Hello.

I am a new forum member and have done some initial searching but before I proceed further with ordering a PSU, I have a question.

Here are the components for a HTPC build which will be used primarily as a "front end" for streaming MKV SD and Blu ray DVD files via the Open Elec skinny Linux OS:

Intel Celeron G530 (65 watts)
Asus fanless nVidia GT520 video card, which draws 29 watts
Biostar H61MGC motherboard
Small SSD

Ideally, I would like to use a PICO PSU or something equivalent. There seem to be several options available up to 150 watts. However, if matched with the necessary power brick, would a 102 watts for the power brick be sufficient?

I am not a PC expert but I do understand that the CPU rating of 65 watts does not mean that it is not capable of operating with fewer watts for some tasks.

Thank you.

In principle and if you are correct about those 29 watts (maximum power consumption, right?), you'd have a lot of room to breathe with 100W since the G530 doesn't consume anything like 65W. To be clear: there's no conceivable task that will cause it to burn anything like 65W.
There are cheap video cards which consume a lot less than 29 watts (maximum) by the way. But I'm not sure why you want that one (drivers?) so I don't know if they'd be satisfactory...

Thank you for the helpful information.

I speced the Asus fanless GT520 video card because, from what I have read, Linux and OpenElec specifically, work best with nvidia based cards and have problems with those from ATI. Once I saw that, I looked for a reasonable priced card that draws relatively little power. I have confirmed from the Asus site that the GT520 draws a maximum of 29 watts. However, they recommend a 300 watt PSU...not sure why. Could it have something to do with amps? None are specified on the site, just the 300 watts. In any event, if you have other video card suggestions in the nvidia family, I would welcome learning about them. As mentioned, this HTPC will be used solely as a front end streamer for MKV files....no gaming.

Thanks again.

Hi and welcome to SPCR.

The GT 520 isn't that great for HTPC use. Here's a review comparing it to others in the same class at that time. You'd be better off with an HD6570 or GT 640 (although NOT this noisy Zotac card) or you could wait for the Ivy Bridge i3's to arrive and do without a gfx card. The HD4000 fixes a lot of earlier gen Intel iGP issues. I'd expect the HD2500 to perform about the same for these tasks.

It's because they have no control over the quality of the PSU you might buy and don't know what the rest of your components might be. So, they all overstate the requirement rather than dealing with false customer returns when you plug in the card and the PC doesn't boot correctly.

The lowest end GPUs from ATI and Nvidia weren't good enough for HTPC because they didn't have enough processing power for some formats/de-noising/cadence detection, etc. My recommendation is to ask the guys over at missing remote as they live/breath this stuff.