LSS10999 wrote on 2023-10-29, 02:29:

All this thing does is to offload (spare) power from 12V rail to power some external accessories. […]
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pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-10-28, 23:30:

This is *NOT* a load balancer. […]
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This is *NOT* a load balancer.

Load balancer means a device have many outputs that is regulated individually to each load. Remember current is different on each load regardless of voltage. Good example: Charging battery per cell to keep them balanced.

What this you are looking at is, this device is a DC to DC converter to supply more 5V on one bus for extra current (0ut) using from 12V input.

Cheers,

All this thing does is to offload (spare) power from 12V rail to power some external accessories.

Useful if your PSU's 5V rail is weak while you have a lot of external devices using 5V, like HDD/SSD, ARGB lights, etc. It won't be of any help for onboard stuffs so if Athlon boards still require much more power on 5V than your PSU could offer this will not make any difference.

By the way, it seems some PSU manufacturers once again increased capacity of +5V a bit. I'm seeing EVGA offering 24A on +5V.

So there's no way to take 12v rail and DC-DC to 5v and get that into the mobo?

Also, 24A +5V is 120W, not really that much, seems okay, but nothing special, no?

2mg wrote on 2023-10-29, 17:45:

So there's no way to take 12v rail and DC-DC to 5v and get that into the mobo?

Also, 24A +5V is 120W, not really that much, seems okay, but nothing special, no?

The EVGA PSUs I'm looking at have 24A for 5V, but there are some other vendors, including Corsair (from the PSUs I could find specs of), offer only 20A for 5V.

I think with ARGB using 5V unlike RGB which used 12V, the issue with PSU offering too low power on 5V rail once again becomes a problem necessitating Corsair to provide such a solution.

As for how to get spare 12V power into the motherboard, I'm thinking about these:
- Some motherboards at one point had an additional IDE molex connector on board which you can connect an IDE power cable to it. If your board happens to have such a connector, you can connect it to the "load balancer" to hopefully bring the converted 5V power into the board.
- Usually on server boards, and maybe also on enthusiast-grade boards, you can find an additional 6-pin PCIe connector which you can connect your PSU's 12V rail to it. I never really paid attention to what it might do to the board so I'm not sure, but it probably does what this "load balancer" intends to do. Consider take a look at the components around such connector if your board has one.

LSS10999 wrote on 2023-10-30, 01:09:

The EVGA PSUs I'm looking at have 24A for 5V, but there are some other vendors, including Corsair (from the PSUs I could find sp […]
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2mg wrote on 2023-10-29, 17:45:

So there's no way to take 12v rail and DC-DC to 5v and get that into the mobo?

Also, 24A +5V is 120W, not really that much, seems okay, but nothing special, no?

The EVGA PSUs I'm looking at have 24A for 5V, but there are some other vendors, including Corsair (from the PSUs I could find specs of), offer only 20A for 5V.

I think with ARGB using 5V unlike RGB which used 12V, the issue with PSU offering too low power on 5V rail once again becomes a problem necessitating Corsair to provide such a solution.

As for how to get spare 12V power into the motherboard, I'm thinking about these:
- Some motherboards at one point had an additional IDE molex connector on board which you can connect an IDE power cable to it. If your board happens to have such a connector, you can connect it to the "load balancer" to hopefully bring the converted 5V power into the board.
- Usually on server boards, and maybe also on enthusiast-grade boards, you can find an additional 6-pin PCIe connector which you can connect your PSU's 12V rail to it. I never really paid attention to what it might do to the board so I'm not sure, but it probably does what this "load balancer" intends to do. Consider take a look at the components around such connector if your board has one.

Some mobos had power problems, but this thread isn’t about those, it’s about power supplies that need suplimented. You can simply tap into the atx connector or I’m recalling some hard drives had a sata/4 pin molex power connector that could be used as a bridge maybe.

It’s all over thinking though. Just put the drives on the corsair, and buy the best 5v rail psu you can find. Let the psu run the mobo only.

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-10-30, 01:23:

LSS10999 wrote on 2023-10-30, 01:09:

The EVGA PSUs I'm looking at have 24A for 5V, but there are some other vendors, including Corsair (from the PSUs I could find sp […]
Show full quote

2mg wrote on 2023-10-29, 17:45:

So there's no way to take 12v rail and DC-DC to 5v and get that into the mobo?

Also, 24A +5V is 120W, not really that much, seems okay, but nothing special, no?

The EVGA PSUs I'm looking at have 24A for 5V, but there are some other vendors, including Corsair (from the PSUs I could find specs of), offer only 20A for 5V.

I think with ARGB using 5V unlike RGB which used 12V, the issue with PSU offering too low power on 5V rail once again becomes a problem necessitating Corsair to provide such a solution.

As for how to get spare 12V power into the motherboard, I'm thinking about these:
- Some motherboards at one point had an additional IDE molex connector on board which you can connect an IDE power cable to it. If your board happens to have such a connector, you can connect it to the "load balancer" to hopefully bring the converted 5V power into the board.
- Usually on server boards, and maybe also on enthusiast-grade boards, you can find an additional 6-pin PCIe connector which you can connect your PSU's 12V rail to it. I never really paid attention to what it might do to the board so I'm not sure, but it probably does what this "load balancer" intends to do. Consider take a look at the components around such connector if your board has one.

