{"video_id":"l0srD6aQelQ","title":"I Built my own Power Supply (don't do it)","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2025-05-04T14:53:29Z","duration_s":678,"segments":[{"start_s":0.08,"end_s":7.6,"text":"if building your own gaming PC is better than buying a stuffy pre-built one then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.16,"end_s":13.24,"text":"why not build your own power supply instead of buying a stuffy pre-built one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":10.36,"end_s":19.4,"text":"performance availability compatibility safety okay all right Buzz kills but it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.039,"end_s":24.84,"text":"is absolutely possible with off-the-shelf components and a can do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.24,"end_s":30.56,"text":"attitude you don't even have to assemble that much Pico power supply modules like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":28.16,"end_s":35.239,"text":"this one used to be expensive hard to find but these days you can get ones","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.92,"end_s":40.84,"text":"that claim to handle up to a mid-tier gaming PC for as little as 20 to 30","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":38.28,"end_s":46.76,"text":"us of course you will need some additional bits but by the time we were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":43.0,"end_s":50.039,"text":"finished and this really is it we had a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":46.76,"end_s":52.0,"text":"power supply for under $40 that not only","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":50.039,"end_s":57.879,"text":"Powers the gaming PC that you're looking at right here but even survived a trip","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":55.199,"end_s":64.519,"text":"to the lab with what I would call acceptable results so why don't people","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.48,"end_s":66.72,"text":"do this all the time well let me put it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":64.519,"end_s":71.04,"text":"this way when seic heard we were going to attempt this they volunteered to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":68.92,"end_s":75.96,"text":"sponsor the video as a demonstration of their confidence that nothing we show","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.119,"end_s":80.04,"text":"you today is going to harm their sales all right seic challenge","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.04,"end_s":95.56,"text":"accepted let's lay out our plan starting with a run down of these things we call","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":92.36,"end_s":98.079,"text":"them PCO psus but in a world first","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":95.56,"end_s":103.159,"text":"somehow the AliExpress description might be more appropriate than our generally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":100.32,"end_s":107.36,"text":"accepted term because this is not a power supply at least not in the way","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.399,"end_s":112.28,"text":"that we'd think of it it's got some power supply characteristics like it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.68,"end_s":117.32,"text":"24 pin ATX connector that goes into your motherboard it's step down converters","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":114.32,"end_s":120.52,"text":"for 3.3 and 5vt as well as a few small","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.32,"end_s":122.84,"text":"capacitors for smoothing but what it LAX","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":120.52,"end_s":128.599,"text":"is any way of converting your household AC to the DC power that your electronics","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":126.0,"end_s":132.48,"text":"absolutely need in order to function that is the part of your traditional","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":130.36,"end_s":137.319,"text":"power supply that realistically is doing the heavy lifting and the 12vt power","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":135.4,"end_s":142.08,"text":"brick that you need in order to make one of these fully functional pretty much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.76,"end_s":149.0,"text":"wipes out any potential savings from a DIY unit at least it would if we had to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":146.12,"end_s":152.8,"text":"buy one 12volt power is used for all kinds of things like smart lighting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.0,"end_s":157.48,"text":"accessory charging and even to power small household appliances the issue","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":154.76,"end_s":164.12,"text":"that we run into is that these devices use very small amounts of it and desktop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.36,"end_s":167.12,"text":"computers need a lot now one option we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.12,"end_s":170.159,"text":"did legitimately consider was combining","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":167.12,"end_s":173.64,"text":"multiple basic power bricks I mean the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":170.159,"end_s":176.44,"text":"450 W version of our Pico PSU here","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":173.64,"end_s":183.2,"text":"actually has two barrel plugs for two inputs so if two is good then more must","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":179.68,"end_s":186.319,"text":"be be better right well","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":183.2,"end_s":188.0,"text":"wrongish the thing is we only really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":186.319,"end_s":192.92,"text":"considered this to illustrate why it usually isn't a great idea if both power","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":190.959,"end_s":197.28,"text":"supplies are the same it's not the worst thing but even two units of the same","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.08,"end_s":202.239,"text":"model might have slightly different output voltages which can lead to back","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.4,"end_s":207.28,"text":"feeding voltage drops or unexpected side effects and if the two power supplies","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":204.959,"end_s":211.84,"text":"are rated for very different output amperages one could end up overloaded","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":209.799,"end_s":215.799,"text":"while