Hi there,
I have posted
this question on Tom's hardware without much help. I am confident the Bitcoin community can help me better and maybe explain me better too
Basically I have this setup:
- a mini-ITX HTPC with an Antec FP-150-8 PSU, max 150W continuous power; +3.3V and +5V maximum combined output: 65W (thus the 12V line should be 150W-65W=85W at max 10A); 2 SATAs hard drives and an i3 4340 CPU are connected
- an Asus R9 380X GPU which I will connect to this HTPC's PCIe
- a be quiet L7 300W PSU which powers on at the same time of the HTPC's PSU, which has two 12V rails rated max 18A (combined total of 252W max)
This GPU has an 8pin connector for extra power and provides a splitter which gives 2x6pin ends; I am planning to connect both rails of the external 300W PSU to these 2x6pin ends by using the 8pin EPS header (2x4pin actually, that is intended for CPU) for one end and two molex for the other end; this is under the assumption that they are internally on the two 12V rails.
Adapters:
These two would pick from the 300W's 2 rails and collect (via this adapter:
http://en.community.dell.com/resized-image/__size/550x0/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3746/adapter.jpg ) into the GPU 8pin power input.
My reasoning is that the GPU can only draw 75W from the small PSU (via PCIe) and the rest will come from the external PSU, thus splitting through the two rails will also make the intensity lower on each of the two ends and possibly lead to a "safer"/more reliable setup. I have also checked the adapters' wires, and they should be able to handle up to 10A.
From what I am reading this setup should be doable, however people is scaring me off doing this; it would be great if I could understand why it's not possible/advisable.
Please help
as I am a newbie of these things I might have some huge mistake in thinking going on here...