Some mobos had power problems, but this thread isn’t about those, it’s about power supplies that need suplimented. You can simply tap into the atx connector or I’m recalling some hard drives had a sata/4 pin molex power connector that could be used as a bridge maybe.

It’s all over thinking though. Just put the drives on the corsair, and buy the best 5v rail psu you can find. Let the psu run the mobo only.

Seems unfortunate that this Corsair Balancer/buck converter/PicoPSU is a hack-y solution that doesn't really address the main issue...

I've found this tho, but max 5v wattage output is still limited, unless I'm reading it wrong:
https://phanteks.com/PH-PWCOB.html

PS: any other way to combine 2x PSU with one having 12v>5v and having those two supply one mobo?

2mg wrote on 2023-10-30, 13:00:

I've found this tho, but max 5v wattage output is still limited, unless I'm reading it wrong:
https://phanteks.com/PH-PWCOB.html

PS: any other way to combine 2x PSU with one having 12v>5v and having those two supply one mobo?

I guess that's a limit for safety. You probably can draw more currents on those rails (as most PSUs provide at least up to 20A), but prolonged use with too much current (>16A each, >32A in total) may lead to the adapter catching fire.

Still, a sum of 32A on 5V and 3.3V is more than what a single PSU could offer.

2mg wrote on 2023-10-30, 13:00:

Seems unfortunate that this Corsair Balancer/buck converter/PicoPSU is a hack-y solution that doesn't really address the main is […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-10-30, 01:23:

LSS10999 wrote on 2023-10-30, 01:09:

The EVGA PSUs I'm looking at have 24A for 5V, but there are some other vendors, including Corsair (from the PSUs I could find sp […]
Show full quote

The EVGA PSUs I'm looking at have 24A for 5V, but there are some other vendors, including Corsair (from the PSUs I could find specs of), offer only 20A for 5V.

I think with ARGB using 5V unlike RGB which used 12V, the issue with PSU offering too low power on 5V rail once again becomes a problem necessitating Corsair to provide such a solution.

As for how to get spare 12V power into the motherboard, I'm thinking about these:
- Some motherboards at one point had an additional IDE molex connector on board which you can connect an IDE power cable to it. If your board happens to have such a connector, you can connect it to the "load balancer" to hopefully bring the converted 5V power into the board.
- Usually on server boards, and maybe also on enthusiast-grade boards, you can find an additional 6-pin PCIe connector which you can connect your PSU's 12V rail to it. I never really paid attention to what it might do to the board so I'm not sure, but it probably does what this "load balancer" intends to do. Consider take a look at the components around such connector if your board has one.

Some mobos had power problems, but this thread isn’t about those, it’s about power supplies that need suplimented. You can simply tap into the atx connector or I’m recalling some hard drives had a sata/4 pin molex power connector that could be used as a bridge maybe.

It’s all over thinking though. Just put the drives on the corsair, and buy the best 5v rail psu you can find. Let the psu run the mobo only.

Seems unfortunate that this Corsair Balancer/buck converter/PicoPSU is a hack-y solution that doesn't really address the main issue...

I've found this tho, but max 5v wattage output is still limited, unless I'm reading it wrong:
https://phanteks.com/PH-PWCOB.html

PS: any other way to combine 2x PSU with one having 12v>5v and having those two supply one mobo?

Make a ATX Y splice 🤷‍♂️

You can use fuses.. if you really think it’s needed, but the PSU has over current built in usually.

Again, over thinking, over engineering

What system exactly are you building that isn’t running on a psu that you can find to order?

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-10-30, 19:04:

Make a ATX Y splice 🤷‍♂️ […]
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2mg wrote on 2023-10-30, 13:00:

Seems unfortunate that this Corsair Balancer/buck converter/PicoPSU is a hack-y solution that doesn't really address the main is […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-10-30, 01:23:

Some mobos had power problems, but this thread isn’t about those, it’s about power supplies that need suplimented. You can simply tap into the atx connector or I’m recalling some hard drives had a sata/4 pin molex power connector that could be used as a bridge maybe.

It’s all over thinking though. Just put the drives on the corsair, and buy the best 5v rail psu you can find. Let the psu run the mobo only.

Seems unfortunate that this Corsair Balancer/buck converter/PicoPSU is a hack-y solution that doesn't really address the main issue...

I've found this tho, but max 5v wattage output is still limited, unless I'm reading it wrong:
https://phanteks.com/PH-PWCOB.html

PS: any other way to combine 2x PSU with one having 12v>5v and having those two supply one mobo?

Make a ATX Y splice 🤷‍♂️

You can use fuses.. if you really think it’s needed, but the PSU has over current built in usually.

Again, over thinking, over engineering

What system exactly are you building that isn’t running on a psu that you can find to order?

Any that falls in that early ATX hole between AT (passive/active adapters exist for modern ATX) and P4 ATX (the modern PSU design, barring newest ATX12VO), so basically from 486 up to and including Pentium III/Athlons.

I'd prefer not to mess with sourcing/fixing/overpaying for 20 year old PSUs, simple as that. I've done it, still feel kinda uneasy with it, again, 20 year old stuff that can take out the entire system.

And finding a modern ATX with 3.3/5v ~150W either is expensive, rare-ish, 1KW and so on. Of course most of the time they work, but I'm kinda surprised there isn't a more elegant community solution for this.