Dedicated 12V Power Supply for CPU

[tboooe]

A picopsu is indeed a great idea because you can then use a good LPS to power it. However, I think @lauritsvd was talking about powering his CPU directly. If his mobo does not have a separate 4 pin connector then it is a much more challenging to get dedicated 12V power to the CPU. Here is a pic of the 24 pin connector pinout. I assume if you are daring enough you can cut the 12V lines and replace it with 12V coming from your LPS.

 

 

I believe this might work for you:

 

 

PicoPSU-150-xt 12V DC-DC ATX power supply

 

- 24pin DC-DC ATX PSU

- 150 Watts

- 12V input

- 100% silent, fanless

- Plugs into 24 pin ATX connector

- P4 cable

- 12V-ATX cable (4 pin power)

- Long Life, Solid Polymer Caps, Japan

- Configurable wire harness

- manufactured by mini-box.com

- ROHS compliant version

- PicoPSU + Adapter Bundle

- US Pat. no 7,539,023

 

Price: $41.00

 

small PC ATX power supplies with 12V or 6-24V input

[Lauritsvd]

A picopsu is indeed a great idea because you can then use a good LPS to power it. However, I think @lauritsvd was talking about powering his CPU directly. If his mobo does not have a separate 4 pin connector then it is a much more challenging to get dedicated 12V power to the CPU. Here is a pic of the 24 pin connector pinout. I assume if you are daring enough you can cut the 12V lines and replace it with 12V coming from your LPS.

 

 

Yes, You are correct, that is just what I would like to do:-)

 

I think I got the courage to cut, and rewire the 12v lines to my linear 12v lps side.

(bypassing the HD Plex 250 pico using the 19v Linear side)

 

But how can I make sure its the 12V lines, yellow in the connector that supply the power to ecu ? (is it always like that)?

 

And also hoping that mb will start at all, since the "switch on" timing of the power will different this way, I suppose;-)

[lmitche]

I recently built a new audio PC using the Asrock Q1900-ITX and a PicoPSU-160-xt powered by a good custom built 12 volt linear power supply. Looking at the 160-xt vs the 150- xt there are 4 relatively large Oscon caps used for the 5 and 3.3 volt rails. There is only one cap on the 150-xt. At a cost of $5 it may be worth the upgrade cost in SQ. I haven't tried the 150-xt, but the 160-xt in this system sure sounds good.

[tboooe]

Yes, You are correct, that is just what I would like to do:-)

 

I think I got the courage to cut, and rewire the 12v lines to my linear 12v lps side.

(bypassing the HD Plex 250 pico using the 19v Linear side)

 

But how can I make sure its the 12V lines, yellow in the connector that supply the power to ecu ? (is it always like that)?

 

And also hoping that mb will start at all, since the "switch on" timing of the power will different this way, I suppose;-)

 

The pinouts for the 24pin ATX connector is standard.

[Lauritsvd]

Tboooe..

Yes but manual for mb. tell it can run on only 20 pin connector,so it looks like its not the yellow Lines that support the ecu.. But would like to now, where it gets it power then..

[tboooe]

Tboooe..

Yes but manual for mb. tell it can run on only 20 pin connector,so it looks like its not the yellow Lines that support the ecu.. But would like to now, where it gets it power then..

 

I just read the manual for your mobo. It has a standard 24 pin ATX power connector but can accept a 20 pin. Here is the quote from the manual:

 

This motherboard providesa 24-pin ATX powerconnector. To use a 20-pinATX power supply, pleaseplug it along Pin 1 and Pin13.

 

If you want to be certain I would suggest getting a cheap digital multi-meter. Then you cna verify that you are tapping into the 12v line.

[Lauritsvd]

Yes, and i got just that:-)

But my point is: that the only +12v is on some pins, that is not needed if it can run on a 20 pin connector.

 

So maybe the ecu is running on another voltage supply?

I have no way of knowing i guess.

[Lauritsvd]

Sorry, my fault..I had to look a little closer.. One of the 12v i on the 20 pin side.. Not only the 4 pin..

But is +12v always the ecu supply ?

[tboooe]

Yes, and i got just that:-)

But my point is: that the only +12v is on some pins, that is not needed if it can run on a 20 pin connector.

 

So maybe the ecu is running on another voltage supply?

I have no way of knowing i guess.

 

I understand your question now. You are correct, if your mobo can run on a 20pin connector then it doesnt need the additional 12v, 5v, and 3.3v provided by the 24pin connector.

 

The bigger question is if the 12v only powers the CPU and nothing else?? I do not know.

[Lauritsvd]

Exactly ..

Was hoping somebody might know..

[kilroy]

I have a customized Paul Pang pico arriving soon for a new server build. It'll be running on 19V from a HDPlex 100W LPSU, with the PSU 12V lead direct to the CPU. Paul thought it's better to run 12V into the pico, but then I'd have the 19V line doing nothing, and no way to feed the CPU directly without splitting the 12V line with a Y adapter, which I'm not sure is a good thing. In any case I'm betting it's a probably still better than most other common configurations. We'll see how that works.

[tboooe]

I wonder why Paul Pang thinks its better run 12V into the pico?

 

Do you plan on getting the HDPlex DC power supply too or one of those picopsu?

[kilroy]

I wonder why Paul Pang thinks its better run 12V into the pico?

 

Do you plan on getting the HDPlex DC power supply too or one of those picopsu?

