Two power supplies powering one computer?

Question

Hi! i am asking if it is possible to use two power supplies to power your computer. for example, two 400w psu's. one to power two graphics cards, hard drives and cd drives. And one to power the motherboard and the rest of the accessories?

Answer 1

Yes that is actually an optimal dual power supply setup since you have to load the +3.3v/+5 on both units to get good clean power signals (some units will not even power on if you don't load up the +3.3/+5 at all) and the hdd / cd/dvd will do the job.

I have done this a few times in various cases, from cutting a hole in the rear of full tower cases to having the second psu just sit on top of a mid-tower and feed the wires through a hole cut out in the top.

You just have to get both units to power on together by sharing the PS_ON signal (the green wire) and an adjacent ground and both units will power on at the same time from the mobo power-on switch.  You can get cables that do this such as this one

http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_det...

As you can see it just connects in between the mobo psu and feeds the PS_ON & ground to the secondary psu.  I recommend having the main psu power on the mobo ATX, the mobo +12v cpu power and all fans.  The other one can connect to the cd / dvd / gpu you are on the right track.  Really the fan power is up to you, I just use the main psu since the CPU usually needs less power than the gpu.

cheers

Answer 2

Yes. The parts of your PC do not "know" where the power is coming from, just whether or not there is enough power.

Answer 3

No

Answer 4

maybe...you would need two mounts and two cables.... I kinda think so. and now I have to try it.