Dual-Core PicoPSU Gaming madness? (aka, new version needed?)

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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klankymen
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Dual-Core PicoPSU Gaming madness? (aka, new version needed?)

Post by klankymen » Wed May 23, 2007 9:52 am

Well, here I am, with no powers of logical thinking, and as I look at the system in my sig, whose NeoHE cuts the power to the HDD due to underload whenever I enable CnQ.
And I'm thinking that the system just isn't made for high efficiency PSUs.

So the only option I'm left with is a PicoPSU. now my power draw from the socket measures 100W maximum spike, typically 20W less under load.

That is accounting for PSU inefficiency, 75W peak power draw, which is well in range of the 120W pico.

Except the problem comes in at this point: I want a GeForce 8600GTS, which has 47W load power draw according to xbitlabs. put two and two together and you get 122W. whoops, that's a little too much, eh? but most of it is on the 12V line, which just gets passed through, so shouldn't that be fine?

I guess I just wish they would release a new model of the PicoPSU, with 150W capacity, and finally a 24-pin mobo plug, since every mobo for the last 2 years has had one....

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:03 am

Even though I just bought a FSP Zen 400W, the pico psu is spiking my interest due to my system's low power draw(Opteron 170@ 2.1ghz, 1.1v). A 200W version does exist, there's two versions I've seen thus far:

PW-200-M

and

PW-200-V

mcoleg
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Post by mcoleg » Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:02 pm

how do you add a 4-pin connector to it?

klankymen
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Post by klankymen » Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:14 pm

@rybopo,
yeah some time after posting this thread I found those, hadn't originally seen them cause they don't carry the name pico psu....

@mcoleg,
either a molex adapter, or just some soldering.

mcoleg
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Post by mcoleg » Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:21 pm

i sux at soldering :P

continuum
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Post by continuum » Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:30 am

200W Pico-PSU? Hmmm... I see potential here...

prodeous
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Post by prodeous » Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:12 am

intresting thought...

I might try something out when i get back home. Next Thursday.

Current experiment is to run the picopsu from the ATX Power supply 12v line.

My system should excede the 120W limit, so i guess i can check with the risk it will "Blow up" :P

But the main problem is that once i run the motherboard totaly of the PicoPSU, the 12v line drops below the 11.4V range... (That was on a cheap PSU) Maybe the new PSU will be better.

Either way i'm not home now so it will be next thursday before I'll post.

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Dual-Core PicoPSU Gaming madness? (aka, new version needed?)

Post by sczj » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:58 pm

You need to be careful there. I email mini-box and they said you also need to check out how much ampere your system will use. You may be under maximum Wattage but you need to check the AC adapter to see if it provides enough ampere. For example, I thought about replacing my Shuttle case with a 200W PSU, but system is drawing 15A and their biggest adapter can only provide 8.5A.

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Re: Dual-Core PicoPSU Gaming madness? (aka, new version need

Post by ryboto » Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:08 pm

sczj wrote:You need to be careful there. I email mini-box and they said you also need to check out how much ampere your system will use. You may be under maximum Wattage but you need to check the AC adapter to see if it provides enough ampere. For example, I thought about replacing my Shuttle case with a 200W PSU, but system is drawing 15A and their biggest adapter can only provide 8.5A.
the pico and PW-200 only accept a 12v source, right? So, if the adapter is capable of outputting 200W it should be able to at least output 18A at 12v.

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Re: Dual-Core PicoPSU Gaming madness? (aka, new version need

Post by jessekopelman » Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:56 pm

ryboto wrote:
sczj wrote:You need to be careful there. I email mini-box and they said you also need to check out how much ampere your system will use. You may be under maximum Wattage but you need to check the AC adapter to see if it provides enough ampere. For example, I thought about replacing my Shuttle case with a 200W PSU, but system is drawing 15A and their biggest adapter can only provide 8.5A.
the pico and PW-200 only accept a 12v source, right? So, if the adapter is capable of outputting 200W it should be able to at least output 18A at 12v.
Yes, this about the AC-DC brick, not the DC-DC adapter. The issue that sczj raises is that mini-box doesn't sell anything even close to an 18A brick. Indeed it is very hard to find a fanless brick that is over 8A. There are many forum threads about this . . .

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:01 pm

fanless 18A bricks are hard to come by. I just bought the Dell Y2515 from Ebay. It's the only affordable solution right now.

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