HDPLEX Unveils the 800-Watt DC-ATX Power Brick: Convert Idle PCIe Connectors to Power a Second PC

[btarunr]

HTPC case maker HDPLEX unveiled the DC-ATX 800W, a nano-ATX form-factor power-converter. This accessory, roughly as big as a power brick, takes in 6-pin PCIe, 8-pin PCIe, and 8-pin EPS connectors from your main rig, and depending on how many connectors you plug-in, puts out up to 800 Watts of power through a 24-pin ATX, and three downstream PCIe/EPS connectors, with the unit itself handing DC-to-DC switching of 12V to 5V and 3.3V voltage domains. This accessory is ideal if you have a high-Wattage power supply with multiple vacant EPS and PCIe connectors, and want to power a second mini-ITX machine, while saving a lot of space on the side. It uses some pretty high-grade components to ensure 24x7 operation, including Sanyo Japan-made solid-state capacitors, Infineon-made MOSFETs, Würth Elektronik inductors, and controller chips supplied by National Semiconductor and MPS. Available in the coming weeks, the DC-ATX 800W is priced at $190.



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[blobster21]

Those crazy electronicians

 

[randomUser]

Sounds like they missed the point?

I mean, why would you need a secondary PSU that powerful?

If you are building two systems in a single pc, than i can think of only one scenario. First one is a workhorse/gaming rig, and second one is NAS. You only need like 50W for super powerful NAS that beats every QNAP and alike.

For the price of 190 USD, i would rather buy a second case like mini ITX, a gold certified psu and i would have some left over money for MB at the minimum.


Some might say, but hey, this must be good for a second workstation. Then again. You wont fit a second workstation in a single consumer case, so you will have to buy another case, unless you are building the case yourown, or just screwing everything to a wall or something. Still makes this thing pointless.

 

[kastriot]

Interesting concept, good engineering but with no practical use unfortunately.

 

[Ferrum Master]

This thing is for sea/transport aplications IMHO. Maybe solar/battery packs in remote areas. Where 12/24V is the main line.

There it fits well, the marketing did a miss.

 

[Zerofool]

The description of the unit and its usage is completely wrong.
It's a DC-to-ATX PSU, like the previous models (250W, 300W, 400W), taking a wide range of DC input voltage (16-63V in this model, much wider than the previous models). The main use of these units is in ultra-compact SFF cases, mostly the crowd-sourced ones, because they are the ones pushing the limits, nothing from the big names comes close in terms of density.
Anyways, how this works is you put this in your case (and connect all the wires to the mobo, GPU, storage, etc.), and supply DC voltage to it by using an external AC-DC brick - let's say a 330W gaming laptop power adapter (@19.5V) (or a modded 500W version of it), or the 400W AC-DC adapter HDPlex are offering, for example. Or even 6S LiPo batteries - great for a DIY VR backpack PC!
So this 800W unit is essentially two of the older 400W units slapped together on one PCB (with all the engineering challenges, of course), requiring two DC inputs, as seen in the diagram. But the larger physical size, compared to the previous units, will reduce its usability in the existing SFF case designs, and I think its main target are different usage scenarios (as stated on their site) - autonomous cars, AI...

 

[silentbogo]

Product page (which @btarunr did not even bother to read by the looks of it):
https://www.hdplex.com/hdplex-800w-dc-atx-with-16v-63vdc-input.html

HDPLEX 800W DC-ATX Power Supply is the flagship of HDPLEX NanoATX series. It is the highest wattage DC-ATX converter available on the current market which supports 16V-63VDC input. It is designed for wide range of applications including autonomous car,artificial intelligence, SLI gaming PC, etc,.

No mention of powering up a secondary PC from an ATX PSU or anything of the kind.

his accessory, roughly as big as a power brick, takes in 6-pin PCIe, 8-pin PCIe, and 8-pin EPS connectors from your main rig

Diagram only shows 2x6-pin input connectors, and it's a wide-range 16-36V input. I'm sure it's not gonna work correctly if you plug in a 12V source, like a PC power supply.
It will work perfectly from a 24V truck battery or this 350W power brick:

P.S. Once again, good f@#$ing job on writing front page news.

 

[Ferrum Master]

if you plug in a 12V source, like a PC power supply.

There is one obscure thing, a VCC2 +12V input that splits to the other VCC2 sections, prolly acts simply as a relay.

But the yea... Well kinda harsh, but all we want is TPU to excel and provide better and quality articles. All for good.

 

[silentbogo]

here is one obscure thing, a VCC2 +12V input that splits to the other VCC2 sections, prolly acts simply as a relay.

Nah, it's also regulated.
They only say "outputs are disabled if input #2 not plugged in". Like @Zerofool said, it's basically 2xHDPlex PSUs smashed together.
If it was a passthrough, pretty sure they would mention that Vin #2 is 12V only.

 

[Valantar]

This news post is entirely wrong. This is not at all for powering a secondary system, it's a DC-DC power supply for using external power bricks on SFF and fanless systems. It accepts 16-63V input, so connecting 12V from your ATX PSU would do no good whatsoever.

What it does: accepts power from 1-2 AC-DC power supplies in the supported voltage range, and converts it to the required voltages for ATX-standard PCs, with appropriate outputs.

Check your sources, please.

 

[HimymCZe]

HOW is dis smarter than made/buy ATX24-splitter and connect both PC to one PSU?

 

[Valantar]

HOW is dis smarter than made/buy ATX24-splitter and connect both PC to one PSU?

That's not what it's meant for. The article misunderstands the product completely.

 

[XXL_AI]

you guys know nothing about power efficiency, it is so funny that you are trying to explain what you don't understand

 

[Valantar]

you guys know nothing about power efficiency, it is so funny that you are trying to explain what you don't understand

Who here is talking about efficiency? We're saying that the article completely misrepresents the product, both what it does and who it's for.

 

[junglist724]

you guys know nothing about power efficiency, it is so funny that you are trying to explain what you don't understand

That's beside the point. This news post is claiming an apple is an orange. If you used it as described in OP you'd be plugging an output into another output.

 

[Reeves81x]

reporting fail... Lol

 

[leosmendes]

see an interesting application for this type of source.
i am ISP
before I had an apc UPS, which uses two 12v 60A batteries in series giving a total of 24v.

this UPS powered 2 pcs plus telecom equipment that worked at 24v and these equipments had a source that converted 90 ~ 240 ac to 24v. in the absence of ac power the UPS converted 24v to ac ~ 110. hence the devices converted ac into "atx" for pcs and 110 in 24v novamenge, a waste. these batteries using this configuration lasted an average of 2 hours.

I now use a UPS source, which has the second configuration, AC input 90 ~ 240 DC output 24V and connection for batteries. in the absence of ac voltage the source switches directly from the battery terminal to the 24v output, without any conversion and with voltage control so as not to completely exhaust the batteries and daficalas. on pcs I use a solution like this of the material and for equipment that works on 24v I call directly.
how to convert from 24v to "atx" requires components much more efficient than a transformer, and without conversion for 24v systems, battery autonomy now lasts many hours, at least 5x more ...