What is the strongest cpu this 60 power adapter could power?

[morglum]

I just found a 85$can (70$US) mini-itx computer case that comes with a 60W power adapter.

Any chance this would be strong enough for a low power sempron or is it only good enough for an atom? Assuming no optical drive and either a 2.5" HD or a CF card...


Link to the Apex MW-100:
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/17755 ... echnology/

thanks!

[jessekopelman]

With the right motherboard, it might work for a undervolted Sempron or even Athlon. The Atom boards are very inefficient so the difference between them and some undervolted AMD solutions is not much. The real issue for this case is not the 60W brick but the internal DC-DC part -- how much does it put out on the 12V rail. I wouldn't be surprised if it only put out 4A @12V. On the other hand, it might actually have a 90W DC-DC part (despite only coming with a 60W brick) that puts out 5A or more @12V. You should research further. The Apex USA web site wasn't helpful . . .

[QuietOC]

Any chance this would be strong enough for a low power sempron or is it only good enough for an atom?

The Sempron can be lower power than Atom + 945GC/ICH7, but it does require undervolting to 0.8V or less. My 1.6GHz Sempron LE-1250 + 740G/SB700 + 4GB DDR2 is about 22W at full CPU load (no IGP load). The 945GC northbridge is 22.2W TDP all by itself.

[ilovejedd]

I'm using this case with an Atom board. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any specifications for the DC-DC power supply whatsoever. The "manual" consists of two sheets of paper, one detailing the headers and the other discussing mounting options for drives. The power board looks very similar to this converter, though, so I wouldn't count on it delivering much power over the 12V rails.

I don't know how tall the heatsink for the Sempron is, but note that this is a very tiny case. I'm using an Enzotech CNB-R1 (H: 30mm) + Scythe Mini Kaze Ultra (H: 20mm) and there's barely any clearance from the fan to the drive cage and that's without an optical drive installed. I don't think this was even made for Atom motherboards. It was probably designed with really low-power VIA boards in mind.

[morglum]

Any chance this would be strong enough for a low power sempron or is it only good enough for an atom?

The Sempron can be lower power than Atom + 945GC/ICH7, but it does require undervolting to 0.8V or less. My 1.6GHz Sempron LE-1250 + 740G/SB700 + 4GB DDR2 is about 22W at full CPU load (no IGP load). The 945GC northbridge is 22.2W TDP all by itself.

That's good news!

I couldnt find any cheap mini itx mobo for the sempron though.

any idea?

[jessekopelman]

I couldnt find any cheap mini itx mobo for the sempron though.

any idea?

Zotac GeForce 8200-ITX WIFI
$130 isn't cheap, but it isn't bad for mini-ITX. Happily this MB does support BIOS undervolting.

[ilovejedd]

Now the only question is will the 60W PSU be able to boot up the system while the processor hasn't been undervolted yet or would you need to undervolt first using a different PSU and then transfer the undervolted system to the Apex MW-100.

Again, note that 1U heatsinks are the only ones guaranteed to fit. Some 2U might, but you're wanting something that's maximum 2" high (that's without the optical drive installed). Probably even less, since the CPU is a bit taller than the D945GCLF2's northbridge.

[morglum]

Guess I'll just go for the mATX instead:
I'll get a 120W picopsu (55$), a gigabyte 740g (55$) and some random matx case (60$) and it'll still be cheaper than that case (80$) + zoltec mini itx (130$) and I'll be sure the power supply is strong enough.

Too bad, I would have loved a miniitx computer

[jessekopelman]

Guess I'll just go for the mATX instead:
I'll get a 120W picopsu (55$), a gigabyte 740g (55$) and some random matx case (60$) and it'll still be cheaper than that case (80$) + zoltec mini itx (130$) and I'll be sure the power supply is strong enough.

Too bad, I would have loved a miniitx computer

There are other mini-ITX case out there and some of them come proven adequate PSU Is it just your not willing to pay an extra $100 to get this form factor?

[ShadowFaith]

It's itx, expect to pay extra.

[morglum]

Guess I'll just go for the mATX instead:
I'll get a 120W picopsu (55$), a gigabyte 740g (55$) and some random matx case (60$) and it'll still be cheaper than that case (80$) + zoltec mini itx (130$) and I'll be sure the power supply is strong enough.

