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Hi all,
I am like many of you interested in building the best possible computer transport. In my case, for the time being I will be using my dedicated PC with RME PCI s/c as analog-out source, thus good PC configuration becomes even more important.
The PC I am building will be totally minimalistic and fanless, based on ultra low voltage VIA C3 600Mhz system, SSD hard drive and custom-built case, with separate isolated sections for PCI soundcard and psu. (Though I've read 'The Art of Making Computer Transports', I still don't get why his choice was Biostar mobo.. I'm IT enthusiast for quite some time already, and Biostar mobos, at least since 10 years ago, were regarded as cheap low quality stuff; besides, if there is a need for some CPU power, the suggested system could have been e.g. socket 479 based mobo+Pentium M Dothan clocked at 1st step=600MHz). Anyway.
I was asked by one forum member to share my findings about the PSU that I recently ordered from Canada on Ebay. I was going to buy the PicoPSU and feed it with the linear bench PSU. However, the guys who specialize in electronics and diy stuff convinced me that there would be no use to use PicoPSU+linear feed. It is because on the one hand, PicoPSU is by itself a switching mode PSU, while on the other hand, even if I managed to feed the mainboard with linear power source, the mainboard itself employs like 4-level switching mode power distribution, what would in principle defeat the purpose of using linear source.
Having all this in mind, I started looking for the lowest ripple and best quality switching mode PSU. After reading many reviews, I came across this little thingie:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/130W-mini-ITX-ATX-Power-DC-DC-converter-RoHS-PicoPSU-Y2_W0QQitemZ180425806870QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_UPS?hash=item2a02375416
I asked the seller Electrodacus to compare his product with the PicoPSU,
and he had this to say:
'This PSU have a lower than 16mV ripple on all lines an uses 3x1000uF on all important lines 12V ,5V and 3.3V all have 3000uF each + each DC-DC converter is using another 2000uF 2x1000uF and coil at the input.
Maybe you want to see this review at SPCR http://www.silentpcreview.com/Winmate_DD-24AX
PicoPSU only produces 5V and 3.3V on board and uses the 12V directly from the Ac adapter so it will be extremely noisy and because of the size the capacitors on 5V and 3.3V are limited to under 500uF this is almost 10x less'.
Based on my research on PC psu's, this looked like the best choice for me, thus I ordered it yesterday. I will try to compare that PSU with my Corsair HX-450 (which appears to be one of the best 'mainstream' pc psu's available), and will report my findings here as soon as I build my rig. I will use it with my original Sony 19.5V@4.1A power brick, which came together with my laptop. <16mV ripple is almost like the ripple on linear lab psu's, thus I'm very curious about this.
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