[Spiderdyl]

Just came across this thread , I've been looking at getting a pico power supply for a while now but I've got no Idea what kind of power I need , I looked at a couple of power calculator sites , they say I need around 150w but I think thats a bit excessive,
I've got a Asus AT5NM10T-I motherboard with an intel D525 cpu , one 2.5inch hard drive, one 3.5inch hard drive and one DVD Writer,
Has anyone got any idea what the Ideal size of power supply and power brick would be ?

[Dougie Fresh]

The D525 systems I built don't even max out at 30W. You'd be good with a picoPSU-80 + 60W AC adapter.

[Spiderdyl]

The D525 systems I built don't even max out at 30W. You'd be good with a picoPSU-80 + 60W AC adapter.

Thanks for that , what else did you have on your system , over here http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=10
it says I need 4w for 2.5inch drive 10w for 3.5inch drive and 50w for dvd drive, so that would be 64w + CPU,
I want to make sure that what I eventually buy will be up to the job

[Dougie Fresh]

The D525 and D2700 systems had:

Either 5.25" or slimline DVD
64GB SSD
4GB memory

Since the smallest picoPSU is the picoPSU-80 you can get up to an 80W adapter. Sometime the picoPSU-90 with 84W or 90W adapter is the same price. You might as well go for one of those for a few dollars more and know in the future those could power a Sandy/Ivy Bridge system too. I use a 72W AC adapter with my G620 HTPC.

IIRC, the D525 needs the CPU P4 power so make sure the picoPSU you get comes with the P4. The 90 does but not all 80s do.

picoPSU 90 with standard 90W AC adapter $49
picoPSU 90 with premium 80W AC adapter $52

The picoPSU 80s at that site don't have the P4 CPU power so they'd end up costing more since you'd need an extra splitter/adapter above what you already need. Since you have 3 x SATA peripherals, you need a molex-to-2x SATA power splitter. That'll give you 3 SATA power connectors, the one that comes with and the two on the splitter.

[payders]

"It's the one downside to the 120W brick — the built-in cooling fan. The fan turned on promptly when we boosted the output load to 90W, and it was loud"
This is what I'm worried about, how do we know what bricks have fans?

[bluray]

This is what I'm worried about, how do we know what bricks have fans?

It is usually stated in the product description, and the power supply case have ventilation holes on it (as shown in this link- picoPSU-150-XT + 102W Adapter Power Kit).....

[Spiderdyl]

Since the smallest picoPSU is the picoPSU-80 you can get up to an 80W adapter. Sometime the picoPSU-90 with 84W or 90W adapter is the same price. You might as well go for one of those for a few dollars more and know in the future those could power a Sandy/Ivy Bridge system too. I use a 72W AC adapter with my G620 HTPC.

IIRC, the D525 needs the CPU P4 power so make sure the picoPSU you get comes with the P4. The 90 does but not all 80s do.

If your your saying that a picoPSU-90 and a 90W adapter will definitely do the job , then thats what I'll get , I'm in the U.K so I'll have to look about and see what I can find

[Dougie Fresh]

If your your saying that a picoPSU-90 and a 90W adapter will definitely do the job , then thats what I'll get , I'm in the U.K so I'll have to look about and see what I can find

This looks interesting: FSP Mini Plug-In 90W PSU and AC/DC Adapter Power Kit

And these guys have a 90W picoPSU kit: 90 W Power Kit (with UK Power Cord)

Similar kit here: Centretek PSU KIT 100W 24PIN+P4 ATX 110-240V UK PLUG

[Spiderdyl]

Still a bit at odds and ends with this , could I use say a 160W brick and a picoPSU-80 and vice versa , would the total wattage just be whatever the the smallest of the 2 was,
and could I use a 160W brick and a picoPSU-160 and the system would just draw the required power,
Its all just hypothetical I'm just trying to understand what I can get away with

[Dougie Fresh]

The plug on the 90W picoPSU would not be compatible with the 160W AC adapter if it's the one from mini-box with the 4-pin mini-DIN plug. THe picoPSU 90 has a barrel plug (5.5mm x 2.5mm). Also, the barrel plug harness on the picoPSU is rated for 8A so 96W is the most you should input, at least according to their manual on their website.

I am not sure what happens when the AC adapter is so much larger than the DC power module.

[MrDominic]

Hello all, hope that someone can clear out some things for me.

Im building small HTPC, which includes:

M350 ITX Case
Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 (apu mother)
RAM 8GB = 4GBx2 (memory)
HDD 2.5'' 750GB (for storage) (hard1)
SSD 2.5'' 60GB (for OS) (hard2)
+ sometimes might be connected USB DVD/BD rom or USB3 External 1TB HDD.

What kind of PICO PSU I need and what kind of power source I need for it? 90W? 120W?

I have tried to google a lot, but no direct answer to my question, because I do not know how to calculate necessary W and power brick for it.

If PICO is 120W, do I need power for it around 120W as well?

Or How is it that PICO is 150W, but power is used only 102W - is it enough?

[Dougie Fresh]

The 90W+90W kit would work for that no problem unless it's a 5.25" DVD/BD in which case the 120W kit would be better.

[MrDominic]

Ok, so if I'm avoid any DVD/BD player, but leave 2 internal HDD + possible 1 external = 90W+90W is enough?

And this 5.25" > I do not really find such sort in (example) Amazon.
Do you call 5.25" DVD as desktop version? And all of external usb DVD/BD players are fine?

And is there any limitation to how many external hard drives I can connect? Lets say I choose 90W+90W and I connect 2 external hard drives (while 2 internal 2.5" will be connected). Will the computer start to reboot itself or will it be all good?

At this stage I'm a bit confuse what to choose. Possibly I should go for 120W, because price would be almost the same for 90W or 120W, but then looking at a lot of other forums on PICO PSU I'm not sure will it have some kind of active fan/cooler inside brick or not.
Example: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0081S1...RFZDGAXG22 + is there any difference between how much A will it be? 6A, 8A, 10A? And if I buy 120W PICO, but then connect 80-90W brick will it be?

I have checked out this PICO PSU as the cheapest one (only 25$ inlc PP) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pico-PSU-12V-120...4172db4d42 , but I'm not sure of the power brick, is it ok to get 90-120W between 12-19V?

[Dougie Fresh]

External drives usually have their own power supply so it would not be using the USB port for power so it should be fine.

The external AC adapter output should be less than or equal to the picoPSU rating unless you know you won't exceed the maximum rating. To get the wattage, multiply the amperage by 12V, so 6A = 72W, 10A = 120W, etc.

The thing to watch out for with picoPSUs is the 80W and 120W version do not come with the P4 connector you need for the CPU. So you have to get a molex-to-P4 adapter and now the molex power you wanted to use for something else like an optical drive is now taken so you need a molex splitter as well. The 90W comes with a P4 plug already. The makers of the picoPSU also recommend that for over 8A input, you use a different harness called the "mini-fit JR" which is a 4-pin jack. You then need a compatible 4-pin AC adapter.

Most 120W AC adapters do not have a fan.

[MrDominic]

Dougie Fresh, thanks a lot! Not want to be pain in the a**, but few more for a beginner

The picoPSU that I showed up http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pico-PSU-12V-120...4172db4d42 includes 4pin ATX in the pictures and description, so I assume, that this one would be ok?

Now If I choose this picoPSU (from above), then it would be equally good to choose brick 19V*5A (~90W) or 12V*10A (~120W if I plan to connect few external devices without external power supply, only USB power)?

That would be it..