the other is underloaded our next brilliant idea was to look for the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":213.599,"end_s":219.599,"text":"cheapest high current 12volt power supply we could find this one is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":217.36,"end_s":225.68,"text":"typically used for big LED arrays and can do up to 240 or 250 Watts depending","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":223.239,"end_s":229.64,"text":"on how you do the math let's see how it goes we do still have some other ideas","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":228.159,"end_s":236.319,"text":"to get over the finish line here but before we do let's talk about what differentiates a quality PC power supply","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":234.0,"end_s":240.519,"text":"like this one from our sponsor cic from a bottom of the barrel unit like this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":238.439,"end_s":244.84,"text":"one a quick word of Warning by the way guys while our LTT screwdriver LTT","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":242.76,"end_s":248.319,"text":"store.com is a highquality screwdriver it does nothing to protect you from the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":246.36,"end_s":252.36,"text":"dangers of opening a power supply and you should not be doing this yourself","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":249.879,"end_s":256.72,"text":"unless you are a professional and positive that you know how to avoid","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":254.439,"end_s":260.44,"text":"electrocuting yourself and with that done I think it's pretty apparent which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":258.359,"end_s":264.36,"text":"one is better even if you have no idea what any of this stuff does but for the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":262.0,"end_s":268.56,"text":"sake of Education let's explain it filtering capacitors smooth out the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":266.52,"end_s":273.56,"text":"delivery of power without them a sudden Spike or drop in voltage recurrent can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":270.52,"end_s":275.6,"text":"cause some big issues on cic these are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.56,"end_s":279.039,"text":"large and plentiful made by nipon chemicon one of the top brands of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.199,"end_s":283.68,"text":"Japanese caps if you were to try to reverse engineer this unit this bad boy","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":281.36,"end_s":288.199,"text":"cap right here would cost you like $6 on its own over here we've got a handful of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":286.68,"end_s":293.039,"text":"electrolytic caps from the likes of Chong X and DK both of which have some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.24,"end_s":298.4,"text":"pretty stellar reviews online voltage regulation modules you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":296.0,"end_s":303.08,"text":"know them you love them they ensure that your components get exact the voltages","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":300.56,"end_s":307.479,"text":"they need on the seic unit they're attached to a 90° daughter board with a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":305.479,"end_s":313.72,"text":"big Toral coil for each different voltage on our no name there are none","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":311.36,"end_s":318.319,"text":"vrm Duties are handled on our picco unit with RB boards using what appears to be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":315.88,"end_s":323.12,"text":"a cloned Texas instrument switching regulator along with these 4.7","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":320.639,"end_s":328.24,"text":"microhenry inductor coils moving on to rectifiers these are usually just a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":324.88,"end_s":330.36,"text":"series of diodes that turn AC into DC on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":328.24,"end_s":334.319,"text":"our cic unit they're in fan made attached to nice big heat sinks with a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":332.28,"end_s":338.039,"text":"fan right above them meanwhile on our no-name power supply they're made by","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":336.08,"end_s":342.199,"text":"Fairchild and vishe general semiconductor both actually respectable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":340.639,"end_s":348.68,"text":"Brands this time assuming they're genuine but in terms of cooling um","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":345.36,"end_s":351.319,"text":"they're just what thermal padded to the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":348.68,"end_s":355.24,"text":"outside of the chassis on the subject of cooling seic has a followup to this unit","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":353.759,"end_s":358.6,"text":"that has some cool innovations that I'm going to talk about later first I want","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":357.12,"end_s":363.039,"text":"to show you how we can complete our mission of our near zero budget power","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.0,"end_s":368.12,"text":"supply and if you guessed it was Facebook Marketplace to the rescue","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.0,"end_s":369.84,"text":"you're right now anyone Savvy enough to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":368.12,"end_s":374.08,"text":"remove the power supply from their electronic Gizmo is going to know that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":371.68,"end_s":379.28,"text":"it's worth something on its own so save yourself some trouble don't search for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":376.599,"end_s":386.52,"text":"12volt power supply or power supply for thing X search for broken thing x a for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":384.199,"end_s":390.599,"text":"parts gaming laptop or Mini PC is a really good start some of them use","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":388.36,"end_s":396.44,"text":"proprietary plugs and often get discarded plugs that can just be cut off","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":393.479,"end_s":400.319,"text":"to get access to the good juicy wires with that said most laptop bricks these","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":398.36,"end_s":404.36,"text":"days are actually 