Can you join two power suuplys and use them as one ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter OCZ Guy
  • Start date Start date
OCZ Guy said:
Just like to know thanks, new case has space for two PSUS :)
Click to expand...

use only one supply to power the motherboard

then split your harddrives and cd's between the two power supplies
 
Just like to know thanks, new case has space for two PSUS :)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you asking whether you
can shove them both in the same case to power components? Since the
case has mounting space for two, yeah sure. They'll still be separate
PSUs though. You haven't merged them or anything. There are actually
some advantages to such an arrangement. One being that you can use
one supply for heavy draw toys (like lights, motors, etc) without
worrying that it will brown out your critical components like hard
drives, memory, CPU...

If you're looking to merge two PSUs, and say bump up a 350W PSU to
something like 700W (likely more like 450 or 500), I guess it's
possible to rewire two of them together. However, it will require a
fair bit of work, and the end result may be disappointing and/or
dangerous depending on the quality of the original power supplies, and
your own skill.
 
use only one supply to power the motherboard

then split your harddrives and cd's between the two power supplies
Click to expand...


Or, if you run lights and all that other crap, use the second for that.
 
Just like to know thanks, new case has space for two PSUS :)
Click to expand...

Yes, they need have a common ground (usually provided by their
metal cases being fastened to metal computer case, but in some it
could require connecting ground lead from each) and connecting
PS-On wires together. This causes motherboard to 'sink more
current but generally it's not a problem, but if you wanted a
technically correct way of doing it then you'd want a low-ohm
resistor in series on the PS-On line after the two connect,
before it reaches the motherboard.

Primary question is how you want/need the rails, amperage
distributed. Easiest is using 2nd to power drives, fans, other
aux devices, but there "could" be a potential problem:

If your motherboard uses 5V for CPU and uses a weighted average
of 5V + 12V rail voltage to regulate, you might find the PSU
connected to mobo (having high 5V load but very low 12V load) has
a voltage level low on the 5V rail but high on 12V rail. In such
cases you might power other additional 12V components from psu
connected to motherboard.

This does not allow for current sharing per connected device or
hot-swapping.
 
OCZ Guy said:
Just like to know thanks, new case has space for two PSUS :)
Click to expand...

If you're considering tying the outputs together, 5V output of PSU #1
to 5V output of PSU #2, etc., this won't give you much of an advantage
and may even damage them. The PSU outputs are low-impedance sources
and if the voltage from one PSU is even slightly higher than the
other, at best it will end up supplying most of the power for that
rail.
 
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