Are Pico PSU's any good ?

[PerfectBunny]

im thinking about using a 300W pico psu, are they reliable ?

additionally, would you advice against chaining two psu's or is it fine (spesifically one 300W pico and one 100W/200W pico :P)?

[Enderman]

They should only be used for super compact builds, and no, only use one at a time.

If you're using a normal case then buy a normal ATX PSU.

[porina]

Read the spec carefully and check the current limits, particularly on the 12V rail which is where the heavy lifting is concentrated (CPU, GPU). You will probably find that limiting and it will probably be lower than the total rating - at least it was on my 160W one.

 

What is the objective in using this, and are there alternatives that could be used? Like SFX or other SFF PSUs, or 1U rackmount PSUs?

[Damascus]

I'm actually considering using 2 pico PSUs, one for GPU and one for mobo/CPU.  Would that work well?

 

Never mind, that would cost $200~ CAD, if I'm spending that I'd just get an M1 or dancase 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Damascus
Never mind, that would cost $200~ CAD, if I'm spending that I'd just get an M1 or dancase 

[KenjiUmino]

20 minutes ago, Damascus said:

I'm actually considering using 2 pico PSUs, one for GPU and one for mobo/CPU.  Would that work well?

it could work, but why ???

 

unless you are planning to stuff a full power gaming pc in a playstation one case or something funny like that, i don't see the point.

 

and two powerful pico PSUs might even be more expensive than one decent ATX or SFX PSU 

[Damascus]

Just now, KenjiUmino said:

it could work, but why ???

 

unless you are planning to stuff a full power gaming pc in a playstation one case or something funny like that, i don't see the point.

 

and two powerful pico PSUs might even be more expensive than one decent ATX or SFX PSU 

 

24 minutes ago, Damascus said:

Never mind, that would cost $200~ CAD, if I'm spending that I'd just get an M1 or dancase 

 

[W-L]

8 hours ago, PerfectBunny said:

im thinking about using a 300W pico psu, are they reliable ?

additionally, would you advice against chaining two psu's or is it fine (spesifically one 300W pico and one 100W/200W pico :P)?

Yes the units like these they are good, the pico unit if you really drive them hard can suffer in power quality.

http://www.hd-plex.com/HDPLEX-300W-Hi-Fi-DC-ATX-Power-Supply-16V-24V-Wide-Range-Voltage-Input.html

 

It's usually best to not have two PSU's just to to interference and noise potentially between the two but I have seen it done before. However if you need a fairly small but powerful PSU I would suggest instead since two takes up a fair bit of space not to mention the power brick to look at getting a high powered Flex Atx PSU. 

http://www.fsp-group.com.tw/index.php?do=proinfo&id=2351

Edited March 22, 2017 by W-L

[mariushm]

If you need a lot of power in a compact case and cheap, you could buy something like this, 27$ for 150w : http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/delta-electronics/PMT-12V150W1AA/1145-1071-ND/4386542

it's about 100mm by 180mm by 40mm  (4" x 7.1" x 1.6") you plug 120v/230v (selectable with a switch like with old style power supplies)  into it , and out comes 12v - you can connect the pci-e cables and/or eps cable to it. 150w is enough for an eps connect AND and a 6 pin pci-e connector (if you don't oc the cpu and it'sa light cpu , let's say max 65w tdp), if it's a powerful cpu and/or you plan to OC then i'd leave the psu just to power the processor

 

if you want big power in small package, you can have this 12v 400w psu for 122$ : http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/delta-electronics/MDS-400APB12-AA/1145-1258-ND/6370088

It's 76 mm by 121mm by 35mm (3" x 5" x 1.4") , it's  >90% efficient, it produces 5v stand-by at 2A and 12v up to 200w passively cooled, and up to 400w with a fan blowing air over it (at least 16 CFM, basically slow speed on a 92-120mm fan).  So you could use this directly from mains, and then power a super cheap and small pico-psu that would produce the other voltages a regular power supply would need.

or you could spend 55$ on two of those slightly bigger 150w power supplies, if the case size allows.