Question Using a Pico PSU in addition to a modular (standard ATX) PSU.

[agn0stix12]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5675 that came with a 460W PSU installed. Now, this is enough to run my current setup;
Ryzen 3 1200 (Going to upgrade when Zen 2 [Ryzen 3rd gen arrives])
RX 580 8GB (No overclock)
8GB DDR4 2400 MHz (soon to change to two 16GB 2666 Mhz)
HDD 1TB
M.2 NVMe 256 GB (have a second going in soon)
DVD writer (slim-line)
Memory card reader
OEM cooling solution
Oh and a few LEDs in the case (these can be disabled for the whopping 5-10W saving if needed)

All of my components are close to maxing out my PSU's capabilities and in order to upgrade; through official channels (IE; a new Dell PSU that is 850W), will cost around £150 and they are a pain in the a** to get here in the UK and never come with the wires needed and they too are hard to find.

So my question; is it possible to add a Pico PSU that I have laying around (160W), just for powering the 24 pin and 4 pin motherboard and continue to use the one in the system for the other peripherals (GPU, DVD drive and HDD/SSDs, etc...? I plan on upgrading my CPU (if possible to Zen 2, so long as my motherboard gets the relevant BIOS update) to a chip that requires ~105W instead of the 65W. I simply don't have even the extra 40W spare for the upgrade without getting dangerously close to the full 460W when under load. This would also give me a bit of wiggle room for when I upgrade my GPU (Vega 56, unless I can somehow manage to find the extra 100W for the Vega 64) next year. The additional 160W should just cover it both of these upgrades. But, I am completely unsure as to whether or not using two separate power supplies to power different components of the same computer is even possible and trying to find an answer on Google is proving difficult and frustrating.

I cannot logically think of any reason that this would not work, but perhaps I overlooked something somewhere and decided feedback from people (perhaps someone who has tried this, or uses a system setup like this), would be the best way to get clarification.

If only Dell weren't complete dks and put their systems in a regular sized system case, so as to be able to fit in a standard ATX power supply. But, that would be asking for too simple a solution and equate to less profit for the bt**d company.

Cheers!

 

[jay32267]

Keep in mind....on the 24 pin you need +12, +3.3 and +5......and the supply has to be able to supply enough current at all those voltages....PLUS....the current to the 4 pin.

If the PSU can do this.....it should work.

....but one more thing.....the negatives on both PSUs need to be connected to each other somewhere.

 

[agn0stix12]

So, essentially the power supplies must be linked? What is the reason for this? My assumption was that as the data cables were still connected as they should be, where the power came from was irrelevant (I am basing this on nothing but my own trail of thought). Can the components detect the source of the power being different for different components or something? Sorry, as well as finding out if it is possible, the reasoning behind it, is also of interest to me.