12V DC for Embedded Boards?

[Y0s]

Hi,

Anyone have any experience with 12V DC in on embedded boards like the Supermicro or Asrock Rack Xeon Ds? I've been looking around but not found a consistent standard, there's 8 pin & 4 pin, appears they must not be mixed! (The two connectors are for compatibility with existing ATX supplies?)

Can the boards be use the small, cheap/readily-available fan-less internal power supplies such as the Mean Well RPS series or the PSUs from the Dell USFF line?

Cheers, Y

PS: For context I'm interested in compact, quiet systems with internal PSUs rather than external bricks. Then there's the upcoming ATX12VO, and using 12V for some NUCs...

 

[Coool]

In what voltage category you are interested in? As example:

• Supermicro X12STN-H (12-24V)

 

[nasi]

Can the boards be use the small, cheap/readily-available fan-less internal power supplies such as the Mean Well RPS series or the PSUs from the Dell USFF line?

Yes, absolutely.

I'm having an Asrock Epyc3251 board and powering it with a Meanwell GST120A power supply. I made my own adapter for it, see picture attached. I bought a 8pin-PCIe-to-[something I don't remember]-adapter, rearranged and cutted the wires and connected them to the matching plug for the Meanwell power supply which uses a nice locking 4-pin connector. The plug in the picture is a Kycon KPJX which I mounted on the backside of my case with a selfmade panel replacing the ATX-powersupply.

 

[Coool]

@nasi, what are you monitoring on LCD panel?

 

[nasi]

@nasi, what are you monitoring on LCD panel?

I have built a custom watercooling and am monitoring water temperature. But it's just nice-to-have since I'm not often in the same room as the server. So next time I have a downtime for service I may will put a switch next to it to turn it on only when necessary.

 

[Y0s]

Yes, absolutely.

I'm having an Asrock Epyc3251 board and powering it with a Meanwell GST120A power supply.

Thanks! I looked at the photos & motherboard manual and think I understand, just need the 8-pin ATX12V1 with one side GND the other 12V? Do you also use the 4-pin ATX12V3 SATA power output to power the visible HDDs from the motherboard?

 

[nasi]

just need the 8-pin ATX12V1 with one side GND the other 12V?

That should be correct iirc. It wasn't complicated.

Do you also use the 4-pin ATX12V3 SATA power output to power the visible HDDs from the motherboard?

Yes. I power 2 HDDs and 2 SSDs with it as well as the big fan in the front (with an adapter which reduces voltage to 5 or 7V) and also the mentioned temperature sensor. I may have used a SATA-to-Molex-adapter for this.
I think I also powered the first water pump I used for that build but the new pump I installed lately is now directly connected to the PSU (parallel to the mainboard).

 

[Y0s]

In what voltage category you are interested in? As example:

• Supermicro X12STN-H (12-24V)

Still investigating options. I'd like to run several boards in parallel for a cluster. I like that Supermicro MB but too $$ for multiple. Looking at the manual they're different connectors but similar pinout (the cables 1029/1032 are included in the box but I can't find any more info on the Supermicro site at this time).

12V is the widest standard, though some boards run at the laptop 19V standard. I'm more interested in the higher-power boards than thin-mITX and the like with barrel connector inputs.

Mainly interested in experiences of others that have done something similar. It all looks doable, but mistakes would be expensive!

 

[Coool]

So then it's mostly 12V motherboards, any favorable chipset - AMD SP3, AMD Epyc Embedded, Intel Atom C3xxx or AMD X570? What is your budget?

P.S.
ASRock Rack ROMED6U-2L2T good option, but if you count in + CPU is not cheap.
I'm sure what it's not best option from all - ASRock (ASRock), Supermicro, AAEON, Tyan, Advantech, ASUS, Gigabyte (GIGAIPC), Avnet, Kontron, ADLINK, Jetway, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Chinese Brands, DFI, MYIR, Trenton Systems, BCM, iesy, DELL, IBM, HP, IEI, Moxa, NEXCOM, AEWIN, OnLogic, MSI, Avalue, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), Axiomtek, Shuttle, Hitachi(?), AMD(?), Acer (?), Foxconn (?) and etc. (missing).

 

[Y0s]

Oh there are plenty of boards ... finding them actually available for purchase is harder. I'm not looking to buy right now, possibly when the Ryzen 7000 series are shipping.