Add2PSU (psu combiner thing)?

[illegalrugalah]

I recently bought a 620w antec psu for my computer so Id have enough wattage when i would want to upgrade it. however, today i found this add2psu adapter http://www.add2psu.com/ that can allow combined wattage. its like 20 bucks so id buy it and get 1020w! thats an amazing deal, if you ask me... anywho, if I were to do this, how would i get my 2nd psus fan to have a hole (so the fan can push air)?? and would the computer have any change in heat?

 

[InvalidError]

If you want to do load-sharing across multiple PSUs, the PSUs need to have almost perfectly identical voltage outputs or otherwise whichever PSU has the highest output on any given rail will end up feeding the loads until either wire resistance brings it low enough for other PSUs to start providing power or a single PSU's rail ends up tripping over-current protections.

Another potential danger from crude load-sharing is that if over-voltage protections get tripped on one PSU, the crowbar circuitry will need to short the combined output of all PSUs which could very well destroy it and cause a nasty inductive spike on rails.

Real load-sharing PSUs share their reference/control voltages and fault protections so they can react in unison instead of potentially destroying each other and your equipment.

 

[vrumor]

Wouldnt touch that thing with a 10 foot pole.

 

[hunter315]

Why do you need to add a second PSU if you already have a 620 W PSU? Two 620W units are going to cost you more than a single good 850 W unit which will be more than enough to handle pretty much any system.

I refer your attention to this post on overclock.net by phaedrus,
http://www.overclock.net/t/1177714/faq-dual-power-supplies

He is well versed in power supplies, and I agree with his assessment, so the first question you need to ask yourself is why do you feel the need to use two?

 

[illegalrugalah]

Well, Im thinking about SLi 670s or something of the sorts and buy a water cooler around christmas this year, and i dont think that 620w will be enough. and im only 15 so im dead broke and was looking for a cheap alternative. but thank you for the output. and since i already have the 400w i thought it might work. ill just sell it now, however.

i found this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104054
on a different forum involving the cable i mentioned, but i dont know what it is... could someone explain it to me? thanks in advance.

EDIT: my 620w is a Antec Neo ECO 620c

 

[hunter315]

Those booster PSUs provide additional 12 V power in the form of PCI-e connectors, those feed the graphics cards directly, it is a much simpler and safer option than combining two full ATX PSUs.

On the upside, nvidia managed to tone down their power consumption figures quite a bit so two GTX 670s are actually capable of running on a 620 W PSU since they only pull 170 W per card at full load, guru 3d had a system with 2 GTX 670s in SLI only pulling 433 W from the wall which leaves plenty for the rest of a system.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/4

Also, if you are only 15 and limited on money, i would skip on the water cooling for a while, the self contained water coolers like the H50 from corsair are significantly more expensive than a similarly performing air cooler, and a full blown water cooling system will cost a few hundred dollars so you might want to just focus on performance components until you have some cash to spare.

 

[InvalidError]

i found this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104054
on a different forum involving the cable i mentioned, but i dont know what it is... could someone explain it to me? thanks in advance.

Interesting gadget.

This is a 120/240V to 12VDC-only 450W PSU with 2x 6-pin PCIe + 2x 8-pin PCIe connectors. This thing should be a reasonable option for people who want to supplement their main PSU instead of replacing it. I would still be a little worried about orderly power-up/shutdown between the two PSUs.

 

[vrumor]

620 is plenty for that. Especially with a quality PSU, if you need more power, buy a new PSU dont use that garbage you linked. Seriously, could end up costing you another system in costs.

 

[illegalrugalah]

620 is plenty for that. Especially with a quality PSU, if you need more power, buy a new PSU dont use that garbage you linked. Seriously, could end up costing you another system in costs.

as in garbage, do you mean the add2psu thing, or the psu supplement? im very new to computer and the other two said the supplement should be alright, but another opinion cant hurt.

@hunter315 i didnt know that it drew that little. im really new to computers but i did build mine so i guess im a novice, but thought they took in much more power.

