Power Supply Non-gaming APU build part selection & some rational for the selections

Mark13

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Sep 5, 2020
168
216
I am building my first build: a non-gaming APU build. Below is my parts selection & some rational for the selections.

Silverstone SST-NJ450-SXL Power Supply - was the first part I chose - elegant & fan-less solution but expensive & more power than I require - I did not want an external power supply

Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac- NVMe Drive; USB3 & USBC & built-in WiFi, no fans on MB, do not require front IO

Ryzen 5 3400G with plan to upgrade to Ryzen 7 4700G 65 Watt TDP (Hope to keep same MB) not planning on overclocking

678 Case - Wanted an internal PSU, holds SXL power supply - very small industrial style design with lots of air flow

Noctua L9a-AM4 with NF-A9x14 HS 2500 RPM or NF-A9x25 Fan & will also try out the J-Hack NH-L9 120mm Fan Adapter with the NF-A12x25 - if it fits

Samsung 1TB NVME970 Evo Plus

Crucial 32GB DDR4 3200 Memory - all the board will hold - more memory may help APU video

PCIe to M.2 NVMe Adapter with 2nd Samsung 1TB NVME970 Evo Plus for storage

Considered a low power MSI GT 1030 Video Card (fanless) with HDMI & DVI just to have a card (No Gaming) - but decided against it as it seems to have no more performance than the 3400G built in video
 

ignsvn

By Toutatis!
SFFn Staff
Apr 4, 2016
1,706
1,646
Here are my comments;

PSU wattage is a bit overkill for an APU build. If you consider to use a dedicated mainstream GPU in the future, it makes sense to get a 450w ones. If not, then you may want to check FSP, Silverstone and BeQuiet for their 300 watt offerings (but I'm not sure whether they are fanless or silent enough for you).

I'm also not sure whether B450 motherboard will support R7 4700G.

Nothing wrong with L9a. For a lower budget option, you can also consider ID-Cooling IS30. Should handle 65 w TDP well. (Note; you need to set some cTDP settings in BIOS for some CPUs to really be a 65 w TDP. Or else, for 3400G for example, by default some BIOS allows it to go all the way to 88 w TDP)

For the case.. well the design language doesn't suit me, but it should work, I guess. Just make sure that you check other awesome cases here as well like the Laser3D LZ7.
 
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judokamak

Trash Compacter
Sep 25, 2019
38
26
I would have gone with HDplex 200w combo. It's also fanless and smaller than Silverstone option, which means you
can go with smaller case. There are 4 l APU case out there with flex psu standard and higher cpu cooler clearance. You can go
with Noctua L12-s. no need for fan adapters.
And also if you are planning a cpu upgrade go with the 550 motherboard.
 
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Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
Just my two cents here, but I would agree with both above posters that the PSU is complete overkill. For a dGPU-less APU build (and even one with a low end 50-75W dGPU), a PSU rated at 200W would be plenty unless you are overclocking the snot out of that APU.

My recommendation: if you're uncomfortable with DIY power, get a HDPlex combo as @judokamak suggests. If you are comfortable with a DIY power solution, get a DC-ATX board like one of those sold by @Thehack on their store or one of those made by @guryhwa, and combine that with a suitable AC-12VDC internal power supply (the MeanWell RPS-200-12C should be an excellent candidate). @Thehack also sells a bundle with a DC-ATX board and the RPS-200-12C together, with configurable cables to cover your needs.

All of the above suggestions are entirely fanless (though the MW PSU needs some airflow if you're running it at 200W for extended periods of time), much more compact than an SFX PSU, much more efficient (the NJ450 is only rated for 89%~92% at 20%~100% loading, i.e. 89% or above at above 90W internal power draw, typically with a steep drop below 20% load, often down to the 70s. On the other hand, an RPS-200-12C delivers >84% efficiency from just 20W, 90% efficiency at 40W and 92% from 80W to 160W. That not only means a(n admittedly tiny) power bill savings, but also noticeably less heat dumped into your case.

You'll also be able to find a much smaller case if you go with a PSU setup like this.
 

Mark13

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Sep 5, 2020
168
216
Here are my comments;

PSU wattage is a bit overkill for an APU build. If you consider to use a dedicated mainstream GPU in the future, it makes sense to get a 450w ones. If not, then you may want to check FSP, Silverstone and BeQuiet for their 300 watt offerings (but I'm not sure whether they are fanless or silent enough for you).

I'm also not sure whether B450 motherboard will support R7 4700G.

