Lazyman's dual PSU

[rashal]

I've been wondering about the whole dual PSU stuff.

I'm not planning to go dual right now though, but I might do so in the future. So I have a few basic questions about a method which involves having one PSU in charge of 12v hardware and one in charge of 5 and 3v hardware.

Let's assume I plugged the video card, HD and optical drive (which I rarely use) to one PSU, and the mobo and all the 12v fans to the other. With no fancy power on wiring, lets say I want to turn my computer on (of cource I have the atx stuff on PSU1 set so it'll turn itself on the moment I press the button on it). Is it possible to turn on PSU1 first (powering video HD and optical by pressing the button on the PSU), and than pressing the power button on my case to power up the mobo and start the system normally?

Sounds to simple to me, so I'm almost sure I'll burn somthing up in the process... Has anyone tried this before (or does anyone know that it is going to expload for sure)?

[johnny5c]

I used Speedy3D's plan with a relay (check out the sticky) with 2 350 watt Antec's and it worked just fine. Had the mobo, drives and GPU on one and the pump, TEC, fans, and lights on the second.

[rashal]

I was asking about something else.

Let's assume that I wont be using a switch. Will it harm my equipment if I first manually power up my mobo and fans (by powering up 1st PSU by case switch), and than switch the 2nd psu on (by flipping the 2nd PSU switch) to start the graphic card and drives? That was my question.

[Sjaak]

Best way to do it is to connect the green wire of the second PSU to the one that goes from the mobo to the first one. That way they will both power on when the mobo does.

[rashal]

Ok, that sounds easy enough for someone as lazy as me... Thanks

[p|astic]

man... you COULD do it like that, but i would recommend using one psu for all non-drives, and all drives on the other. you can power drives after the mobo and such have started, as long as the drive powers on before the mobo tries to boot it. but think about the video card. if you power it seperately from the mobo... either the card first or the mobo first, something bad is going to happen. even if you hit the switches at the "same" time, you're not doing so. they are guarenteed to not power simultaneously. just do yourself a favor, and splice a couple wires. it took me like 5 minutes. and im quite a lazy person.