Running FurMark in stress test mode and Prime95. I am measuring a maximum of 88 Watts at the outlet. The brick is slightly warm but the system seams stable.

The system is currently using the 3.5" drive and I added a full size IDE DVD-RW which does not seem to effect power consumption much when idle.

Windows 7 did not like booting from the IDE laptop HD. I don;t know why. I think I tried just about everything. I saw a IDE to SATA adapter at Fry's that I am thinking about but will more likely get a new drive. I am looking at the WD Blue drive. Amazon has the 320GB version for $60.

88W at the outlet is excellent If you have a 90W brick is close to the limit but it should work.
In real life use you will not get 88W probably more like 80W and this for probably for short period of time.
I have no experience with Windows 7 on IDE I was only using Windows 7 on SATA but it should work with no problem from IDE disk. Some people used windows 7 on IDE netbooks.
Did you had other disk during and after the install? is the boot flag set?

Just before the install this drive was running winxp with no problem and I can access and modify the drive from win7 when booting of my SATA drive.

Just after installing when trying to boot just after the BIOS does it thing I get a "disc read error" message and the only thing it will let me do is a 3 finger solute.

I have tried alot of things so far.
I disconnected all unnecessary drives.
The BIOS shows the HD as the master drive.
Installing from usb
Installing from CD
Installing from USB with and without IDE DVD-RW plugged in.
Cleaning and partitioning drive in wind7 and then installing
Cleaning drive and Partitioning and Formatting drive in win7 installer
Cleaning drive and just hitting next in win7 installer
Tried to find non generic IDE drivers for my board with no success.
Tried setting "Fail Safe" setting in Bios.

I am sure I missed something.

I don't know how to set the boot flag though. Maybe it is not getting set correctly for some reason. Sorry for taking the thread off topic.

It seems is a Windows 7 problem maybe they will fix this in the future.
If you Google about this problem you will find the same complain from many people

I got the problem resolved.

I tried a long list of things. What finally worked was manually setting the hard drive to UltraDMA 0 in the bios. I actually was originally successful using Single Word DMA 0. I suspect higher UDMA setting will also work.

I am still not totally sure where the problem is occurring. My guess is the BIOS is putting the cart before the horse and trying to load the OS before locking down the DMA mode.

My power consumption while browsing the web is now just 34 Watts with the 2.5" drive and I even after adding a full size DVD-RW. The computer is also very quiet even with the stock AMD HSF. I had no idea 3.5" drives could use so much power.

Yes the 3.5" drives uses a lot of power except for some new energy efficient ones. 10W-12W is not unusual for a 3.5" HDD.
34W is really low this means that your brick is good efficiency probably ~90%.
I guess higher DMA mode will work you need to try.

I decided to look up the power consumption for my old drive now that I pulled it. It is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 http://www.silentpcreview.com/article611-page1.html .

SPCR found it used 9.2 Watts at idle. The manufacture spec sheet on my Fujitsu mhv2120ah says 0.8W at idle and 1.9W for read/write.

The Fujitsu spec is excellent even better than some SSD 0.6W idle and 1.9W read/write I found SSD that uses 2.5W read/write.
I have a Samsung SSD that is really good 0.2W idle and 0.42W read/write but most of the cheap ones take 5 to 6 time more.
I only use read only OS on the SSD I do not trust windows on an SSD even if is SLC as the one I have, so the Fujitsu is the best option if you need windows.
PS: Hope you are happy with the power supply.

I am definitely happy with the PSU.

I will try to make a short review about the Universal car power adapter that can be purchased for about 8$ including shipping from ebay and can be used for a laptop or for my PSU see signature to be able to power a computer in car that uses less than 70W or use two in parallel for a total of 130W if used with my PSU
I only did a small test in my car and it seems to work fine I used the 19V setting that will output 19.2V and I connected a 130W ATX PSU with a load and the voltage dropped to 18.6V at 2.5A this is quite good.
Construction is good they used and 8 pin controller and a big MOSFET IRFIZ44N that is 55V 31A 0.024ohm more than enough for this application the coil also looks good PCB is ok except for some soldering and the input capacitors are only 16V (I will change this with min 25V to be safe).
I will not sell this but I can recommend this if you want to use my power supply in car the only recommendation is to change the two input capacitors with similar but at 25V or 35V
See some photos with the internal parts.

Hi guys, hi electrodacus, interesting thread. Has anyone tried PSU Trust branded? Have no clue on how efficient they are.

