Hackintosh and PICO PSU do not seem to get along so well.

[sinclairfr]

I would like to get feedback from hackintosh users...

Here is my Mini-ITX hardware :

• Intel Z270i Strix Gaming
• I7700K - Internal graphics hd 630
• 2x16GB Crucial DDR4-2400 UDIMM PC4-19200 • CL=17 • Dual Ranked • x8 based • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • 1.2V
• Intel Stock CPU cooler
• SanDisk Ultra II SSD 480GB
• PICO PSU 150W
• Up to date bios

I have tested 3 different PICO PSU power supplies with 2 different power bricks and I get random reboots when the computer gets heavy loads. It is 100 percent sure that these reboots are due to the PICO PSUs because when I use the computer with a regular 550W PSU I have no problem whatsoever.
I cannot really understand why I have those reboots, is my PICO PSU undersized in terms of wattage? The strange thing is that when I use LINUX Or Windows with the 3 PICO PSU I have no reboots. ONLY under MacOS...
PICO PSU tested :

• Minibox 160w PICO PSU + 150W power brick from aliexpress
• Minibox 160w PICO PSU + 203W power brick from Xbox One Power brick
  
• Aliexpress 150W PICO PSU + 150W power brick from aliexpress

Can anyone share their experience with working hackintosh builds using PICO PSU power suplies.
Many thanks

 

[trs96]

What exactly are you doing during the "heavy loads" that cause the problem?

Try purchasing the power brick that Minibox recommends and sells for that PSU. Get the 192W version. That should resolve the rebooting problem. You don't really know what you're getting buying from Aliexpress. Many here have used the 160W Pico with core i7 systems and integrated graphics and not had problems.

 

[sinclairfr]

Thank you so much for answering me.

I don't do much, I actually launch photoshop or any program that is heavy duty. Trying to encode a video on handbrake does it for instance. Doing all this with a regular power supply does not cause reboots. This is a pure PICO PSU issue that remains mysterious to me.

The 160W Pico definitely has a good reputation that's why I got desperate when I tried it with the 203W Xbox power brick (that also has given good results) and it failed. Even the fan during the booting sequence would act crazy.
I am getting desperate because my whole mini itx build is based on being able to use a pico PSU with this mac-mini-like case.


At this point, price tag is not an issue because I want a PSU + power brick combo to actually works. I will follow your advice and give it a try.

Thanks again.

 

[BreBo]

Trying to encode a video on handbrake does it for instance.

Try to limit HandBrake CPU usage.

See Post #2 of [Solved] Strange behavior with video encoding.

 

[sinclairfr]

Thanks for the link.

This is a power management issue from hackintosh and/or bios settings yet I have no clue how to fix this.
I have seen people running builds with external graphics cards on a single 160W Pico.
On my side, I am merely running my motherboard, my CPU and my 2 memory sticks and even trying with a 250W pico PSU, this won't work.

The fact that all the Pico PSU I tested worked perfectly with the same build for encoding and running stress tests under Windows 7, 8 and Linux, I have to come to the conclusion that a hackintosh or bios tweak will solve my problem.

There must be a power capacity controller built in withing MacOs that does not go well with my particular Hackintosh build. I have read one similar testimonial on a forum and the motherboard was a Z series strix too...

Thanks again for your help.

 

[orgixmh]

Hello, can you post your cpu freq on windows and mac when encoding is running?
Did you notice higher temps on mac?