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160W picoPSU and AC/DC adapter block
Discontinued
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picoPSU 160W picoPSU and AC/DC adapter block

The picoPSU 160W power supply is a 100% silent fanless DC-DC solution. No fans, no noise, just power for small and silent PCs.

This 160W picoPSU is the ideal solution for small form factor home theatre PC cases such as those manufactured by Streacom. Not only is the PSU powerful enough to power most quad-core systems but it also is 100% fanless, so you get a truly silent solution powering the PC.

Features

  1. Very small, can build ultra-compact PC enclosures and slim server enclosures
  2. Fits any motherboard equipped with 24pin ATX connector
  3. 100% silent, fanless, no moving parts
  4. Highly efficient design which produces very little heat
  5. Ideal for Intel Ivy Bridge or Haswell processors

The picoPSU plugs directly into the 24 pin ATX connector on the motherboard and feeding from the picoPSU are the SATA, PATA and ATX12V connectors. The picoPSU is a fully compliant DC-DC ATX PSU that has been designed specifically for low to mid-wattage processors. CPUs which generate 65W or lower are considered suitable, but this does depend on how many peripherals are installed.

Please note that the picoPSU is supplied with a 12V 12.5A 150W AC/DC adapter “brick” which has a 2.5mm x 5.5mm barrel jack plug on it. This connects to the flying jack cable from the picoPSU via a suitable hole in your PC chassis. A UK mains cable is also included.

Accessories

An additional power extension cable can be purchased for the adapter that will allow it to power one additional Molex and one additional SATA device. If the Molex connectors are not required they can still be used to power more SATA devices with a Molex to SATA adapter cable.

SpecificationsPicoPSU 160W
AC adapter input100-240 VAC, 50-60Hz
AC adapter +12V output current12.5A
Number of SATA power connectors1
Number of PATA (IDE) power connectors1
Number of ATX12V power connectors1
ATX12V (4-pin) supportYes
CertificatesCE, FCC
Warranty24 months
SpecificationsPicoPSU 160W
AC adapter input100-240 VAC, 50-60Hz
AC adapter +12V output current12.5A
Number of SATA power connectors1
Number of PATA (IDE) power connectors1
Number of ATX12V power connectors1
ATX12V (4-pin) supportYes
CertificatesCE, FCC
Warranty24 months

Customer Reviews

Misleading description overpriced poor product

,

The description says this a picoPSU and AC/DC adapter block it is not ! It’s a 160 watt adaptor block with a 150 watt AC/DC adaptor block. This is buried away in the longer detailed description. Both the PicoPsu and adaptor block make an annoying high pitched noise. Returns were made too difficult due reluctance to give me a return address. I would have bought cheaper elsewhere if I hadn’t been taken in by the misleading description. I’ve spend £100s at quietPC in the past the last two orders where dealt with badly; I will not be ordering from them EVER AGAIN !

Quiet PC replied on 22nd March 2013

Sorry to hear you are unhappy with your purchase. The picoPSU does offer a full genuine 160 watts of power and we pair it with an AC/DC adapter block which is rated at 150 watts on the AC side because any wattage larger than this would require a 4-pin DC power connector which is incompatible with the barrel connector used on the picoPSU and the chassis on which it’s generally used (primarily Streacom). However, in practice the wattage mismatch has no bearing on the available deliverable power because the wattage on the DC side is split between voltage rails on the ATX plug anyway.

Occasionally an acoustic noise can be audible which is generally due to an interaction between the motherboard and the power supply, regrettably causing an internal component oscillation, and changing the PSU usually solves it. It can occasionally also be caused by an electrically noisy AC power supply. We don’t ever have any reluctance to give returns details since all our products come with a 30-day no-questions-asked money back guarantee, so I’m not sure what happened there. Our contact/returns address is freely published on the contact page on our website. It’s sad to hear that you no longer wish to be a customer but if we can assist at any point in the future please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

FAQ

  • Do high wattage power supplies cost more to run?

    No - the rated wattage of a power supply refers to the maximum amount of power it can deliver at full load, not how much power it uses. More powerful PSUs will consume around the same amount of power as lower powered power supplies in any given PC system, so your electricity bill will not be higher when using a more powerful power supply!

    The best way to reduce your electricity bill when using your PC is to use a more efficient power supply or make your PC consume less power by removing components which are not needed, such as extra drives and expansion cards, or by choosing a cooler-running processor or graphics card.

  • My brand new power supply doesn’t work! Am I doing something wrong?

    It’s possible that the power supply may be faulty, but here are some simple things to check. Firstly, a power supply will not work if you simply plug it in and flick the switch. The power supply will only turn on if you connect it to a working motherboard and associated items (processor, memory, video card, etc). It is actually the motherboard which tells the power supply when to switch on.

