PicoBox Z2 PC PSUs are just 56mm long

by Mark Tyson on 18 September 2019, 14:11

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PicoBox has launched a new series of PC PSUs that are incredibly compact and may be highly attractive to pint-sized PC builders. PC builders already have a choice of SFX and TFX PSUs for compact projects but the PicoBox Z2 range has all its components in a compact board that sits atop of your motherboard's 24-pin ATX connector - so there is no PSU 'box' to eat up internal system space. Importantly, this 'PSU' must be fed via the supplied 1m long 12V DC input line.

Available with your choice of 120W, 160W, 200W, and 250W max output ratings, the PicoBox Z2 range are just 56mm long and 27mm deep. These are silent / fanless designs that are claimed to offer 'Super High Efficiency (>94 per cent). The product is built using an 8bit microcontroller with electrolytic capacitors, and offers OCP, OVP, and OTP protections.

Of the four models that will be made available, they are all equipped with; one 24-pin ATX motherboard connector, one 4-pin CPU connector, two SATA power connectors, one 4-pin molex, and a single power connector for an FDD.

To compare PicoBox Z2 PC PSUs specs please check the charts above and below.

PicoBox Z2 PC PSUs are already starting to become available. For example, Geeek is selling the 160W version now for $28.90.

Source: PicoBox via PCGamesN.

HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Posted by chinf - Wed 18 Sep 2019 14:38
PicoPSUs are nothing new, and have been around for years (I used one last year in a project). Why is this even news? What makes these particular products any different to the ones that have been available on the market for a while?

Also note that the wattage ratings are somewhat optimistic for many picoPSUs, and they may run rather warm in practice… it would have been far more useful for Hexus to review and compare this against the existing competitors to see if it lives up to the claimed ratings.
Posted by AETAaAS - Wed 18 Sep 2019 14:41
This is not a new concept, the picoPSU has been around for years and there are lots of Chinese knockoffs that run off DC 12v (like in a car). If you want more, there are things like the HDPLEX 400W. That one is larger and doesn't sit over the 24pin but still smaller than the usual PSUs (SFX, flex, TFX, etc.)
Posted by lumireleon - Thu 19 Sep 2019 07:21
can it power a gtx 1050 ?
Posted by peterb - Thu 19 Sep 2019 08:53
lumireleon
can it power a gtx 1050 ?
Maximum power is 250w so it would be pushing it. You might be able to use 2, one for the system and one for the GPU, but you would need to be careful with the connections.
Posted by Valantar - Fri 20 Sep 2019 14:43
peterb
Maximum power is 250w so it would be pushing it. You might be able to use 2, one for the system and one for the GPU, but you would need to be careful with the connections.
Pushing it? The GTX 1050 is a 75W GPU. Unless you're running a >140W HEDT CPU, it can power a GPU like that just fine. Of course as mentioned above units like this tend to be a bit optimistically rated, but that's most often the case for either cheap Chinese knockoffs that skimp on copper (Picobox is not a knockoff brand), or include the 3.3 and 5V in their total wattage. 12V is passed straight through the board from the DC source, generating zero heat, so unless this is using some very thin wiring it should power a 75W GPU + a normal 65-95W CPU at stock clocks just fine.

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