Hello, im looking for ideas on how to make an external psu (or buy). I need a minimum of 450 watts. A similar setup to an alienware x51 would be ideal. External Power brick with a dc to dc converter internally. At least I think thats what it is. This will be a media pc with a custom pc case. The case itself is extremely packed. No room for a psu. I know it will need 450 watts atleast.
I was hoping to use the guts of a sfx supply, and seperate the dc to dc converter and build an incloser... Has that not been done?
That strikes me as the kind of thing where if you have to ask how then you shouldn't be doing it.............
Mini itx mb, r9 290x, 8g ram, 2 ssd... in a 2" tall case. 450 watts is enough. I dont want this to be about how much wattage I need. I just want to know if someone can do this. Im willing to pay. Yes this is out of my element. Im not a noob, Ive built literally 100's of computers. Not trying to be rude. Thanks
SFX PSUs are integrated (no way to separate the DC-DC board, they don't have a DC-DC board), and external HDPLEX DC bricks only go up to 250W officially (supposedly some of the actively cooled Dell bricks can hit 420W at peak, out-of-spec). You could try an overloaded HDPLEX with a DC-DC board, but 450W is beyond what you can do without modding the HDPLEX for extra cooling. You might be able to mod an SFX with thicker gauge output wiring. 12v, 5v, 3.3v, -5v, -12v, standby, sense, GND. 4 high current wires & 4 low current wires. Then add a breakout board within the case to provide standard plugs. All SFX supplies use single rails, so there's no worry about cross-linking.
Edzieba! Thanks for the knowledge. Modding an sfx, is this something you have done before? Oh, what about dual pico's?
No SFX modding (might have to in the future to fit an SFX-L in an Ncase), I like to keep everything self-contained. Not sure about multiple PicoPSUs. IIRC the 'high power' PicoPSUs still only output under 150W on the 12V rail, so you'd need at least three, plus two/three external 12V bricks. At that point you may be better with multiple external bricks (or a modded brick) and a dedicated high-power DC-DC board..
I really like the Ncases, good choice. I agree with everything being self contained. Im trying to build something different this time around, smaller. Most of the size limitations are because of the PSU. Im almost thinking of going with a 1U Flex atx, but then I have the length and width to deal with.. I want (Need) something stable. Would a modded HDPLEX be stable at 400 watts? Oh, and again thanks.
Ok, so this link http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-r9-285-tonga,3925-11.html Shows the power consumption of an R9 285. Now this seems with in range of using a 330 watt psu from an alienware x51. Without overclocking of course, also I would like to use the mini version of this card. If I could only get another 50 watts I would be happy.
http://www.psui.com/protek-power/pmp400.htm They have an external 400W adapter but I've got no idea if it would be usable? FSP also make some open frame 400W Medical PSUs that could possibly work.
Very interesting with the medical power adapter, I never even considered it. I'll have to look into it. An external Psu would be messy. I will be travelling with this in my backpack. Lan parties and the like. I found this http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...PIN-DC-ATX-Power-Supply/211500_747813627.html I think I will use 2 dell 240 watt power adapters with it. Only need to plug both in when gaming. 480 watts should get me where I need to be. Plus it lets me build my case to 12" x 12" x 2" with liquid cooling and a 970 mini not too bad. lol