 

[hunter315]

All of the nvidia cards in the x70 range leading up to the 670 used to suck down power like no tomorrow, the GTX 570 has a TDP of 219 W, the GTX 470 was 215 W, and the GTX 275 was 219 W, so a pair of 670s in SLI does use considerably less power than a pair of 570s, Guru3d had a 570 SLI system sucking down 578 W(145W more) from the wall which would not work on your 620 W PSU, so it is understandable that you expected it to take a ton more power, a lot of the more recent cards did.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-570-sli-review/13

 

[InvalidError]

as in garbage, do you mean the add2psu thing, or the psu supplement?

Most likely the add2psu thing. As I said above, that thing may have dangerous side-effects.

The booster PSU may also have undesirable side-effects but since it is designed to supplement the PC's existing PSU, it should be designed to play a lot more nicely. The booster PSU has a molex connector which I am guessing the booster is using as its voltage reference to guarantee that its output voltage matches the PSU's own, which should eliminate most risks.

 

[illegalrugalah]

Best answer selected by illegalrugalah.

 

[illegalrugalah]

Most likely the add2psu thing. As I said above, that thing may have dangerous side-effects.

The booster PSU may also have undesirable side-effects but since it is designed to supplement the PC's existing PSU, it should be designed to play a lot more nicely. The booster PSU has a molex connector which I am guessing the booster is using as its voltage reference to guarantee that its output voltage matches the PSU's own, which should eliminate most risks.

ok, awesome. if i need to upgrade my psu ever ill probably buy one of those.
i have an amd cpu so its not as power efficient, and i dont have the money to buy a intel mobo AND a high quality cpu

thanks everyone

 

[delluser1]

Most likely the add2psu thing. As I said above, that thing may have dangerous side-effects.

The booster PSU may also have undesirable side-effects but since it is designed to supplement the PC's existing PSU, it should be designed to play a lot more nicely. The booster PSU has a molex connector which I am guessing the booster is using as its voltage reference to guarantee that its output voltage matches the PSU's own, which should eliminate most risks.

Just as with the Add2psu chip, the molex connector sends a signal to a relay in the booster pack to turn it on
Other than the fact that it only provides 12v pcie power, the boosterpack is the same as adding a secondary psu

 

[illegalrugalah]

interesting. thanks

 

[Localos Salos]

They will never actually show you how it works in real life
This garbage is not working, bought 3 of them, secondary PSU fan is not even spinning.
watch?v=Td3afPyr3qI
watch?v=mf9aXgtYGB4

+ bad design, very hard to work with molex and 24 pin
don't buy this nonsense

 

[Dr_Dave]

It is really interesting when un-informed people give there best opinion on how something might work! DLL Industries has sold thousands of these adapters and NOT ONE has failed or has been returned due to failures of any kind! Funny how you make a product and everybody becomes an expert in something they know nothing about.
We have consulted with several major power supply company's (there are over 80 major producers of PSU,s) Talking with them "the engineers" they did not have any issues with the adapter, and as long as you load it with something it just works! I think they know that some of us out here are going to mod a PC and try to hot wire a second PSU. Come on guys, it is a relay that gets powered by 12vdc (4-pin) and energizes a relay that short the power on pins on the ATX. This is real rocket science. No big secrets here. It is just better than cutting some wires and soldering it all together.
And as for the link to the failed adapters video, the guy had a mis-wire, and we asked him to retract the video, instead he made another one that show it all working good. His excuse was that he prayed a lot and got it work. Hmmmm. The Add2Psu is sold at: XOXide.com, FrozenCPU.com, Amazon.com, MicroCenter.com, several university computer labs and countless bit coin miners who order 30-60 units at one time just to name a few and over 30 countries world wide.......
So now I wonder what everyone will say when we introduce the new Add2Psu-D adapter? Yes it does the same thing as the first adapter but this one lets you set an OFF delay from 5 seconds to 7-9 minutes (depending on the voltages of your PSU). If you have your fans on the second PSU, this will allow the fans to stay on while the first PSU is off.
You try to make something for people to make their life a little easier and their is always someone wanting put you down so they can look taller. We also manufacture 15 foot poles! (better than the 10 foot version)
DLL Industries

 

[str1der]

Get a connectpsu adaptor ( http://connectpsu.com )

 

[Tom Martin3]

Get a connectpsu adaptor ( http://connectpsu.com )

I have one of those and it works really well