Power Supply Powering a gtx 950 and i3 6100t

robbee

King of Cable Management
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n3rdware
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Sep 24, 2016
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Hi everyone,

I've been spending the last couple of days to read through al of the wonderfull builds that are published on this forum. It got me itchy to start modding my htpc a bit.

Atm, I have an Asrock n3150 itx board inside the Streacom F7C, powered by a 160w unbranded picopsu i got of aliexpress and a 92w brick.

What I would like to do, is use a 'proper' cpu and a low power gpu, to get some low end full-hd gaming going on the television. I've chosen for the Galax low profile version of the GTX 950 and the i3 6100t.

I don't really have actual power usage data of both, so I'll have to go with their TDP. They have a combined TDP of 110 watts, all on the 12v rail. My current picopsu isn't really an option as I don't trust it that much. It costed my only 30 euros (brick incl) and it has a simple barrel connection, which I find a bit risky at such power draw.


I need to get a small psu though, preferably with an external brick. There's barely room left in my case after i'll do the mod. This leaves me with little options:

- The Minibox picoPSU-160-XT along with their 192 watt brick. This seems to be as high rated as picopsu-style psu's get. There's also higher rated ones at picobox, but I've heard some bad things about them. I'd also prefer a 12v version rather than a wide range input, as i believe they may handle 12v power draw peak better (or am I wrong?). Either way, the 160 xt is rated at a max load of 8A on the 12v rail, with peaks at 15A. 8A is not enough to handle 100% load on both cpu and gpu, but that doesn't sound like something that will happen a lot outside of benchmarks.

- The HDPLEX HiFi 250W DC-ATX and Pico-box x1-atx-180 have a higher capacity 12v rails, but I'd like to reduce cable clutter. Only if there picopsu is no option, I'd consider this.

- The Streacom zeroflex is another option. It is very definitely rated high enough but there's a lot of cons. It's expensive, only barely fits the case and the external connector is too short.



What i'd like to know is if the minibox is gonna cut it. I've read on a couple of places that the 12v dc-dc psu's just pass on the 12v input they get. If that's the case, the 192 watt brick will have no issues juicing the lot. Can I get your opinion?

Some other info:
- There's airflow going directly over where the psu will be placed
- The rest of the hardware is an asus h170i plus d3 motherboard, Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP 8G, crucial mx300 275gb m.2 and a slot-load blu ray reader
 

CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
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Since you're going for the low profile 950, the card will only use 75 watts all from the PCIe slot, and the T series CPUs would work handily with the PicoPSU. That combination should stay well within the 160W limit under normal use. Expect to stay in the low 100's watt range for both CPU and GPU load. It's above 8A but shouldn't get anywhere near close to the 15A peak.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
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Running a T series CPU and 75W variant of the 950 I pull about 130W from the wall at peak.
 
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CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
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Running a T series CPU and 75W variant of the 950 I pull about 130W from the wall at peak.

Thanks for the concrete answer. I just hazard a guess it would be in the low 100's but without a watt meter I have been going in blind.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
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Now with that in mind, I've been running the same system, but with a 1060 swapped in and VSync'ed on World of Warcraft and real world performance on WQHD is pulling 100W from the wall. Might be better off with a higher end card if your needs are quite light.
 

CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
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I'm personally waiting to see what the 1050/Ti has to offer but since my current build is supporting low-profile cards only, my options are more limited.
 

robbee

King of Cable Management
Original poster
n3rdware
Bronze Supporter
Sep 24, 2016
855
1,335
Thanks for thinking with me. I've heard they're gonna announce the 1050(ti) in October, so might just wait and see what that brings.