PicoPSU 160xt cable mods

[rsjo]

If the Pico is working fine when powered by an ATX supply rather than the brick, then it's likely to be the brick that is the issue

I did not power the Pico with the ATX supply - i just took the 24 pin connector from the ATX PSU and plugged directly into the motherboard.
I guess i could power the Pico from the ATX by using one of the PCIE 12V plugs that would line up with the 4pin Pico input?

So to me I am fairly confident that unless you have a bad unit, which I have never seen (maybe someone else has), you will want to look at the brick, 6 pin adapter (resets at 50% TDP), or the card--though from your tests the card is sounding OK. Maybe measure it's load while using your ATX psu.

Under full load in furmark with the ATX PSU the GPU power TDP% is 98-100% constantly.
I have tried 2 different 6 pin adapters; 1 from 1 x SATA > 6 PIN and another from 2 x molex > 6 PIN. When i tried the 2 x molex i was using both JST headers on the pico if that makes a difference in terms of distributing the load.

The HDPLEX 160W + Dell PA-19 230W brick is incoming but for the sake of learning and playing around with my Pico 160XT i would like to understand what the root cause is.

 

[Thehack]

I did not power the Pico with the ATX supply - i just took the 24 pin connector from the ATX PSU and plugged directly into the motherboard.
I guess i could power the Pico from the ATX by using one of the PCIE 12V plugs that would line up with the 4pin Pico input?



Under full load in furmark with the ATX PSU the GPU power TDP% is 98-100% constantly.
I have tried 2 different 6 pin adapters; 1 from 1 x SATA > 6 PIN and another from 2 x molex > 6 PIN. When i tried the 2 x molex i was using both JST headers on the pico if that makes a difference in terms of distributing the load.

The HDPLEX 160W + Dell PA-19 230W brick is incoming but for the sake of learning and playing around with my Pico 160XT i would like to understand what the root cause is.

1. Your usage exceed the technical specifications of the connectors. The tiny JST connectors, molex adapter, SATA adapter are not made to handle the current to 6 pin pcie. Worst case it is a fire hazard.

2. Wait until you get a different power supply and see. Also as someone suggested power the GPU straight from the power supply.

3. Your issue is one of 3 scenarios: your AC to DC adapter is weak, your pico PSU is weak, or both. We are just talking in circles until you can find a substitute for those scenarios. With a new PSU you are only verifying one scenario. If that doesn't fix your issue look to rectify your plug in DC board.

4. Yes you can power the Pico from the ATX power supply. You need to jumper the PS_on signal to com while hooking up at least 2 12V lines and com, preferably 3 of each.

 

[rsjo]

I tried with a different Pico 160XT so i guess im down to the brick as that behaved exactly the same with a reset at around ~140W.

I understand im exceeding the JST connectors; what i dont understand is how people who have been using the 160XT in this type of setup is powering it?
Unfortunately i have no clue as to how i could power the GPU straight from the power supply as i have no soldering experience and i assume i would need to solder to split the power supply input to both the Pico and the GPU.

 

[Thehack]

I tried with a different Pico 160XT so i guess im down to the brick as that behaved exactly the same with a reset at around ~140W.

I understand im exceeding the JST connectors; what i dont understand is how people who have been using the 160XT in this type of setup is powering it?
Unfortunately i have no clue as to how i could power the GPU straight from the power supply as i have no soldering experience and i assume i would need to solder to split the power supply input to both the Pico and the GPU.

You are correct. You can use butt connectors. A YouTube video can explain better than words. Just need some connectors and a combination stripper and crimper.

You can be unlucky with the AC adapter. Your CPU might need more voltage than most when running prime. Could be anything. But furmark and prime are definitely not realistic workloads.

 

[rsjo]

Im currently trying to power the Pico from the ATX PSU so i will know shortly if that works unless i burn down the house...

The CPU - no GPU in the system besides iGPU - is under-volted at 0.950v and takes up a max 67.5W from the wall when running prime or linpack.

 

[Thehack]

Im currently trying to power the Pico from the ATX PSU so i will know shortly if that works unless i burn down the house...

The CPU - no GPU in the system besides iGPU - is under-volted at 0.950v and takes up a max 67.5W from the wall when running prime or linpack.

That puts you pretty close to the max power of the AC-Adapter. You have to account for transient spikes like some of the replies have noted. Some AC adapters handle transient spikes better than other. I rather not risk the headache and I leave at least 20-30% overhead for the spikes.

 

[Josh | NFC]

Im currently trying to power the Pico from the ATX PSU so i will know shortly if that works unless i burn down the house...

The CPU - no GPU in the system besides iGPU - is under-volted at 0.950v and takes up a max 67.5W from the wall when running prime or linpack.

I apologize if you have already answered this--just trying to help between meetings. What happens when you return your CPU and GPU to normal power states?

 

[rsjo]

it still resets but it draws slightly more power before it fails. I recall it tops out at ~165W compared to ~145W.

 

[Josh | NFC]

But it fails at a similar point?

 

[rsjo]

But it fails at a similar point?

Yes, it still resets eventually.

I just now tried powering the Pico with the ATX PSU and it now runs furmark + linpack without resetting, however furmark crashes "gracefully" in Windows but the system stays up.
It still does not go above 165W total power draw when running the tests.
This test was with the pico powering the GPU using the JST headers.

I'm now running furmark + linpack but with the GPU powered by t 6 PIN EPS from the ATX PSU so the pico only does mobo + CPU.

So bad brick is the conclusion to this fun endeavour?
Is that expected at these loads or should i be able to peak to 192W before the brick resets?

Im still planning on the HDPLEX 160W unit + 230W brick but have a few more questions based on what i have learned in this thread:

1. Powering my GPU over the JST headers is not ideal / dangerous ? (They do feel slightly hot which i guess is to be expected)
2. The HDPLEX 160W 12V rail for the 6 PIN EPS for powering my GPU is safe and more ideal compared to item 1 above?
3. If i buy a Dell 330W PSU which is overkill for the HDPLEX 160W that brick will also work with HDPLEX 300W if i go down that path later?

Thank you all - great learning experience building my first PS in 9 years...

 

[Josh | NFC]

I'm wondering if you actually have a hardware issue that is causing abnormal spiking. Wish you had access to a meter with graphing.

Regardless, I would go with the Dell 330. It is overkill by a mile, but that's not a bad thing, and it will run cool and be there in case you want to upgrade later.

If you want I can test out your Pico kit for you and see what the dealiobopper was/is.

Peace!

 

[rsjo]

Thanks for offering to test!
What is the price range for such a meter with graphing? Shipping a brick + pico to USA from Denmark is quite costly and i would not mind an excuse to buy some stuff to play around with
The very basic watt meter i have now simply logs current wattage, max wattage and total power draw and that's about it.

 

[rsjo]

Just got the HD-PLEX 160W + Dell 330W brick and the stress tests that failed before (furmark + linpack/prime95) now runs without any issues and the system peaks at 178W during those tests.
It's a little bit more crammed in the S4 Mini now due to the cables being longer (but that would be back to the actual topic of this thread...) and the fact that the HD-PLEX is somewhat bigger than the PicoPSU but everything runs nice and stable now!

Thank you all for your assistance.

My conclusion would be:

If running this type of setup with a GTX 1050 ti - PicoPSU 160W + 192W brick is good choice and everything runs really well based on my un-scientific testings.

With a GTX 1060 the PicoPSU 160 will still work for most gaming related tasks (i only had a few resets in Doom) but in my case failed in any stress testings so i would highly recommend the HD-PLEX 160W instead with a 230W brick at a minimum.