Question about power outage

[lyons238]

So today there was a pretty big lightening storm and stupidly I was playing Diablo 3 while mother nature was rumbling all about. Sure as **** my computer randomly shuts off while I was playing then a half a second later I hear a huge crack that sounded pretty close. Power was off for around 4 hours. It's back on now and my computer booted just fine.

I do have an old Radioshack brand surge protector, but after reading I've read that these things can only handle about 1 big surge and then there basically useless for protection. But on the other hand my TV and cable box are just plugged into a power strip not a surge protector and they are all fine. Do you guys think I have anything to worry about for my computer if its working fine now? Also what can powering down like that do? Is there anything to worry about if it is working fine now?

I would like to look into a surge protector that maybe has a built in battery so the computer doesn't shut off the wrong way.

[wazza300]

youd need a ups aswell as a surge protector,uninteruptable power supply

sudden power losses can cause your hdd's/os/data to become corrupted,ive even had a blown psu due to a sudden power cut,i would plug your ups if you buy one into your surge protector,that way if a sudden power outage your ups will auto kick in and carry on powering your pc for upto an hour depends on model,and or safely shutdown your pc if you set it up to do that

[profJim]

An Uninterruptible Power Supply (aka UPS) offers maximum protection and will allow time for you to shut down your system after a power outage has occurred. Never use separate surge protectors connected to the UPS. Less expensive UPS units use modified step sine wave (120 or 240 VAC) and this causes problems with some power supply models when a power outage occurs. Both of my older UPS units have no problem with any of my Seasonic made power supplies. For maximum protection, every component that is connected to your computer should get its power from the UPS. For example, if your monitor is not protected by the UPS, an electrical surge to the unprotected monitor can travel through the monitor cable to your motherboard and possibly cause damage to your motherboard and all attached hardware. My monitor, laser printer and A.C. powered speakers are all protected by my UPS.

You probably should buy a unit that has a 900 - 1500 VA rating. This is not the same as the wattage rating, which is about 60% of the VA rating. For example, a unit with a 900 VA rating will have a 550 watt rating. Most major manufacturer's websites have excellent how-to buying guides. Run time after a power outage depends on how powerful the battery is and how much power your system draws. The software that comes with your UPS should allow an option to automatically power down your system when there is a power outage after a user selected time limit. I set my UPS options to automatically power down my system when there is only 5 minutes of battery power remaining.

A forum search using keyword CyberPower shows the following threads where I posted detailed UPS information:
Motherboard killing power supplies?
GA-X58A-UD3R. Need to load optimized many times.
u.p.s.
Gigabyte wierd issue. fearful.

Cyberpower offers the best value for a quality unit and would be my first choice.
Avoid cheapy no-name brands.

Check out the partial CyperPower list: Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Power Protection, UPS, CyberPower, 501 - 1000 VA, 1001 - 2000 VA, Retail

The AVR models use modified step sign wave A.C. output.
The PFC models use a compatible pure sine wave that should work with all power supply models.
The PFC models cost about 10% - 20% more than the AVR models.
For example the AVR 1000VA (600 watt) UPS is $128 versus $150 for the PFC 1000VA (600 watt) model.

Uninterruptible power supply - Wikipedia