Motherboard Missing products for STX builds.

Sean Crees

Airflow Optimizer
Original poster
Jan 1, 2017
352
316
I see a lot of people on the forums working on custom STX builds. SFFLab.com is about to sell the motherboards stand alone without the normally bundled case. Many including myself are working on STX cases for them. From where i sit there are 2 missing products needed for this form factor to really take off.

One is being discussed in this thread: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/help-with-power-delivery-stx-gpu.9595/
TLDR: The HDPLEX AC/DC unit it great for outputting 19v to the motherboard, but we need 12v to go to the GPU, and we need it to sense when the system is powered down and stop outputting power to the GPU.

The other which i haven't seen a forum post for (and i apologise if there is and i just didn't see it), is the front I/O problem on the Asrock A300 motherboard and other STX motherboards. While some custom cases just design the case to be shallow enough to allow this to be accessible from the front of the case, some like mine can't do this. We need a way to reroute that front I/O to somewhere else on the case.

The closest i've found so far is this: https://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=748

It has all the right external connectors, but utilizes internal headers. I contacted Silverstonetek about custom cables based on this product with external connections and shorter cables instead. They said their MOQ is 1000. Retail they are $21 USD each. I'm currently asking what the price per unit would be with a 1000 unit order, but haven't heard back yet. Needless to say it will likely be over 10 grand.

Anyone else have any other alternatives or ideas to fill the need for these two products?

With SFFLab selling the motherboards, i was hoping that the guys running SFFLab may be able to help with getting items such as these for sale on the site as well.
 

ermac318

King of Cable Management
Mar 10, 2019
655
510
Isn't the Dynamo 360 exactly what you're looking for to handle power? On SFFlab already, it will pass through 19v to the board and also give you 12v for you and even 5v for drives
 

Sean Crees

Airflow Optimizer
Original poster
Jan 1, 2017
352
316
Isn't the Dynamo 360 exactly what you're looking for to handle power? On SFFlab already, it will pass through 19v to the board and also give you 12v for you and even 5v for drives

Yea it'll work, but it's a bit overpowered (no GPU is going to pull 360w from the pci-e power connectors alone). An 8pin pci-e power connector is rated for 150 watts, the most you see on a mainstream card is 2x of them, that's 300w max. The biggest problem is the size. It's pretty big when you want to put it inside SFF case designed for an STX motherboard. A cut down version, maybe 250-300w, and a smaller size would be preferred.
 

Thehack

Spatial Philosopher
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Mar 6, 2016
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Yea it'll work, but it's a bit overpowered (no GPU is going to pull 360w from the pci-e power connectors alone). An 8pin pci-e power connector is rated for 150 watts, the most you see on a mainstream card is 2x of them, that's 300w max. The biggest problem is the size. It's pretty big when you want to put it inside SFF case designed for an STX motherboard. A cut down version, maybe 250-300w, and a smaller size would be preferred.

You won't find something for cheaper unfortunately. This is because you need to tack on customization costs. $300-1000 engineering fee for a custom run + board production cost. Unless you're willing to put in an order for 200-400 of these things the Dynamo is a better deal.
 

Sean Crees

Airflow Optimizer
Original poster
Jan 1, 2017
352
316
I nabbed one of these a while back, they work great.

Yea, the problem is still the same as with the Silverstonetek item. We would need external connectors to connect to the I/O on the front of the ASrock A300.
 
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ermac318

King of Cable Management
Mar 10, 2019
655
510
Yea it'll work, but it's a bit overpowered
Overpowered is better than underpowered :) also I don't consider the size so bad, remember there's no need for an associated DCPB, just go straight into 19v 4-pin header on motherboard.
I think with an external brick, this is a fine trade-off. You can use only a 200W+ brick with the Dynamo as long as you're not pulling more than the AD-DC 19V brick.
 

Sean Crees

Airflow Optimizer
Original poster
Jan 1, 2017
352
316
Overpowered is better than underpowered :) also I don't consider the size so bad, remember there's no need for an associated DCPB, just go straight into 19v 4-pin header on motherboard.
I think with an external brick, this is a fine trade-off. You can use only a 200W+ brick with the Dynamo as long as you're not pulling more than the AD-DC 19V brick.

Not everyone wants an external brick. With an internal AC/DC adapter + Dynamo 360 you're looking at quite a bit of volume to stuff someplace.
 

Bask06

Cable Smoosher
Oct 16, 2018
9
2
The other which i haven't seen a forum post for (and i apologise if there is and i just didn't see it), is the front I/O problem on the Asrock A300 motherboard and other STX motherboards. While some custom cases just design the case to be shallow enough to allow this to be accessible from the front of the case, some like mine can't do this. We need a way to reroute that front I/O to somewhere else on the case.

The closest i've found so far is this: https://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=748

It has all the right external connectors, but utilizes internal headers. I contacted Silverstonetek about custom cables based on this product with external connections and shorter cables instead. They said their MOQ is 1000. Retail they are $21 USD each. I'm currently asking what the price per unit would be with a 1000 unit order, but haven't heard back yet. Needless to say it will likely be over 10 grand.

Anyone else have any other alternatives or ideas to fill the need for these two products?

I think we should start asking Asrock about this front I/O. They may modify in the futur the current version with headers to accommodate the Silverstone system.