Circuits, systems and methods that may be implemented to achieve thermal management for system load components by balancing power between multiple input power current paths for a narrow voltage DC (NVDC) circuit architecture coupled to receive input external DC power, e.g., such as provided by an external AC adapter. At least one of the multiple current paths may be coupled to supply DC power to a lower voltage portion of a system load through a charger circuit, while at least one other of the multiple current paths may be coupled to selectably supply DC power directly to another and different higher voltage portion of the system load, bypassing the charger circuit and related NVDC components.