Best Surge Protector for a Gaming PC: Top 6 of 2023 Reviewed

Thomas Hawkins September 3, 2020

Last updated on July 30th, 2023.

Huntkey Power Strip Surge Protector, 12 Outlets...

There’s no point dropping over $5000 on a top-end Gaming PC just to have it implode after your first electrical surge.

A good gaming PC surge protector has a large voltage protection rating, EMI/RFI noise filtering, and multiple sockets.

On the other hand—a faulty surge protector isn’t worth the plastic it’s made of. It doesn’t make much sense to buy a surge protector that doesn’t actually protect your gaming PC when a surge happens.

So to help you separate the good from the junk—we}ve reviewed the Best Surge Protectors for Gaming PCs in 2023.

Buy with the confidence that you’re not dropping $5000 on a gaming PC just to have it blow up after a lightning strike.

Let’s dive into the reviews.

Top 6 Best Surge Protector for Gaming PCs

Preview	Product	Key Features
Best Overall	Huntkey Power Strip Surge Protector, 12 Outlets with 2 USB A Ports, 6ft Heavy Duty Extension Cord...	12 Outlets Power Strip Surge Protector: The electrical strips surge protector with 2390-Joule surge strip protection energy rating, protect your home and office devices from voltage fluctuations, surges and spikes. 2 USB Charging Ports: The extension cord with surge protector can share 2.4A power; The extension cord power strip which Built-in smart IC chipset can detect your devices automatically and outlet strip auto-detect your devices and supply the maximum charge speed for your devices. All-Round Protected Power Bar: The extension cord with multiple outlets are Fire-prevention materials, Overload Protection, Integral Copper Bar and Heavy Duty Extension Cord.2390-joule energy rating of power strips with surge protection is ideal for computers, laser printers, telephones, and home theatre systems.	CHECK PRICE
Premium Choice	APC Performance Surge Protector with USB Ports, P11U2, 11 Outlet Power Strip, 2880 Joule Surge...	2630 Joules surge protection energy rating 11 outlet surge protector power strip 8 foot power cord with flat end 90 degree space saving plug	CHECK PRICE
Excellent Value	HOLSEM 12 Outlets Surge Protector Power Strip with 3 Smart USB Charging Ports (5V/3.1A) and 6'...	6 regular Outlets & 6 widely spaced Outlets, 2 USB Charging Ports with Smart IC Technology (5V/3.1A) and 1 usual USB Charging port. 4000 joule energy rating is ideal for computers, laser printers, telephones, and home theatre systems. 6 Feet Heavy Duty UL listed Extension Cord ideal for home office and professional workstations, 4 Keyhole Mounting Slots on the back (easily mount it to a wall horizontally). Overload Protection with the double break overload switch. Made of Flame Retardant Material which is able to withstand temperature up to 1,380℉(750℃).	CHECK PRICE
	Plugable Surge Protector Power Strip with USB and 12 AC Outlets, Built-in 10.5W 2-Port USB...	Power Everything - 12x surge-protected standard US power outlets with four corner outlets spaced extra-wide for large "wall wart" power adapter bricks Protect your Devices - 4320 Joules of protection with built-in EMI/RFI Filter and 2-in-1 power/circuit breaker switch. UL/cUL Rated Stylish and Safe - Sleek black design with sliding safety covers protects users from accidental contact and keeps dust and debris away from unused outlets	CHECK PRICE
	BESTEK 10-Outlet 6 Feet Extension Cord 4000 Joules Power Strip with USB 15A 1875W Surge Protector...	10 outlets surge protector with 4000 joules high surge protection energy rating, protect all your home, office and kitchen appliance plug-in such as TV, speakers, DVD, computer, laptop, printer, modem, lamp, refrigerator, home theater system from surge damage; dual USB charging ports with smart IC technology auto identify your device and get it fastest charged at the speed up to 2.4A. 5V/2.4A max each port. Multiple protection: 6 feet cord and 9.5mm diameter UL listed heavy duty cord, withstand 15A max current. Protected and grounded LED indicator lights for grounding and surge protection status.1382℉ high quality flame retardancy material, prevent accidental fire. Lighted on/off switch with integrated circuit breaker to protect all the outlets. Humanized design: mounting holes easily secure the surge protector to walls, baseboards, or furniture. 90 degree flat plug keeps cord close to the wall.Two widely spaced AC outlets accommodate large power adapters or chargers. Power switch on plug-cable end design prevent surge protector being turned off accidentally.	CHECK PRICE

What to Look For in a Gaming PC Surge Protector

There are a couple of things to keep an eye on when searching for the very best surge protector for your gaming PC. We’ve summed up these crucial features below:

Number of Sockets

There is nothing more frustrating than running out of power sockets. Especially when it comes to surge protection – now you have to decide what goes boom if something goes wrong.