@Electrodacus

Let me know if that is still working a year from now. When I was a security guard and spent alot of time in my car I went through 3 ac inverters. The first one blew out when I upgraded my laptop. The next went up in lots of smoke after working for a year with no problems. My last one still works and is a big heavy duty Coleman with fan cooling.

I have no intention on using this I just purchased this because a lot o people asked me about this and if can be used with my power supply.
It was only 8$ including shipping on eBay so I ordered one.
This is simple construction and except for the 16V input capacitors that are not OK for use in the car (it will work fine if you do not start the car ) but a minimum of 25V capacitor will need to be there or better 35V that is what a good quality power adapter will have. Also the output capacitors are 25V but if you do not use 22 or 24V output it should be fine since the output is quite stable but again 35V will be more appropriate even here.
The soldering are not great but for this sample is fine if you will buy something like this will be a good Idea to change the capacitors and check the soldering and this could work for years.

I decided today to open the 75W and 90W AC adapters that I will put on sale as kit with my ATX PSU The 75W it seems to be made by Delta but is far from the quality of the 150W AC adapter that I have on sale.
I have made a lot of photos they can explain better than me.
I opened 3 adapters I have only 20 PCS of 75W AC adapter and 10 PCS of 90W so I did not want to open them since they are glued so I need to destroy them now I have one less from each type .
The 65W was the only one I had but decided to open anyway.

1--75W )The best from this 3 is the 75W soldering is good and the components are of right value it uses a 100uF 400V input capacitor and 25V (1000uF x 2) output capacitors and the biggest aluminum heatsink of all this adapters.
2--90W ) on the second place but far from the first is the 90W AC adapter components are OK it uses two output diodes (the other two AC adapters only have one) so the efficiency is a bit better on this one the problem is that the current is limited to 4A and not 4.74A from spec. Only 76W over this it will cut the power (for example both the 65W and 75W adapter can provide over 80W).
Soldering is bad is done manually and is as worse as on the 65W adapter it uses a 100uF 400V input capacitor and 25V (680uF x 2) for output
3-- 65W ) this got the last place because it uses 16V output capacitors and the nominal output voltage is the same as for the other two adapters 19V so they will probably not live long and is a fire hazard the soldering is also as bad or worse than on the 90W AC adapter and this can also be a fire hazard the input capacitor is fine but smaller 47uF 400V.

I will still try to sell this AC adapters to recoup my money but you will know at least what are you buying and is your decision .I make no profit on AC adapters only make a small profit on ATX PSU.












For larger resolution image use the links below:
All1
All2
75W1
75W2
90W1
90W2
65W1
65W2

I did some photos of 20V/90W brick, that I got with an old Celeron-Northwood(yeah, this one hungry) notebook, just for an example how a good brick should be filled with components. Note also that mine is A-PFC powered, so it should be more complex than the bricks above w/o such scheme. The much you pay, the much you get.

Ksanderash you have a good adapter maybe the soldering on the output part are not to great but except for that it seems good.
Complexity is not always a good thing I prefer simple design the problem with the 3 brick I described is the build quality especially the soldering and in case of 65W brick the wrong output capacitors 16V capacitors for 19V output.
The best one is the 75W one is simple build but the soldering is good the cooling is perfect and seems to be manufactured by Delta but definitely far from the 150W brick that is described in the first page that is also build by Delta.
In any case I can recommend the 75W brick is acceptable quality it will be cheap 15$ and the shipping to Europe will be less since is much lighter than the 150W brick and 75W is more than enough for a Atom or Via build or some Pentium M or Celeron M . For dual core I recommend a minimum of 90W or 120W brick but I do not have one to offer The one I have 90W is only able to deliver 76W so it will be sold at the same price as the 75W and is recommended for the same type of systems.
The 65W was the only one I had and destroyed to take photos if you need this samples I will send the one you need for free if you buy a PSU
and you pay for shipping probably it will only add one or two dollars on shipping cost for US and Canada.

just read through the review and this package does look nice.
one question i have is how are people mounting the psu in their case?

Good question you need 4 screws to mount this in the case similar with how you mount the motherboard. But it depends very much on your case.
By default I do not provide any screws with the 130W PSU but if you ask and need the one I have and offer buy default with the 120W model then I will send you for free.
See this photo.