 

I have the 250ATX already but don't care for the cabling. I am using the new H5 case, which puts the 250ATX right next to the 24-pin mobo connector. So way too much cable sitting right there. Maybe try to get a shorter 24-conductor in the future.

 

I've use the picos from mini-box and like the simplicity of the design, hope I can ultimately stay with that. The PPA version uses special wiring and insulation as well.

[cjf]

I see there is indeed no end to the madness here on CA

 

I would be interested in knowing what SQ increases someone can expect to hear by powering the CPU waffer of the computer by its own LPS? I don't visit here as much as I use to but at this rate I suspect on my next visit I will read about how someone is intending to power their entire PC via solar as if they can get away with avoiding all the noise generated within the PC itself.

 

I would imagine at some point beyond one primary LPS powering the whole computer that having multiple LPS dangling off the PC for each component inside would be worse then just using one.

[Possum Jenkins]

I see there is indeed no end to the madness here on CA

 

I would be interested in knowing what SQ increases someone can expect to hear by powering the CPU waffer of the computer by its own LPS? I don't visit here as much as I use to but at this rate I suspect on my next visit I will read about how someone is intending to power their entire PC via solar as if they can get away with avoiding all the noise generated within the PC itself.

 

I would imagine at some point beyond one primary LPS powering the whole computer that having multiple LPS dangling off the PC for each component inside would be worse then just using one.

 

A bit of a strange comment when your own equipment list contains a USB cable that retails for over $500

[cjf]

A bit of a strange comment when your own equipment list contains a USB cable that retails for over $500

 

I'm not sure I follow your logic. What does my use of a fancy USB cable have anything to do with powering a music servers CPU via its own LPS? My rub is the concept of powering individual computer parts on a single motherboard via their own power source.

 

Where do the benefits end and at what point do the veils stop lifting as one adds 2,3 or more separate power supplies feeding a single computer? Maybe the holey grail will be found after one has their music server fully surrounded by separate LPS and batteries each with its own bundle of wires feeding into the chassis which now looks like a block of Swiss Cheese. Before long, will have posts about people who hear even more veils being lifted by switching out the factory wires leading off of each of their LPS in favour of "Litz" wire or maybe even nine 9's Silver/Copper.

 

Where does it end ?

[Possum Jenkins]

I'm not sure I follow your logic. What does my use of a fancy USB cable have anything to do with powering a music servers CPU via its own LPS? My rub is the concept of powering individual computer parts on a single motherboard via their own power source.

 

Where do the benefits end and at what point do the veils stop lifting as one adds 2,3 or more separate power supplies feeding a single computer? Maybe the holey grail will be found after one has their music server fully surrounded by separate LPS and batteries each with its own bundle of wires feeding into the chassis which now looks like a block of Swiss Cheese. Before long, will have posts about people who hear even more veils being lifted by switching out the factory wires leading off of each of their LPS in favour of "Litz" wire or maybe even nine 9's Silver/Copper.

 

Where does it end ?

 

 

Looking through your list it looks full of exotic gear, it would appear you're not averse to the odd tweak here and there? That was my 'logic', if you are prepared to spend that much on a cable (& the rest) then surely you understand the quest for perfection, wasn't having a dig.

 

Kudos to you, I'd love a system like yours.

[tboooe]

The day I stop tweaking is the day I'll just go buy a Bose system.

[tranz]

The day I stop tweaking is the day I'll just go buy a Bose system.

 

Or you listen to a LAN input DAC...

[cjf]

Looking through your list it looks full of exotic gear, it would appear you're not averse to the odd tweak here and there? That was my 'logic', if you are prepared to spend that much on a cable (& the rest) then surely you understand the quest for perfection, wasn't having a dig.

 

Kudos to you, I'd love a system like yours.

 

Yes I am indeed into tweaks, probably more so than many, but I guess my thought is that if someone like myself thinks a tweak is absurd it probably is; which is pretty rare for me.

 

I'm certainly in no position to stop anyone from doing something that they feel will bring them closer to audio nirvana but this topic struck a chord with me for some reason. Probably has a lot to do with being an IT guy by trade.

 

I think better benefits could be realized by simply using an inherently lower power system to begin with so the noise/grunge levels are already so low that there is no need to go thru such elaborate measures to clean up the power feeding a music server.

 

My apologies for coming off harsh.

[4est]

The problem may be that the 5v power does not come up fast enough on start up. The three SSD drawing off of it may sag (brown out) as it attempts to load data and gets errors. Just a guess...

Interesting.

I use 2 +5V supplies from separate 1A voltage regulator ICs powered from the internal +12V SMPS, but I have never had any problems with my OS SSD which is a 256GB Samsung EVO 850 or my music SSD which is a 128GB Samsung EVO 840. .

It sounds like Paul may be using a much older, and far thirstier model SSD for this application.

[randytsuch]

For 5V, I HAD to use a combination of my diy linear PS and LIFEPO4 batteries. Current draw on 5V, especially at power up, varies a lot, and my linear was too slow. PC would reset when it was trying to boot up. So I added a couple batteries to the mix, and it fixed this problem.

 

FWIW, I found that improving the power supply in my audio PC made significant improvements in sound quality. My pc is fairly low power, I've tried to keep it as simple as possible for the most part, and it is only used for playing music. It seems like the quality of power always matters in audio, at least that's been my experience.