VOGONS


First post, by alfer

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I'm tired of old fans, century-old dust and cheap crappy power. And it's not exactly a pleasant business to wait for one to die and take the best part of a system with it. In general I'm quite period correct, but this seems to be a reasonable compromise.

I have no plans to run LAPC or PAS. I do want to put a YMF71x card in my MMX at some point and heard that it requires -5V. But I could always settle for CT3930 or some other Blaster/ Aztech whatever.

The idea is to place new Seasonic SS-350ES (with chinese AT-ATX adapter) in everything from 486 onward. Not cheap, but seems quite solid to me. This power supply unit even has a Berg connector and the fan grill gives a definite old school vibe.

ss-ss350es.jpg

Does ATXs come in the same dimensions as AT PSUs?

What's your take on the idea? Maybe first hand experience?

Last edited by alfer on 2020-09-26, 00:11. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 1 of 31, by pete8475

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AT power supplies are bombs that are waiting to go off, so I never use them.

I use new ATX power supplies with everything, for the boards without an ATX power connector I use an adapter. I don't have anything that needs -5V so I don't have any of the adapters that provide that but they are out there if you need that.

Reply 3 of 31, by debs3759

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SVD wrote on 2020-09-25, 20:58:

What about those new industrial AT power supplies? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/for-AT-power-indus … 4db1a46957c332a

Thanks for the link. Added this to my watch list, as could probably use a couple at some point, despite the price, being newly produced. Not keen on using adapters when I don't have to, they add an extra potential point of failure 😀

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Reply 4 of 31, by alfer

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SVD wrote on 2020-09-25, 20:58:

What about those new industrial AT power supplies? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/for-AT-power-indus … 4db1a46957c332a

1. I think that a new Seasonic is still a much better option powerwise.
2. In my case I would have to ship it internationally, so it's $50+$30 or more per PSU, if I buy bunch (5-6) and ship it together.
3. I would feel extremely sad after spending $100 or so per unit on FSP.

Reply 5 of 31, by TheMobRules

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This topic is brought up every once in a while on these forums, personally I think getting good quality used AT units and taking the time to learn how to refurbish them is by far the cheapest and most reasonable option. But if you don't mind spending on new power supplies + the cost of ATX-AT adapter + optionally SATA to Molex & SATA to Berg adapters and the resulting cable mess then go ahead. But I doubt it will make your system "live longer" or something like that.

pete8475 wrote on 2020-09-25, 20:30:

AT power supplies are bombs that are waiting to go off, so I never use them.

What makes an AT PSU inherently more dangerous than a crappy ATX? Personally I'd take a good quality AT unit over most of the sub-standard ATX garbage that has been produced since the late 90's. Obviously a modern 1000W Corsair beast or something like that will have very precise regulation, but I don't see what's the point on spending $$$ on those for powering old 5V systems that are nowhere near as sensitive to ripple as modern PCs and require about 50W of power in total.

SVD wrote on 2020-09-25, 20:58:

What about those new industrial AT power supplies? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/for-AT-power-indus … 4db1a46957c332a

Those are good quality, made by FSP. But I think similar options can be found for considerably less money.

Reply 6 of 31, by SodaSuccubus

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You can get good, brand name 500w Bronze Certified PSUs by companys like EVGA for like..$50 these days. They should be more then enough for your average 486/Pentium Classic build.

All your missing out on is -5v. But iv seen people mod support for it into AT-ATX adapters.

If you got the supplies and tools to refurbish an AT. By all means go for it. But I'd personally stick with a good, safe modern ATX by a big brand.

Reply 9 of 31, by alfer

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SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-09-25, 22:49:
maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-09-25, 22:44:

Hell no. Switched mains in my case bezel till I die

You can still use your big red front panel switch with certain AT-ATX adapters 😜

Sure (and that's what I'm going for), but technically it wouldn't be mains 😀.

Reply 10 of 31, by shamino

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No, but I might thin them down a bit. I have I think 4 AT PSUs. One of those is a physically larger one from a Compaq server, not sure what I'll do with that since it doesn't fit in a normal case.
One is a Seasonic 350W that is so clean inside I think it was never used. That's the one I intend to use on an AT system build.
Both of those should be good PSUs.

That leaves 2 old AT PSUs that my family used back in the old days. I think one of them has Fortron or Sparkle branding (can't remember which), the other is "Data Well". I'll open them and see what they're like inside. I'm not an expert on PSUs though. I'll probably throw out at least the Data Well which feels too light, maybe both if I can decide that they're not safe enough to ever use.