You can glue the standoffs in the case they are 75mm and if mount the PSU upside down then it will fit in my SFF case.
Since none asked or complained about this and I sold more than 70 or 80 PSU's I guess is not important for most buyers all have they own idea on how to mount this.
Look in the second link in my signature to see how I mounted in my case.
Hope I answered to your question.

your suply looks good, and is cheaper then a picopsu

yours works out at about 39gbp with adapter where the pico psu is 30+adapter.

the only thing that has put me off of buying yours is that i cannot think of any way to mount it.

If you tell what case/system you want to put it in, I'm sure people will help you out.

Yes if you can get a photo of your setup.
The case and motherboard power connector location is important so we can help with suggestions.

How about an M350 mitx case? These things typically take a pico psu, but I'd be curious how the Winmate might fit in. The build I'm interested in is an M350 with a GF9300. Anyone have experience mounting something other than a pico psu in this chassis?

This is a really small case the only place my PSU will probably be able to fit is the front part but you will probably not be able to use the front USB.
From this Photo it seems to be enough space but if someone can measure this will be great. The PSU is 25mm at the highest point but when adding the ATX cable it will need 30mm min but 35mm will work great.

Guys, anyone using this with an Antec ISK-300? Plenty of room at the front to mount the actual DC-DC converter, but I'm not sure what to do with the cabling. I'm thinking about just enlarging the current DC input hole (when you remove the female DC connector) and letting the end of the extension cable hang out. Not exactly elegant but I'm not sure what else to do.

Any ideas?

-Jim

Why not just use the existing DC input cable? The Winmate has a 2x12V input plug like the one used for the Antec DC module input. Just replace the female DC connector if your adapter has a different type.

Mike, that's a good idea. I could take the existing AC-DC adapter, cut off the end and replace with a male barrel connector. I would then cut off the end of the Antec power cable (the connector that attached to the Antec DC-DC converter) and replace it with a male 4-pin connector from the Winmate.

electrodacus, can you post the pinouts of the AC-DC adapter and the inputs on the DC-DC converter?

Thanks guys.

-Jim

See photo there are two connector you can use to supply this board.
The 150W AC adapter I sell have the pin-out rotated with 90 degree but if you cut the cable there are only two wire (coaxial cable) the middle is +positive and shielding is negative.
From what I see you do not need any modification on because the Antec ISK-300 is using the same 4-pin connector.

I'm very interested in giving one of these a go, but I'm having a lot of trouble sourcing a suitable AC adapter in the UK. Considering the weight and cost of postage, I'd far rather get one locally than have to ship from abroad.

I've been going through the spreadsheet of efficient AC/DC adapters provided in SPCR's Winmate review, but really haven't had much luck. Most AC adapters are sold under the name of the laptop range they're intended for, not the actual manufacturer of the brick, and 99.9% of them seem to use a round connector rather than a 4 pin din.

Even searching for the Delta produced Gateway brick mentioned in this thread, the ones I found seem to have the wrong connector, as you can see here.

Does anyone know of a list of products that use power bricks with this kind of connector? That would be a huge help when searching online retailers. Without that I just feel like I'm wasting my time sorting through hundreds of listings for bricks that wouldn't fit this board.

I'd like to avoid having to cut and modify the cable if at all possible. Is there an adapter that would do the job?

Have you any thoughts about the way this DC-DC converter will be fitted in your setup? Maybe you don't need right that connector, cause the converter will be hidden inside the PC case? Look at the Mini-Box accessories page. You can easily make such thing:



If you want to connect the power brick's cord out right in the DC-DC in, then look here, or here, or FSP branded one. Even Mini-Box has such 4-pinned brick, here. 150W is very suitable for 130W DC-DC if you want to load it fully. If not, 100-120W brick will do.


electrodacus

Well, got now AC 41W in idle on the signature's config And AC 35W throwing out HDD and ODD (booting from the USB flash drive into LiveCD). Many many thanks for!!! It's a darn sight better than my current InWin 350W ATX, definetely I wonder, how much watts I can earn doing measure with the Kill-a-Watt, not my multimeter. A ~25W AC, maybe?

I don't think that the first two, or the one from Mini-Box, would be suitable as their voltages (12v & 48v) are outside of the Winmate's range. As for the FSP one, that site doesn't seem to be offering them for sale to consumers.

I have found some Li Shin and LiteOn AC adapters in the UK that look like they'd do the job. They're intended for high-end Alienware laptops, with reasonably priced 160W, 180W and 220W bricks available, and appear to have suitable voltages and connectors. The only thing that's putting me off is that some of the pictures appear to show ventilation holes that are tell-tale signs of active cooling. Obviously I don't know how well their fan controllers work, and whether they'd remain passively cooled at the <100W load from my PC.