Too bad, I would have loved a miniitx computer

There are other mini-ITX case out there and some of them come proven adequate PSU Is it just your not willing to pay an extra $100 to get this form factor?

You're right, I could also dig a bit further for a good cae /psu combo. This looked good at first sight because it came with a silent psu..

[ilovejedd]

For anyone who might be interested, I sent an email to Apex and they gave me the following specs:

[morglum]

For anyone who might be interested, I sent an email to Apex and they gave me the following specs:

thanks!
any idea how efficient it is, especially when compared to the picopsu?

[ilovejedd]

I believe it's fairly efficient, albeit I can't do any direct comparisons as I don't have a PicoPSU. I can, however, give measured power consumption values (via Kill-A-Watt) which you can then compare to reviews/other people's results. Pretty sure there are a bunch of people using the Atom 330 board with a PicoPSU.

System Configuration:

• Intel D945GCLF2
• Kingston 2GB DDR2 800 KVR800D2N5/2G
• Seagate Momentus 5400.4 250GB
• Samsung Slim 8X DVD±R SN-S082H
• 1x Scythe Mini Kaze 40x40x10 @ 100% (MCH)
• 1x Scythe Mini Kaze 40x40x10 @ 90% (SYS)
• USB Receiver for Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 3000
• OS X 10.5.5 (Kalyway 10.5.2 w/10.5.5 combo update patch)

off: 1W
sleep: 3W
boot: 32W
idle: 27~28W
running xbench (max): 32W
initial loading DVD (max): 37W
watching DVD (steady): 33W

Individual power consumption of parts per product specifications:

Kingston 2GB DDR2 800
power: 1.975W

Seagate Momentus 5400.4 250GB
startup current max (5V): 1A
seek ave: 2W
read ave: 2W
write ave: 1.6W
idle ave: 0.6W
standby ave: 0.2W

Scythe Mini Kaze
rated voltage: 12V
rated current: 0.06A

Sorry I couldn't find any specifications for the optical drive.

The system was just recently reformatted in preparation for a multi-boot set-up so the original Vista Ultimate install was nuked. Currently, I only have OS X 10.5.5 on there (was testing how to install it and what distro to use - yay, my first hackintosh) and I don't think I'll be able to reformat and set up multi-boot until Tuesday next week (my day off). If you guys can recommend a utility to stress test OS X, I can add a CPU Load and CPU+GPU Load comparison earlier.

Too sleepy now, so couldn't do the Dark Knight/Rush Hour tests. That and I can't type on the Atom build as I think I may have misplaced the wireless keyboard. The tests I did were easily accomplished with a mouse.

[jessekopelman]

any idea how efficient it is, especially when compared to the picopsu?

Doesn't matter how efficient, as 2.5A @12V is not going to run anything other than Via boards. Now in theory, 30W @12V is going to run a lot of stuff, but that is just cutting it too close. I wouldn't even think about getting a PSU that was good for < 4A @12V, unless it was for something super low end like a Via C7. The PicoPSU can put out almost its full rated power @12V, so even using the same 60W AC-DC brick you can't use it as a benchmark against something like this for determining what will run.

[ilovejedd]

Doesn't matter how efficient, as 2.5A @12V is not going to run anything other than Via boards. Now in theory, 30W @12V is going to run a lot of stuff, but that is just cutting it too close. I wouldn't even think about getting a PSU that was good for < 4A @12V, unless it was for something super low end like a Via C7. The PicoPSU can put out almost its full rated power @12V, so even using the same 60W AC-DC brick you can't use it as a benchmark against something like this for determining what will run.

I was going to add that disclaimer, too. I guess I was too sleepy.

I think the power supply is enough (barely) for Via C3/C7, AMD Geode, Intel D201GLY(2), Intel Atom-based, and maybe even MoDT mini-itx systems. Assuming, of course, that appropriate care is taken with regards to parts selection. Basically, just use laptop parts - slim optical drive (if any) and 2.5" HDD or SSD or maybe a compact flash card. No additional peripherals, too. I don't use any PCI cards and the only USB-powered devices I use is the receiver for the wireless keyboard/mouse and the occasional flash drive.