uninterrupted power supply as a backup. This protects your precious system from fluctuations in outlet power and acts as a surge protector, too. A UPS utilizes internal batteries to deliver a steady flow of power, and a good one will give you plenty of time to save your work or get to a save point, before shutting down your PC safely.

The time a UPS gives you to save your game or work will vary, depending on its power draw, and there are other things to consider, too. Each UPS below we've tested and found to deliver exactly what we needed out of what should be an otherwise fairly unremarkable looking black box. So you can get a better read on which is best for you and your budget.

The best UPS for gaming PCs

The CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD 1500VA is one of the best UPS on the market. Several factors contribute to it being our top pick for most gamers. First, it has enough juice to handle most gaming machines, even if you're running the beefiest of GPUs and an overclocked CPU. Unless you've got systems with ten hard drives, quad-way GPUs, and other accessories, the CP1500PFCLCD should have enough juice to last 10–20 minutes (longer if you have a more moderate rig) if a power failure occurs.

One of the most critical features of the CP1500PFCLCD is its true sine-wave output. Most UPS backups in their price range only provide sine-wave simulated production, a stepped sine-wave that approximates what you get out of your wall outlet. Some electronics are sensitive to simulated sine waves and will behave abnormally. At $214, having true sine-wave output is unheard of, so kudos to CyberPower for delivering such a quality output.

For smaller accessories and network equipment, the CyberPower EC650LCD is the best pick for most. Coming in at $88 for 390W/650VA, the EC650LCD has enough power reserves to keep the average home network alive for well over 15 minutes, which is enough time to exit your game/applications, save all your work through the network, and shut everything off gracefully during a power outage.

The EC650LCD is small enough to hide away, taking up very little desktop room for a 390W unit. One of my favorite features of the EC650LCD is its array of ECO ports. These ports can be managed and timed to turn on or off, depending on your schedule or use case. The ECO ports will also power down accessories like your speakers and display if your PC is asleep or powered down.

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The name APC is synonymous with high-quality UPS. I use three of the company's Smart-UPS professional level units at home: two 1000VA units for my network and NAS gear and one 1500VA unit for my PC and displays.

APC's BE600M1 is excellent at providing both battery and surge protection for the devices you use most every day. That is your phone and possibly a tablet. However, it has enough power reserves for you to plug in at least a router and a single display. If you only plan to use the BE600M1 to power a Wi-Fi router, the unit will have enough juice in it to let you browse the internet in peace for several hours, even if the electricity in the rest of your house is gone. Priorities.

The best part of the BE600M1 is its size. Most UPS are large and belong on the floor, but APC encourages you to put the BE600M1 on a desk. The unit provides a single 1.5A USB port for charging a phone or tablet, so you don't have to use your device's power adapter, which is inevitably a wall wart that potentially overlaps another socket or two, so you free up sockets for other devices.

The best UPS for PC gaming FAQ