20 volt so we would need to Buck the power down to 12 which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":402.4,"end_s":409.68,"text":"requires additional parts and labor that we don't want to deal with fortunately","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":407.199,"end_s":413.0,"text":"there are other options game consoles typically hit their cheapest point when","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":411.319,"end_s":419.199,"text":"they're two generations old meaning that Wiis PS3s and Xbox 360s are cheap and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":416.479,"end_s":422.96,"text":"plentiful right now now the 360 went through a ton of revisions with the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":421.12,"end_s":428.639,"text":"first unit being both the most power hungry and the most likely to fail so a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.039,"end_s":432.72,"text":"203 watt brick from a red ringed Xbox could be a great candidate for our use","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":430.52,"end_s":437.28,"text":"case except that the proprietary connector is a bit more of a hassle than","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.319,"end_s":443.039,"text":"usual in this case and there's no reason to deal with that when there's a better","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":439.24,"end_s":445.24,"text":"alternative the fat PS3 now there were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":443.039,"end_s":450.8,"text":"probably more versions of the PS3 than most people realize of the 120 volt","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":447.96,"end_s":455.4,"text":"models there were 19 different power supplies made by five different","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":452.639,"end_s":461.4,"text":"companies ranging from 160 Watts all the way up to a whopping","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":457.16,"end_s":463.639,"text":"399 watts of them the most powerful four","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":461.4,"end_s":469.72,"text":"all came from fat PS3s manufactured between 2006 and 2008 with these codes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":466.96,"end_s":472.879,"text":"in their part numbers now models A and B are worth their weight in gold on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":471.319,"end_s":477.879,"text":"account of their PS2 backwards compatibility but the other three can be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":475.039,"end_s":482.28,"text":"found for about 20 bucks fairly easily or even for free if they're broken the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":480.599,"end_s":485.44,"text":"best thing about these early model PS3 power supplies though is that they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":483.599,"end_s":490.72,"text":"attach to the motherboard with cylindrical plugs that perfectly fit a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":488.08,"end_s":494.52,"text":"standard 4mm banana plug the kind that you might find on consumer audio","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":492.56,"end_s":499.12,"text":"equipment just make sure that if your banana plug has a metal housing though","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":496.4,"end_s":502.52,"text":"that it is completely covered so that you don't accidentally start a fire","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":501.44,"end_s":507.84,"text":"while you're digging through the trash of your local stereo store for banana plugs by the way be sure to grab some 12","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":505.96,"end_s":512.279,"text":"gauge stereo wire as it will work perfectly for carrying this much current","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":509.96,"end_s":516.56,"text":"any smaller though and yeah you're going to be back in fire bill then we jumper","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.599,"end_s":519.719,"text":"pins one and five on this little white connector right here that's the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":517.959,"end_s":526.24,"text":"equivalent of jumpering the green and black wires on an ATX power supply plug","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":522.599,"end_s":528.12,"text":"in our salvaged AC socket here and I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":526.24,"end_s":530.32,"text":"think it's time to power it on let's see what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":535.48,"end_s":541.92,"text":"happens and there we have it not only is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":538.72,"end_s":544.12,"text":"it working we're running cyberpunk 2077","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.92,"end_s":550.079,"text":"I mean on a 4060 so you know it doesn't look amazing but it's running the whole","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":547.399,"end_s":557.6,"text":"system is even shockingly quiet does does this PS3 power supply even have a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":551.76,"end_s":560.0,"text":"fan in it no oh is that bad yes ah okay","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":557.6,"end_s":564.44,"text":"so you might want to account for another couple of dollars in your $40 budget if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":562.839,"end_s":568.6,"text":"you wanted to replicate something like this but I think there is one more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":566.92,"end_s":573.2,"text":"question remaining and that is whether you would even want to why don't we send","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":571.36,"end_s":578.839,"text":"this thing over to the Labs to test and this time I'm taking off your cute","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":575.48,"end_s":580.68,"text":"little test is 275 watt sticker that was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":578.839,"end_s":584.12,"text":"to ensure that it survived the first time around let's take it all the way to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":582.56,"end_s":587.76,"text":"the limit when we first gave this to Lucas from the Labs team for testing we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":585.64,"end_s":591.44,"text":"asked him to treat it like a 275 wat power supply since that's all we really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":589.16,"end_s":594.399,"text":"needed for our PC that increased its odds of survival but probably