Pico PSU's Explained

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what Pico PSU's are and how to use them. So I made a video all about them featuring the Pico 160xt.

[ExStaticBass]

Unless I'm mistaken, the reason those don't get hot is that there's no 12 volt conversion. The only thing that PSU has to do is downconvert for the 3.3 and 5 volt ranges for the CMOS and USB/drive controller connections. That brick on the other hand I would expect to get quite warm. It really is your limiting factor unless you have a lot running off the 5 volt rail.

[smartomarplustax]

Even 9 years later this video had something cool to share. Ive been watching pc building content for 2 years now and have never heard of this until doing some research looking for a low wattage, reliable, and inexpensive psu.

[paulbourbon]

The reason (I think from observation) that these can be so cool is because the Bridge rectification and regulation probably only occurs in the brick. I assume the Pico PSU is really just a plug adapter with some filter caps and a 5v regulator for SSDs and other peripherals

[beabuls]

Building computers for a decade. Still learning things all the time. Great videos.

[devinaitken]

how does this guy only have 1363 subs? he deserves many more

[TheGhungFu]

Great little PSUs. I've been running my weather system PC and my Linux box for years off of the 80 watt picos from a bank of solar batteries. 200 watts of PV and a bank of 4 Trojans runs these little mITX boards 24/7/365. 4GB memory, 120GB SSDs, onboard graphics, , , , going on 8 years now without fail. My picos work from 12-36 volts, running from 24 volts.

When you're all solar, a watt saved is a watt earned.

[Dunderbus]

I've been wanting to learn about Pico PSU's for a while now. This cleared things up for me! +1 sub

[aipolitics]

Been working on my first small PC. Your videos keep coming up. Could be a strong niche for you. I'm subbing and liking your stuff.

[megiddragon]

Not only informative, but smooth theme music too. Dude keep it up!!

[DigitalTalon]

Thank you so much for providing information about the Pizo PSU!
Even today, the information remains relevant and continues to be of great assistance!

[tommyodonnell]

this guy deserves more subs,


Great job man

[toast]

Nice video although technically the power brick is the actual psu and the pico psu distributes the power throughout the pc so it won't get very hot, the power brick will however.

[scottcook]

Excellent video, Jay. Thanks for putting it up. I'm putting together a very small mini-itx build to run PFSense and your video helped me decide to use the Pico PSU.

[kelvinrandolph]

LOVING the home theater setup in this video... crazy man!!! lol

[AhmedHassan-joil]

YOU ARE A
Many thanks I've been looking for such a thing for a long time

[miketvpakol]

This could be my next PC build. Looking forward to build a mini ITX pc case with a Pico psu. You can actually carry your PC in your backpack, plug in to any HDMI supported TV and your ready to game

[jonny]

Awesome video! I'm new to the channel and just saw your small builds so this was a much needed video!

[DavidStringham]

I love what you did with the heatpipes at 2:12. Is there a video for that?

[boffyboydj]

Hey Jay, I've just stumbled across this vid so apologies for my lateness. I have a question and you may know the answer .. I've been given an ITX board with no power supply and I believe it falls into the industrial board category (for EPOS machines). However it takes laptop ram and a core i3/i5 so I was going to use it as a plex server / htpc machine ... I'm just lacking the psu which after my research leads me to one of the cool little psu's you featured here. However this board only uses a 12v psu with 4 pin just like the 160xt has (same as the 4 pin cpu one)... so if I was to order a pico 160xt or similiar (depending on the wattage) could I set it up as you've shown but bypass the 24 pin completely and just use the 4 pin (leaving the 24 pin tucked away in the case or dangling around lol). Theres not much info on my board but on some forums and reviews, they all seem to point to something like the 160xt so I just need a confirmation or a negative on me buying one .... I'd really appreciate your time and I'll sub to you for life .... I lied, I already subbed :)

[DBowesMusic]

Hey, I have a Mini-ITX board with an AMD A8-5500 (65w TDP), one 8gb ddr3, 5400rpm laptop drive and onboard video. would the 90w pico psu be enough for all this? I already have it laying around.