Reply 11 of 31, by radiounix

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If it came in a computer bought in a chain store, even an Acer or Packard Bell, it's at least of reasonable quality. They cheaper vendors might settle for a Lite-On instead of an Astec, but they're certainly not going to go for the nasty kind of a unit that has a fake UL sticker, no input filtering, no protection circuitry, and a fake power rating.

Of course, there were a bazillion power supply labels back in the day. Unlike with newer power supplies, a generic name, stamped fan grill and plain one color sticker on the side is something shared between properly engineered supplies and sketchy ones. Gamers weren't yet into having demons and led lights all over their hardware, and a power supply wasn't yet a sexy component to brag about next to your Voodoo.

@shamino - FSP is Sparkle, and I don't think they ever made sketchy stuff. They were one of the better brands you'd pay more to spec, like Seasonic or Enlight. But like any really old power supply, it's likely due for a capacitor replacement, especially if it has seen a lot of use.

Reply 12 of 31, by Horun

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alfer wrote on 2020-09-25, 20:19:
I'm tired of old fans, century-old dust and cheap crappy power. And it's not exactly a pleasant business to wait for one to die […]
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I'm tired of old fans, century-old dust and cheap crappy power. And it's not exactly a pleasant business to wait for one to die and take the best part of a system with it. In general I'm quite period correct, but this seems to be a reasonable compromise.

I have no plans to run LAPC or PAS. I do want to put a YMF71x card in my MMX at some point and heard that it requires -5V. But I could always settle for CT3930 or some other Blaster/ Aztech whatever.

The idea is to place new Seasonic SS-350ES (with chinese AT-ATX adapter) in everything from 486 onward. Not cheap, but seems quite solid to me. This power supply unit even has a Berg connector and the fan grill gives a definite old school vibe.

ss-ss350es.jpg

Does ATXs come in the same dimensions as AT PSUs?

What's your take on the idea? Maybe first hand experience?

There are some AT supplies that cannot be replaced with ATX no matter how you try to adapt them (just one example is the NEC Pro Serva). For your basic AT motherboard yes can be done though am not going to use a ATX on a XT or 286 in their original cases (most have odd sized PSU that no ATX can match) and prefer to rebuild the original PSU... just my opinion.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 13 of 31, by Errius

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Yes, those "AT" PSUs are actually LPX, which has the same physical dimensions as ATX. If you have an actual AT or Baby AT PSU then there's no easy way to replace them with an ATX PSU.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 14 of 31, by maxtherabbit

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Errius wrote on 2020-09-26, 06:09:

Yes, those "AT" PSUs are actually LPX, which has the same physical dimensions as ATX. If you have an actual AT or Baby AT PSU then there's no easy way to replace them with an ATX PSU.

so if ATX sized baby-AT PSUs are LPX, what is an "actual baby-AT PSU"?

full-AT I know obviously, but I always thought LPX=baby AT

Reply 15 of 31, by Errius

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You can tell Baby AT PSUs because they're roughly cubic in shape. They are larger than LPX PSUs, but smaller than the original AT PSU, hence the 'Baby' moniker.

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Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 16 of 31, by maxtherabbit

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Errius wrote on 2020-09-26, 14:01:

You can tell Baby AT PSUs because they're roughly cubic in shape. They are larger than LPX PSUs, but smaller than the original AT PSU, hence the 'Baby' moniker.

ahh ok , I've seen that form factor before in tower cases, but without the integral toggle switch

the ones I've seen had pigtail mains switches like a LPX

Reply 17 of 31, by Errius

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There was a website somewhere that explained all this. Let me see if I can find the link.

ETA: See this: http://czman11.tripod.com/pwr_sup_formfact.pdf

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Last edited by Errius on 2020-09-26, 14:28. Edited 1 time in total.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 18 of 31, by Horun

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Errius wrote on 2020-09-26, 06:09:

Yes, those "AT" PSUs are actually LPX, which has the same physical dimensions as ATX. If you have an actual AT or Baby AT PSU then there's no easy way to replace them with an ATX PSU.

Right ! the old XT or AT style cannot be replaced with a modern ATX PSU

Errius wrote on 2020-09-26, 14:16:

There was a website somewhere that explained all this. Let me see if I can find the link.

ETA: See this: http://czman11.tripod.com/pwr_sup_formfact.pdf

Cool, am saving that docu for reference, Thanks !

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 19 of 31, by pentiumspeed

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Shamino,

Please show me photo of the Compaq server power supply, the label and another photo of the motherboard connectors please. That's three photos.

Compaq server power supply is what I'm look out for.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.