also","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":592.959,"end_s":602.36,"text":"negatively impacted its efficiency numbers so let's try that again and it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":596.64,"end_s":605.56,"text":"rated 384 watts of output so it it died","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":602.36,"end_s":609.12,"text":"yeah well it did manage to be a little","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":605.56,"end_s":611.399,"text":"bit more efficient but at the cost of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":609.12,"end_s":618.0,"text":"the power supply as a whole in conclusion does it work yes um is it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":615.079,"end_s":622.0,"text":"worth it I'll let you be the judge of that but if you decide that this looks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":620.44,"end_s":626.399,"text":"like a lot of hassle for not a lot of benefit why don't you check out our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":623.839,"end_s":629.92,"text":"sponsor seic their upcoming focus and core power supplies moved several of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":628.279,"end_s":633.32,"text":"heat generating components onto a dedicated daughter board that includes a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":631.88,"end_s":637.56,"text":"perforated copper ground plane essentially acting as a heat sink within","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":635.279,"end_s":642.72,"text":"the PCB itself this allows them to dissipate more heat using less space and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":640.399,"end_s":647.16,"text":"cic told us that this new optis sync design as they call it will be eight","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":644.88,"end_s":651.16,"text":"times more efficient at conducting heat and offer an increase in both","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":648.519,"end_s":655.399,"text":"performance and reliability long term and because optis sync is also cheaper","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":653.32,"end_s":660.56,"text":"to produce seic is launching the next generation of focus units at $10 less","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":657.92,"end_s":663.959,"text":"than the MSRP of the current V3 models you can expect them to show up sometime","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":662.279,"end_s":667.68,"text":"late this year and we're going to have a link to them down below where you can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":665.68,"end_s":671.36,"text":"learn more if you guys enjoyed this video why not check out the time seic","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":669.56,"end_s":676.24,"text":"made a power supply that put the buck converters and connectors into a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":673.48,"end_s":679.639,"text":"separate chassis it was pretty wild and I kind of wish it caught on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"if building your own gaming PC is better than buying a stuffy pre-built one then why not build your own power supply instead of buying a stuffy pre-built one performance availability compatibility safety okay all right Buzz kills but it is absolutely possible with off-the-shelf components and a can do attitude you don't even have to assemble that much Pico power supply modules like this one used to be expensive hard to find but these days you can get ones that claim to handle up to a mid-tier gaming PC for as little as 20 to 30 us of course you will need some additional bits but by the time we were finished and this really is it we had a power supply for under $40 that not only Powers the gaming PC that you're looking at right here but even survived a trip to the lab with what I would call acceptable results so why don't people do this all the time well let me put it this way when seic heard we were going to attempt this they volunteered to sponsor the video as a demonstration of their confidence that nothing we show you today is going to harm their sales all right seic challenge accepted let's lay out our plan starting with a run down of these things we call them PCO psus but in a world first somehow the AliExpress description might be more appropriate than our generally accepted term because this is not a power supply at least not in the way that we'd think of it it's got some power supply characteristics like it's 24 pin ATX connector that goes into your motherboard it's step down converters for 3.3 and 5vt as well as a few small capacitors for smoothing but what it LAX is any way of converting your household AC to the DC power that your electronics absolutely need in order to function that is the part of your traditional power supply that realistically is doing the heavy lifting and the 12vt power brick that you need in order to make one of these fully functional pretty much wipes out any potential savings from a DIY unit at least it would if we had to buy one 12volt power is used for all kinds of things like smart lighting accessory charging and even to power small household appliances the issue that we run into is that these devices use very small amounts of it and desktop computers need a lot now one option we did legitimately consider was combining multiple basic power bricks I mean the 450 W version of our Pico PSU here actually has two barrel plugs for two inputs so if two is good then more must be be better right well wrongish the thing is we only really considered this to illustrate why it usually isn't a great idea if both power supplies are the same it's not the worst thing but even two units of the same model might have slightly different output voltages which can lead to back feeding voltage drops or unexpected side effects and if the two power supplies are rated for very different output amperages one could end up overloaded while the other is underloaded our next brilliant idea was to look for the cheapest high current 12volt power supply we could find this one is typically used for big LED arrays and can do up to 240 or 250 Watts depending on how you do the math let's see how it goes we do still have some other ideas to get over the finish line here but before we do let's talk about what differentiates a quality PC power supply like this one from our sponsor cic from a bottom of the barrel unit like this one a quick word of Warning by the way guys while our LTT screwdriver LTT Store.com is a highquality screwdriver it does nothing to protect you from the dangers of opening a power supply and you should not be doing this yourself unless you are a professional and positive that you know how to avoid