DC-ATX Direct Plug from HDPlex Lets You Use External Power-bricks to Power ITX Motheroards Without 2-pin DC-in

[btarunr]

The DC-ATX Direct Plug from HDPlex is an interesting new accessory that lets you power mini-ITX motherboards with conventional ATX/EPS inputs inside SFF cases that come with 2-pin external power bricks. The accessory plugs directly into the 24-pin ATX input of your motherboard, and takes input from a 2-pin DC. It also puts out 8-pin EPS for the CPU (over a 4-pin connector), one 6+2 pin PCIe power connector, and two SATA power connectors.

The accessory uses DC-to-DC switching to convert 12V to the various other voltage domains, such as +5V, 3.3V, and 5vsb. The accessory supports a power output only up to 200 Watts, which is still impressive for something its size. Available now, the DC-ATX Direct Plug from HDPlex is priced at USD $62.50. You can also buy a bundle that includes a 200-Watt power brick that's nano-ATX capable.



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[Valantar]

New accessory? This has been on the market for years. Literally. They might have released a new/updated version (looks like their old 160W continuous/ 200W peak unit has gotten an output boost), but there is nothing new about this. Over on the sff.network forums there are a bajillion builds using these (including a lot with dGPUs and the more powerful separate 12V distro boards from HDPlex, and other options).

 

[Ripper3]

*cough* picoPSU *cough*
Nothing new about these titchy power supplies.

Now, if you find a company that makes one of these powerful enough for a small NAS running multiple SATA SSDs, and selling a cage that adapts space usually reserved for a PSU into a HDD caddy and a fan, so you can stuff an entire NAS into a much smaller case that normally doesn't have many drive caddies, that would be interesting. Though I'm thinking of something particularly niche.

 

[Valantar]

*cough* picoPSU *cough*
Nothing new about these titchy power supplies.

Now, if you find a company that makes one of these powerful enough for a small NAS running multiple SATA SSDs, and selling a cage that adapts space usually reserved for a PSU into a HDD caddy and a fan, so you can stuff an entire NAS into a much smaller case that normally doesn't have many drive caddies, that would be interesting. Though I'm thinking of something particularly niche.

If you need a very powerful PicoPSU, there's a user over at sff.net called guryhwa who makes 12V DC-DC units (called G-Unique - google it and you'll likely find the relevant thread) up to ~500W. They're fully custom, and he makes modified external power bricks to go with them (based off Dell units, but AFAIK with upgraded components to support higher output). Quite a few people have used them in builds with power-hungry GPUs with great success. I don't know how many HDDs you want, but I doubt they'll need more power than a 1080Ti

Can't help you with the PSU-to-HDD bracket, though.

 

[Ripper3]

If you need a very powerful PicoPSU, there's a user over at sff.net called guryhwa who makes 12V DC-DC units (called G-Unique - google it and you'll likely find the relevant thread) up to ~500W. They're fully custom, and he makes modified external power bricks to go with them (based off Dell units, but AFAIK with upgraded components to support higher output). Quite a few people have used them in builds with power-hungry GPUs with great success. I don't know how many HDDs you want, but I doubt they'll need more power than a 1080Ti

Can't help you with the PSU-to-HDD bracket, though.

That piques my interest suitably! Will give it a look into if I ever realise my plan of a tiny NAS. I probably don't need a 500W beast if using SSDs, and my plans only include a low power CPU and minimal ECC RAM, which shouldn't be overly taxing. Not like those SSDs will need additional power for spin-up.
I imagine some 3D printing for a custom piece would be necessary for my envisioned PSU-to-HDD cage. Ho hum.

 

[Valantar]

That piques my interest suitably! Will give it a look into if I ever realise my plan of a tiny NAS. I probably don't need a 500W beast if using SSDs, and my plans only include a low power CPU and minimal ECC RAM, which shouldn't be overly taxing. Not like those SSDs will need additional power for spin-up.
I imagine some 3D printing for a custom piece would be necessary for my envisioned PSU-to-HDD cage. Ho hum.

They make multiple variants from 120W to 500W, and they're all built to order, so if you contact them I'm sure you'll get a suitable unit for your needs One big advantage of the BTO approach is that each unit comes with soldered-on wiring, circumventing the issue of putting a lot of amps through plugs and sockets small enough to fit on a board like this.

 

[gasolina]

the size it should be bigger than a flex psu , i would rather use a flex psu instead of this and carrying the adapter around or pay 4 times money for this...really depends on the case though,

 

[Valantar]

the size it should be bigger than a flex psu , i would rather use a flex psu instead of this and carrying the adapter around or pay 4 times money for this...really depends on the case though,

That AC-DC adapter is far smaller than a FlexATX PSU. About half the size.
FlexATX is 150x81.5x40mm. The HDPlex AC-DC 200W is 149.5x52x40mm. 63% of the volume, and a decent portion of that is empty space above the protruding mounting hardware.

Also, this fits into cases like the Skyreach S4M and other ultra-compact dGPU cases, which a FlexATX PSU definitely won't.

 

[gasolina]

That AC-DC adapter is far smaller than a FlexATX PSU. About half the size.
FlexATX is 150x81.5x40mm. The HDPlex AC-DC 200W is 149.5x52x40mm. 63% of the volume, and a decent portion of that is empty space above the protruding mounting hardware.

Also, this fits into cases like the Skyreach S4M and other ultra-compact dGPU cases, which a FlexATX PSU definitely won't.

this really depends on the case though, i'm not quite a big fan of itx but i still use quite a lot normally for lite usage not heavy due to the heat . It's hit & miss situation .....

 

[R-T-B]

I mean, I see limited benefit in DC-DC beyond the ususl low wattage applications, but ok.

EDIT: Oh wait, space saving! Duh.

 

[Valantar]

I mean, I see limited benefit in DC-DC beyond the ususl low wattage applications, but ok.

EDIT: Oh wait, space saving! Duh.

Take a look in the build logs section of the SFF.net forums and you'll see those space savings put to some very impressive uses. People over there do some crazy stuff.

 

[Assimilator]

What's a motheroard?

Is it something you put in a comuter?