    Secondly (if applicable), check the voltage is set correctly to 115/230 volts depending on what country you are in. Thirdly, if possible it would be good to try the power supply in another PC to see if it works, or try another power supply in your PC to see if that works. You can then tell whether it is the power supply which is faulty or the actual PC itself. If all else fails, please contact us for further support, and/or return details.

  • Why should I buy a whole new PSU when I could just replace the noisy fan in my existing one?

    Virtually all the noise generated by a PC power supply originates from the cooling fan inside it, so simply replacing the fan with a quiet fan may seem an obvious way to go. However, if you are thinking about attempting this operation, please bear the following points in mind:

    • Your existing power supply will be designed to run with a specific amount of airflow in order to adequately cool the components inside and reducing the airflow may lead to overheating and damage to the power supply and/or PC.
    • All PC power supplies contain very high voltages and even with the power disconnected, the voltages stored in the capacitors can be easily enough to kill. It is not recommended to take the cover off any PC power supply for this reason unless you are absolutely confident of your own ability. Because of the grave dangers involved, all PC power supplies by law carry a warning label forbidding removal of the power supply case.
    • There will be no standard PC fan connector inside the power supply to use to connect a replacement fan, and it would probably have to be soldered directly into the PCB inside the power supply, or have a specialist power connector attached. This can be a tricky operation to say the least.

    Please consider the above points very carefully before proceeding with an operation to replace the fan in your existing power supply!

  • What is PFC (Power Factor Correction)?

    If you are interested in being “green” and saving the planet, you might like to read a short explanation of how our power supplies can save energy using Active PFC (Power Factor Correction), not to be confused with Power Conversion Efficiency which is also very good in most of our PSUs. “Power Factor” is a measure of how efficiently electrical power is consumed. Ideally, Power Factor would be 1 (or 100%) and known as unity.

    Unfortunately in the real world, Power Factor is reduced by highly inductive loads down to values of 0.7 (70%) or less. This induction is caused by equipment such as small electric motors, fans, fluorescent lighting ballasts and transformers such as those in PSUs. This is bad news for the electricity generating companies who can impose a surcharge on heavy users if they have a consistently low Power Factor, as more electricity has to be produced to make up the shortfall.

    Power Factor Correction (PFC) is used in some equipment to minimise the inductive component of the electrical current. This helps to reduce the losses in the electrical supply to that equipment. Power Factor Correction capacitors are normally used to reduce induction in an electrical load, which minimises wasted energy and hence improves the efficiency of a company and reduces electricity costs.

    It is not usually practical to reach unity, i.e. Power Factor 1, and it seems that most electricity supply companies accept consumers having a Power Factor as low as 0.94 (94%) without imposing a surcharge. Unfortunately most of the cheap (and not so cheerful) PSUs tend to have a Passive PF as low as 0.75 or 75% which in a large office can lead to a PF surcharge.

    However, the good news is that most of Quiet PC’s PSUs implement a system known as Active PFC which involves some clever electronics. This means that their power factor (PF) can be as high as 0.94 or 94% (at full load), while harmful harmonic frequencies are reduced to well below legal requirements. So by using our products, you can be happy in the knowledge that you are doing your bit to save the planet!

  • How do I know what size of wattage power supply I need?

    The best answer we can give to this question is to go ahead and take an intelligent “guesstimate”! There are no hard and fast rules about what size of power supply any given PC needs as a minimum. Our advice would be that if you are replacing an existing power supply, then consider a new one at least of the same wattage as the old one. In addition, if you wish to build in a “safety margin” to allow for reliable running and possible future upgrades, consider adding 100-200 watts to the rating of your existing unit.

    If you are building a new PC, most customers now buy a power supply rated in the region of 500-800 watts depending primarily on the performance level of their graphics card(s) and number of drives to be installed. But in any event if you are unsure about which power supply would be best for your PC then please do contact us by phone or email and we will be happy to give you a specific recommendation based on your budget.

  • My new PSU came with a 24-pin connector but my motherboard needs 20 pins! Do I need an adaptor cable?

    We receive many customer enquiries about this. In fact, most of the 24-pin compatible power supplies we sell come with special motherboard connectors which can be converted to 20-pins with no additional conversion cables. All you need to do is look carefully at the connector and you will see that the end four pins can be slid off, turning the connector into a 20-pin compatible one (see below) - easy when you know how!

    Image showing how to change a power supply’s 24-pin motherboard connector into a 20-pin connector by unclipping the end four-pin block
    Image showing how to change a power supply’s 24-pin motherboard connector into a 20-pin connector by unclipping the end four-pin block
  • What do the PSU safety protection abbreviations mean?

    There are many possible safety protections a PSU can have. Below is a list of what each abbreviation means. Please note, not all PSUs have all safety protections.

    More information on certification marks can be found here.

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