Morex 120W & ITPS for AMD micro ATX - good idea?

**Arathranar** · 10-11-2004, 11:45 PM

I'm thinking of going with this Morex Power Kit for mini-ITX Motherboards 120W
and an ITPS to drive an AMD XP Barton 2500*+ in a Soyo K7-VME micro ATX motherboard.
Other peripherals - 3.5" hard drive (Seagate 160Gb); slimline laptop dvd slot loader with 3.5" adapter possibly with USB adapter (or just long custom ide cable if it works); USB gps; USB microphone; possibly USB hub (if only to reduce wiring!); PS/2 track ball or touch pad; maybe a PCI TV/FM tuner card at some point.

Does anyone have any experience of this kind of setup? Will 120W be enough? The psu above is marketed for certain mini ITX p4 solutions.

Edit: Apparently posting a link to a competitor or even naming them is not allowed since it has been removed. The Morex 120W is not sold at the mp3car store.

**ptk** · 10-12-2004, 07:49 AM

just one issue
ITPS is rated to handle 60W. don't think it can handle beyond that, unless you bypass the 12V regulation.

kao

**Confused** · 10-12-2004, 08:54 AM

In a word:

No.

Get an Opus.

I'm sure the reason MP3Car.com doesn't supply them is because they are rubbish.

Thread closed.

Garry

**Arathranar** · 10-12-2004, 11:27 AM

I don't want an Opus. They are way too big and way too expensive for my taste.

Thread still open.

**Arathranar** · 10-12-2004, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by ptk

just one issue
ITPS is rated to handle 60W. don't think it can handle beyond that, unless you bypass the 12V regulation.

Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't realized that. I guess I will continue with my planning to use a $10 7.2Ah battery as a tank to do the voltage regulation instead then.

**starfox** · 10-12-2004, 09:29 PM

No regulation on the 12V line on those, there's a good chance you'll damage something on your motherboard with transients from the car's altenator.

Running all of those things, you'll probably exceed the max current on the 5V line on that psu as well..

Also it looks like the extra 40W for the 120W morex comes from an extra 6A on the 12V line.. looks like the might've just changed the mosfet on that.

**justICE** · 10-12-2004, 11:38 PM

Originally Posted by Arathranar

I don't want an Opus. They are way too big and way too expensive for my taste.

Thread still open.

HAh. Arathrana I feel your pain. I think probably everyone here has searched the web 50 times for that perfect power supply that doesn't cost 200 bucks. Sadly, it doesn't exist yet=(. I am about at my caving point.

**Arathranar** · 10-13-2004, 12:38 AM

This one looked very promising. It comes with an AC adaptor which would be very useful whilst testing all the pieces in the house. It's beginning to look like it's not a great choice though.

Checked my cars switched 12v line today during crank. It drops to practically zero!

**Arathranar** · 10-13-2004, 02:24 AM

Originally Posted by starfox

No regulation on the 12V line on those, there's a good chance you'll damage something on your motherboard with transients from the car's altenator..

Hmm. I can't see anything to absolutely confirm that either way. I had been hoping to use the ITPS with it but that seems a non-starter.

Originally Posted by starfox

Running all of those things, you'll probably exceed the max current on the 5V line on that psu as well..

That was my I was thinking of adding a powered hub running off the switched 12v line.

**Arathranar** · 10-13-2004, 02:59 AM

Of course! If you hook up the PC and battery to the *switched* 12V, then you are safe from over voltage (at least in my car since it switches off during the crank). However, you are forced to hibernate the pc (preferably automatically) at ignition off. But an additional plus is your PC can't drain your main battery!

Overall, I think I vastly prefer this approach. I was going to go with hibernate anyway.

And I read somewhere that some VIA systems only use 7mA in standby. So it would last a long time off just the 7.2*Ah battery (43 days!). So standby is potentially still viable.

And no diodes are harmed (required) in the making of this solution.

I like!