electrocuting yourself and with that done I think it's pretty apparent which one is better even if you have no idea what any of this stuff does but for the sake of Education let's explain it filtering capacitors smooth out the delivery of power without them a sudden Spike or drop in voltage recurrent can cause some big issues on cic these are large and plentiful made by nipon chemicon one of the top brands of Japanese caps if you were to try to reverse engineer this unit this bad boy cap right here would cost you like $6 on its own over here we've got a handful of electrolytic caps from the likes of Chong X and DK both of which have some pretty stellar reviews online voltage regulation modules you know them you love them they ensure that your components get exact the voltages they need on the seic unit they're attached to a 90° daughter board with a big Toral coil for each different voltage on our no name there are none vrm Duties are handled on our picco unit with RB boards using what appears to be a cloned Texas instrument switching regulator along with these 4.7 microhenry inductor coils moving on to rectifiers these are usually just a series of diodes that turn AC into DC on our cic unit they're in fan made attached to nice big heat sinks with a fan right above them meanwhile on our no-name power supply they're made by Fairchild and vishe general semiconductor both actually respectable Brands this time assuming they're genuine but in terms of cooling um they're just what thermal padded to the outside of the chassis on the subject of cooling seic has a followup to this unit that has some cool innovations that I'm going to talk about later first I want to show you how we can complete our mission of our near zero budget power supply and if you guessed it was Facebook Marketplace to the rescue you're right now anyone Savvy enough to remove the power supply from their electronic Gizmo is going to know that it's worth something on its own so save yourself some trouble don't search for 12volt power supply or power supply for thing X search for broken thing x a for parts gaming laptop or Mini PC is a really good start some of them use proprietary plugs and often get discarded plugs that can just be cut off to get access to the good juicy wires with that said most laptop bricks these days are actually 20 volt so we would need to Buck the power down to 12 which requires additional parts and labor that we don't want to deal with fortunately there are other options game consoles typically hit their cheapest point when they're two generations old meaning that Wiis PS3s and Xbox 360s are cheap and plentiful right now now the 360 went through a ton of revisions with the first unit being both the most power hungry and the most likely to fail so a 203 watt brick from a red ringed Xbox could be a great candidate for our use case except that the proprietary connector is a bit more of a hassle than usual in this case and there's no reason to deal with that when there's a better alternative the fat PS3 now there were probably more versions of the PS3 than most people realize of the 120 volt models there were 19 different power supplies made by five different companies ranging from 160 Watts all the way up to a whopping 399 watts of them the most powerful four all came from fat PS3s manufactured between 2006 and 2008 with these codes in their part numbers now models A and B are worth their weight in gold on account of their PS2 backwards compatibility but the other three can be found for about 20 bucks fairly easily or even for free if they're broken the best thing about these early model PS3 power supplies though is that they attach to the motherboard with cylindrical plugs that perfectly fit a standard 4mm banana plug the kind that you might find on consumer audio equipment just make sure that if your banana plug has a metal housing though that it is completely covered so that you don't accidentally start a fire while you're digging through the trash of your local stereo store for banana plugs by the way be sure to grab some 12 gauge stereo wire as it will work perfectly for carrying this much current any smaller though and yeah you're going to be back in fire bill then we jumper pins one and five on this little white connector right here that's the equivalent of jumpering the green and black wires on an ATX power supply plug in our salvaged AC socket here and I think it's time to power it on let's see what happens and there we have it not only is it working we're running cyberpunk 2077 I mean on a 4060 so you know it doesn't look amazing but it's running the whole system is even shockingly quiet does does this PS3 power supply even have a fan in it no oh is that bad yes ah okay so you might want to account for another couple of dollars in your $40 budget if you wanted to replicate something like this but I think there is one more question remaining and that is whether you would even want to why don't we send this thing over to the Labs to test and this time I'm taking off your cute little test is 275 watt sticker that was to ensure that it survived the first time around let's take it all the way to the limit when we first gave this to Lucas from the Labs team for testing we asked him to treat it like a 275 wat power supply since that's all we really needed for our PC that increased its odds of survival but probably also negatively impacted its efficiency numbers so let's try that again and it's rated 384 watts of output so it it died yeah well it did manage to be a little bit more efficient but at the cost of the power supply as a whole in conclusion does it work yes um is it worth it I'll let you be the judge of that but if you decide that this looks like a lot of hassle for not a lot of benefit why don't you check out our sponsor seic their upcoming focus and core power supplies moved several of the heat generating components onto a dedicated daughter board that includes a perforated copper ground plane essentially acting as a heat sink within the PCB itself this allows them to dissipate more heat using less space and cic told us that this new optis sync design as they call it will be eight times more efficient at conducting heat and offer an increase in both performance and reliability long term and because optis sync is also cheaper to produce seic is launching the next generation of focus units at $10 less than the MSRP of the current V3 models you can expect them to show up sometime late this year and we're going to have a link to them down below where you can learn more if you guys enjoyed this video why not check out the time seic made a power supply that put the buck converters and connectors into a separate chassis it was pretty wild and I kind of wish it caught on"}