[SFF Network] HDPlex AC-DC 160w and 300w - A Powerful Solution?

confusis

John Morrison. Founder and Team Leader of SFF.N
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HDPlex provides a product range that covers a lot of the parts you may need to build your SFF rig - AC-DC power supplies, DC-DC Direct Plug ATX power supplies, higher power DC-DC ATX power supplies, adapter plates, flexible PCIe risers and more. Today, we will look at the AC-DC supplies in the range, the 160 Watt and 300 Watt variants.

A reliable, high power, 19V power supply has been notoriously difficult to source, especially with the recent Dell power brick counterfeits on the market. It's even more important for HDPlex, who has 2 DC-ATX units that rely upon such a power supply!

Read more here.
 

chingi5

Caliper Novice
Feb 15, 2017
33
12
This might be a very common question so I'm sorry for asking but I'm in the process of designing my case and the only missing component apart from the case itself is the AC-DC adapter. I already have the 160w DC-DC converter and I want to use it to power an undervolted g4560, a GTX 1050 and a couple of 2.5 inch drives.

Is it safe to use a 160w AC adapter or do I need a 300w one?
 
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confusis

John Morrison. Founder and Team Leader of SFF.N
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From my experience you should be fine - the current HDPlex 160W peaks at 200w. Quick napkin math shows a 54w CPU, 70W GPU, 5w of drives plus some overhead only gets to 140w, right where the 160W unit should be most efficient.

That and the chances of CPU and GPU being maxed at the same time outside of synthetic benchmarks is pretty low :)
 

Scrivyyy

Chassis Packer
Apr 7, 2018
14
13
Sorry if this has been asked, I’m new to the community. So, if you had an HD Plex 160W dc-ATX power supply, but a 300W ad-dc adapter, your peak is still 200W, correct?
 
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Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
1,196
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It depends on the unit and its components' rating. An AC-DC unit usually cannot sustain long periods (long as in minutes) without triggering its own overvoltage protection (ovp) or overcurrent protection (ocp). The hdplex 300 as I read the spec before, can sustain more load with active cooling, which means its own thermal protection kicks in before its ovp or ocp.

Dc-atx unit however, most does not have these protections and thus can sustain longer but with risks of overheating, shortening its life or worst damaging it completely.

In his build log
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...one-s-psus-brickless-dual-internal-psus.7026/
@Zackmd1 mentioned he drove his pico 160xt at 190W with 215W peak for 2+ years until it finally gave out.

But it's never an exact number. The manufacturer's put those ratings for a reason and it'd serve you better to respect it unless you know what you're doing.
 

Thirumal Kumaran

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jan 22, 2018
146
67
The 160w reviewed here is different from the latest batches sold.
The latest ones use 3 wire connectors and housing similar to 300w.
Any chance can the review be updated to reflect the new batch.. I’m hearing news that the new ones can handle higher wattages than the one reviewed..
 

confusis

John Morrison. Founder and Team Leader of SFF.N
Original poster
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No @Thirumal Kumaran - the review is of the item supplied to me. Unless I have a newer unit to hand, modifying the article based on testing I have not personally done is inaccurate at best, bad reporting at worst.
 
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Thirumal Kumaran

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jan 22, 2018
146
67
No @Thirumal Kumaran - the review is of the item supplied to me. Unless I have a newer unit to hand, modifying the article based on testing I have not personally done is inaccurate at best, bad reporting at worst.
Nope... the question is not to overwrite your opinions, to one, which is not in hand yet..
But you can mention the scenario and reserve a section for it or update the article with the new section once it reaches you...
 

parlinone

Trash Compacter
Nov 3, 2017
54
19
The HDPLex 160W DC-ATX unit seems underrated, since it can prove 12V*15A sustained that's already 180W in itself. If I see the specs for similar DC-ATX units like the Streacom PicoPSU 160W that one provide only 12V*8A. The other rails are rated almost double as well.
If you translate those ratings to the HDPlex unit it should be classified a 300W DC-ATX unit?
 

Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
1,196
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The HDPLex 160W DC-ATX unit seems underrated, since it can prove 12V*15A sustained that's already 180W in itself. If I see the specs for similar DC-ATX units like the Streacom PicoPSU 160W that one provide only 12V*8A. The other rails are rated almost double as well.
If you translate those ratings to the HDPlex unit it should be classified a 300W DC-ATX unit?
First, it is rated for up to 200W with active cooling.

Second, you don't add all the rails like that. Even if the components at each of the outputs can handle that much, if the input can't handle the total it's no use. It is designed like that because each build is different you can have lots of hdds connected to 5V rails, or a power hungry cpu sucking all 160W *cough* *9900k*