Pico/Winmate enough power on a 780G system?

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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pete6032
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Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:15 am
Location: USA

Pico/Winmate enough power on a 780G system?

Post by pete6032 » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:28 am

So this may be a total beginner question, but I am wondering a Pico or Winmate PSU would be powerful enough for my HTPC. Here are the specs.

Athlon 4850e (45w I guess)
Amd 780G motherboard (Foxconn)
Radeon 5450 Passive cooler
2 HDD's (160GB and 500GB) - Could probably consolidate down to 1 HDD if needed. I think they are both 7200 RPM Western Digital.
LITEON 4x Blu Ray Drive
Using onboard sound
Wireless N USB adapter
Bluetooth Keyboard
Bluetooth Adapter (connect to phone)
1 case fan (maybe 80mm)
CPU Fan

Thanks.
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Vicotnik
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Post by Vicotnik » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:35 am

Yeah, no problem.
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pete6032
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Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:15 am
Location: USA

Post by pete6032 » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:50 am

So a 150 watt brick with a 130 watt Pico or Winmate PSU would be able to run this system no problem?
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Vicotnik
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Post by Vicotnik » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:50 am

Yeah, no problem. :)

I don't think two HDDs would be a problem either but I'm not 100% sure about that. If older WD drives draws a lot spinning up that could possibly be an issue, but I doubt it.
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pete6032
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Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:15 am
Location: USA

Post by pete6032 » Sat Mar 27, 2010 11:03 am

Is there any way to measure the power draw of my system without a meter? I'm curious to see what kind of wattage it consumes at the moment.
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Strid
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Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 5:09 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Post by Strid » Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:41 pm

pete6032 wrote:Is there any way to measure the power draw of my system without a meter?
No, that would defy all logic. On a more serious note, they're pretty cheap. I think they're €10 around here.
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bozar
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Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:49 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: Pico/Winmate enough power on a 780G system?

Post by bozar » Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:03 am

pete6032 wrote:So this may be a total beginner question, but I am wondering a Pico or Winmate PSU would be powerful enough for my HTPC. Here are the specs.

Athlon 4850e (45w I guess)
Amd 780G motherboard (Foxconn)
Radeon 5450 Passive cooler
2 HDD's (160GB and 500GB) - Could probably consolidate down to 1 HDD if needed. I think they are both 7200 RPM Western Digital.
LITEON 4x Blu Ray Drive
Using onboard sound
Wireless N USB adapter
Bluetooth Keyboard
Bluetooth Adapter (connect to phone)
1 case fan (maybe 80mm)
CPU Fan

Thanks.
Are you doing a lot of gaming? Otherwise you could use only the HD3200 IGP to decrease you power draw.
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faugusztin
Posts: 450
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 2:47 am
Location: Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Post by faugusztin » Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am

The biggest problem with these picoPSU is the initial power draw of hard drives. For example a WD Caviar 320GB has a 1.77A peak power usage, which is of course at the start - so with more hard drives you can easily hit the 8-12A maximum of the picoPSU. With 1-2 hard drives, you should be OK. More that that, and you are heading towards problems :).
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