Nothing wrong with L9a. For a lower budget option, you can also consider ID-Cooling IS30. Should handle 65 w TDP well. (Note; you need to set some cTDP settings in BIOS for some CPUs to really be a 65 w TDP. Or else, for 3400G for example, by default some BIOS allows it to go all the way to 88 w TDP)

For the case.. well the design language doesn't suit me, but it should work, I guess. Just make sure that you check other awesome cases here as well like the Laser3D LZ7.
Yes, I really like the LZ7 case with its flexible design - just more money.
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
guys, if I read it correctly, OP didn't want external power supply..
None of the suggested alternative PSU solutions are external. The HDPlex can be used externally, but is IMO first and foremost an internal design, and the MW PSUs are certainly not safe for external use in a home environment. You just need to find a case where you can fit them - the Lazer3d HT5 will be housing my RPS-200-12C setup once AMD gets around to launching new APUs for retail.
 

ignsvn

By Toutatis!
SFFn Staff
Apr 4, 2016
1,706
1,646
None of the suggested alternative PSU solutions are external. The HDPlex can be used externally, but is IMO first and foremost an internal design, and the MW PSUs are certainly not safe for external use in a home environment. You just need to find a case where you can fit them - the Lazer3d HT5 will be housing my RPS-200-12C setup once AMD gets around to launching new APUs for retail.

Ah, I understand you point now.

Personally I can't really justify to suggest HDPLEX 200 watt since that amount of money can give you more power in SFX format (although in OP's case it is still more than enough).
 

Stevo_

Master of Cramming
Jul 2, 2015
449
304
My sig rig is very similar to your plan(down to the PCIE to M.2 NVME adapter, 500GB EVO970 on the back) and I'm only using a 150W fanless flex PSU. My 2400G is capped at 65W and have never had a power issue(IIRC 12v rail is 90W). I wouldn't worry about the fan too much I'm using stock wraith stealth with Titan slim fan without issue even in benchmarks
 
Last edited:

Mark13

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Sep 5, 2020
168
216
I am building my first build: a non-gaming APU build. Below is my parts selection & some rational for the selections.

Silverstone SST-NJ450-SXL Power Supply - was the first part I chose - elegant & fan-less solution but expensive & more power than I require - I did not want an external power supply

Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac- NVMe Drive; USB3 & USBC & built-in WiFi, no fans on MB, do not require front IO

Ryzen 5 3400G with plan to upgrade to Ryzen 7 4700G 65 Watt TDP (Hope to keep same MB) not planning on overclocking

678 Case - Wanted an internal PSU, holds SXL power supply - very small industrial style design with lots of air flow

Noctua L9a-AM4 with NF-A9x14 HS 2500 RPM or NF-A9x25 Fan & will also try out the J-Hack NH-L9 120mm Fan Adapter with the NF-A12x25 - if it fits

Samsung 1TB NVME970 Evo Plus

Crucial 32GB DDR4 3200 Memory - all the board will hold - more memory may help APU video

PCIe to M.2 NVMe Adapter with 2nd Samsung 1TB NVME970 Evo Plus for storage

Considered a low power MSI GT 1030 Video Card (fanless) with HDMI & DVI just to have a card (No Gaming) - but decided against it as it seems to have no more performance than the 3400G built in video
Thank you to everyone for their suggestions. Well I guess I will have to reconsider some of my choices - I went to my local PC repair shop as I have no spares or testing equipment & could not get the system to start. First - the lovely SST-NJ450-SXL PSU was dead. It functioned 1.5 seconds before dying. Hooking up another PSU at the shop - nothing from the motherboard either. Not exactly off to a great start.
 

Mark13

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Sep 5, 2020
168
216
I would have gone with HDplex 200w combo. It's also fanless and smaller than Silverstone option, which means you
can go with smaller case. There are 4 l APU case out there with flex psu standard and higher cpu cooler clearance. You can go
with Noctua L12-s. no need for fan adapters.
And also if you are planning a cpu upgrade go with the 550 motherboard.
I thought the 550 MB's were not compatible with the 3400G?
 

Mark13

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Sep 5, 2020
168
216
This was my initial posting regarding my new build. I have made substantial part substitutions. I will start over under builds with my final working configuration. Thanks to all.
 

Diamorif

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jun 9, 2020
211
105
I've got an APU build with a 4750G I lucked into from Quiet PC ready to go once my J-Hack Pure Mk2 ships. I got the AsRock X570 ITX/TB3 board in anticipation of using the port for a TB3 dock once the office becomes a viable thing again and to possibly use with an EGPU should I want to game while travelling. It only supports one NVME drive, but I just ended up buying a PCIE adapter to get more storage. Its a bit more expensive than the fatality (using that same board in a k39 currently) but the expandability and future support of the tb3 port and the x570 chipset make it really worth it in my opinion.

Only weird thing is that it uses an intel 115 cooler mount rather than am4. I'm planning on doing a super small dual 60mm custom loop in the gpu bay of the case, but you can go for some nice LP intel coolers (i got the LP 53 with the J-hack 92mm fan mount in case the loop doesn't work).

Also, for the PSU , the minibox 190 or 160 are good options. I got the 190 directly from their website, but I think you can get the 160 kit from amazon
 

Mark13

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Sep 5, 2020
168
216
Thank you for your info.
I changed most of the internals on my build including to a x570 MB. The whole build project is under 678 case under builds.