You could go with a multi-plug extension lead, but that’s going to cost more and take up more area, which isn’t perfect. So make sure you map out the variety of sockets required before you buy your gaming PC surge protector.

EMI/RFI Noise Filtering

EMI = Electromagnetic Interference, while RFI = Radio Frequency Interference. Although these terms are used interchangeably, they’re technically not the exact same thing. For the purposes of gaming PC surge protection however, we can treat them alike.

Numerous filters– e.g. low pass filters, high pass filters, or band pass filters– just enable certain types of frequencies through, implying a set range of EMI/RFI emissions will be transmitted to the gadget being secured.

This is since specific EMI/RFI emissions will not interfere with the performance frequencies of various electric and electronic devices.

So the goal of EMI/RFI is noise filtering is to eliminate electro-magnetic and radio frequency disturbance that will interfere with the gaming PC surge protection.

So try to find gaming PC surge protectors that have EMI/RFI emissions.

Warranty

This one’s a lot easier to describe– the bigger the warranty, the much better.

Not just for the obvious factor that if something goes wrong, you’ll have the ability to make a claim, but for the signal that a long warranty suggests about the quality of the gaming PC surge protector (or rather, the confidence the provider has for the gaming PC surge protector).

If suppliers provided generously long service warranties for gaming PC surge protectors that went bust after 2 weeks, they would not be around for very long.

So you wish to wish for longer service warranties and high insurance payments on your gaming PC surge protector (from business that have actually been around for more than five years).

Safety Rating

There are a lot of various security requirements by a bunch of various companies and organizations– so which of these is applicable to gaming PC surge protectors?. For the most part, you want to look at UL– formerly Underwriters Laboratories.

UL is among a number of business authorized to carry out security screening by the U.S. federal company Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has a list of authorized testing labs, which are acknowledged as Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories.

Even within UL though, there are a lot of security requirements that might apply. For appropriate gaming PC surge protection, you’re generally wish to be looking at the UL 1449 security requirement.

UL 1449 is the Underwriters Laboratories Safety Standard for Surge Protective Devices (SPD)– i.e. perfect for gaming PC surge protection.

So make certain your gaming PC surge protector validates to UL 1449.

Joule Rating

The joule rating describes how much energy your gaming PC surge protector can take in. A higher joule rating equals much better protection.

So how many joules of surge protection do you require? The response depends on what you’re protecting. Are you safeguarding a PC, gaming PC, and even an entire house? Your answer will tell you what sort of joule rating you’re looking for.

Here are some rough joule rating guidelines:

A system with up to 1000 joules of surge protection suffices for little electronic devices.
A surge protector with 1000 to 2000 joules will supply sufficient protection for office devices and power tools.
Consider the highest joule rating (2000+) for expensive gaming consoles, home theater systems, and any computer that stores essential information. Anything that is very pricey or irreplaceable.

So for your gaming PC surge protector, look for a joule rating above 2000 joules.

Diagnostic LEDs

It would be best if you had a way to confirm that your gaming PC surge protector is working– which’s what diagnostic LEDs are for.

Search for gaming PC surge protection that includes diagnostic LED lights that confirm power, protection and line fault status at a glimpse.

Clamping Voltage

Clamping voltage refers to the optimum quantity of voltage that can pass a surge protector before it limits more voltage from passing to the gadget it is attempting to secure.

For example, a gaming PC surge protector may limit a 6,000 V surge so that just 600V is ‘noticeable’ to the load. For this reason here the clamping voltage for this gaming PC surge protector is 600V.

If the clamping voltage is too high, then the surge protector will permit too much voltage to pass to your gaming PC (which will break it).

INSPECT the optimum rated voltage of your gaming PC before buying a surge protector, so make certain that the clamping voltage of your gaming PC surge protection gadget is LOWER than the optimum operating voltage of your gaming PC.

In general however, the clamping voltage ought to be LESS than 700V for a gaming PC surge protector.