PicoPsu Advice Please
#1
Just looking to get some advice on PSUs. My setup is below and I live in the UK... any advice on what wattage PSU I'll need and where to buy it. I've heard that the 120W has a fan but the 80W is fanless and so I'd love to be able to get away with the 80W version.

Thanks.

[MOBO+CPU+GPU] ASUS E35M1-I DELUXE
[SSD] Crucial RealSSD 64GB SATAIII
[CASE] Wesena Mini ITX 6B
[RAM] 4GB of G.Skill F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK
[TV TUNER] Blackgold BGT 3620
[DVD] I might add a slimline front loading DVD reader/writer like this later on
[OS] Windows 7 64 bit
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#2
All pico psu's are fanless.

David
HTPC1: Intel Pentium G620, 4GB RAM, AMD HD6570, Samsung 830 SSD, Silverstone GD05 case.
HTPC2: AMD Athlon II X2 255, 4GB RAM, AMD HD5450, Western Digital HDD, Silverstone ML03 case.
HTPC3: AMD E350, 4GB RAM, AMD HD6310, OCZ Agility 3 SSD, Akasa Crypto case.
Media Server: i3-3220, 8gb RAM, WHS 2011, 8tb capacity, Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 case.
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#3
I just installed a new ASUS mATX zacate board & a SSD (same one as yours) in my HTPC two days ago. I haven't updated my signature yet but everything is the same except for the MB, CPU, OS Drive, and RAM. With my 120w picoPSU my rig is drawing 38w max at boot and ~28w at idle. I'd give a number for 1080p mkv playback but my media server is down right now running a memtest on some new RAM. The 102w AC adapter that comes in the picoPSU kit does have a fan but it is off so long as you stay below 85-90 watts output. I would say that you should easily be able to get by with the 80w unit. My HTPC has a media drive so your HTPC should draw even less power than mine.
HTPC: Win 7 Home 64-bit | MB | CPU | GPU | RAM | Case | PSU | Tuner | HDDs: OS, Media | DVD Burner | Remote
Media server: unraid 4.7 | CPU | MB | RAM | Case | PSU | HDDs: Parity-2TB, Data-2x2TB
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#4
@wsume99 Thanks for the info, it's really useful when someone with a similar system helps you outBig Grin

Just to make my wording more clear... All the PicoPSUs have two parts, one plugs into the motherboard and is little more than a stamp sized PCB with connecting wires. The other part is a laptop style brick and it is this part that may contain a fan. Hope that clears this up for anyone reading this!
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#5
After further investigation I have found that it is possible to run a 120W fanless picoPSU. The majority of picoPSUs sold need a 12V DC input. However there are one or two that will run of different DC voltage inputs. The advantage of this is that the 120W 12V DC power brick has a fan but you can find 120W 19V DC power bricks that do not have a fan.

Have a look at this Jonnyguru review written in Nov 2010. Overall they found that this combination provides the best results: pico PSU with Power brick
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#6
och29 Wrote:After further investigation I have found that it is possible to run a 120W fanless picoPSU. The majority of picoPSUs sold need a 12V DC input. However there are one or two that will run of different DC voltage inputs. The advantage of this is that the 120W 12V DC power brick has a fan but you can find 120W 19V DC power bricks that do not have a fan.

Have a look at this Jonnyguru review written in Nov 2010. Overall they found that this combination provides the best results: pico PSU with Power brick

Ouch.....£80 for a 120w PSU! Shocked

What makes these PSU's so expensive? Material cost must me minimal compared to a standard PSU.

David
HTPC1: Intel Pentium G620, 4GB RAM, AMD HD6570, Samsung 830 SSD, Silverstone GD05 case.
HTPC2: AMD Athlon II X2 255, 4GB RAM, AMD HD5450, Western Digital HDD, Silverstone ML03 case.
HTPC3: AMD E350, 4GB RAM, AMD HD6310, OCZ Agility 3 SSD, Akasa Crypto case.
Media Server: i3-3220, 8gb RAM, WHS 2011, 8tb capacity, Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 case.
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#7
I guess you are pawing for the extremely high efficiency >90%, the passive cooling and the limited market/low production runs. To replace my laptops brick would be £40 and that's made in bulk by Toshiba so that goes a long way to explain the price. However the picoPSU part does seem expensive considering it is just a couple of PCBs! Either way I'll end up with a completely silent HTPC with no moving parts of any kind. I'm going to start the order process today so it's all very excitingBig Grin
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#8
There are cases with external PSU (similar to picoPSU but internal pcb is a bit larger) - much better prices.
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#9
True but they may not be fan-less, they may not have the same efficiency and I don't think they are as nice as the Wesena ones (plus I'm supporting a British company!).
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#10
Only diff is size and price Smile
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#11
Which cases in particular are you thinking of (just in case anyone else reading this wants to know)?
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#12
for example: A+case CS-160, LC-Power LC-1340mi, Akasa Crypto, LC-Power LC-1320mi, LC-Power LC-1360mi and way more.
Here is example how such PSU looks like.
Image
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#13
Yes, I had seen cases like that but they don't seem to have the build quality or IMO look anywhere near as good as the Wesena cases... but I guess you get what you pay for!
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#14
I'm using this on my zacate
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PicoPSU-80w-Power-...43a5d71848

build spec is asus e35m1-m pro, c300 ssd and 4 gig ram - nothing else (this isn't my xbmc machine tho)

using a power meter its currently using 17w....
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#15
luna_s Wrote:I'm using this on my zacate
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PicoPSU-80w-Power-...43a5d71848

build spec is asus e35m1-m pro, c300 ssd and 4 gig ram - nothing else (this isn't my xbmc machine tho)

using a power meter its currently using 17w....

Just ordered one of these as well.

David
HTPC1: Intel Pentium G620, 4GB RAM, AMD HD6570, Samsung 830 SSD, Silverstone GD05 case.
HTPC2: AMD Athlon II X2 255, 4GB RAM, AMD HD5450, Western Digital HDD, Silverstone ML03 case.
HTPC3: AMD E350, 4GB RAM, AMD HD6310, OCZ Agility 3 SSD, Akasa Crypto case.
Media Server: i3-3220, 8gb RAM, WHS 2011, 8tb capacity, Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 case.
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