Is PicoPSU enough?

Rikardo · Post by **Rikardo** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 11:46 pm

Hi!

I'm thinking of building a quiet fileserver for home.

I'm planning to use Intel D510MO motherboard with some 4-port raid-card, some small/cheap 2,5" hard drive for OS and four hard drives I currently have in my main machine (in the future I plan to upgrade to 4 Western Digital WD20EARS) for storage.

I'm not quite familiar with PSUs so I have to ask: would picoPSU-150-XT 12V DC-DC be enough? Or even yet, could I use one with smaller wattage? Or should I just buy most reasonably priced "normal" PSU?

Thanks in advance!

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:01 am

It should be enough, but the question is whether or not you need it. Do you have a small case you'd like to use and can't fit a standard PSU? The benefits of the Pico are small and efficient, but if you can fit a larger similarly efficient PSU for the same price, you'll most likely have more flexibility. Pico playtime can be fun, but it's usually a lot of DIY.

speedboxx · Post by **speedboxx** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:01 am

4 hard drives might be pushing it. Keep in mind that the startup peak power requirements (even for the WD Green) can be 20W/each. The DC-DC power supplies are only a good novelty if you want something quiet and compact, but other than that, I really see no other reason to use them over a high efficiency standard ATX psu like the Earthwatts 380.

Rikardo · Post by **Rikardo** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:10 am

Yeah, I thought so.

I'm going to build it inside some drawer/cabinet or build complete case from scratch, so the size won't be an issue.

Thanks for the help