Potential to improve power efficiency? Intel’s new power supply specification

ATX12VO, developed by Intel, is a new power standard that supplies only 12V voltage from the power source and adjusts the voltage for each part on the main board.

PCs are made up of components such as CPU, memory, and hard disk, and each component requires different voltages. Until now, these voltage differences have been resolved by the main body of the power supply. Accordingly, PC power supplies currently sold in the market can supply 5V and 3.3V in addition to 12V. However, as times change, computer power efficiency and required voltage change, and the power supply voltage configuration is also changing. Comparing the power supply in 2006 and 2016, the 12V ratio occupied by the power supply is increasing.

According to this flow, the voltage supplied from the power supply is unified to 12V, so that the main board can adjust the voltage for each part, it is ATX12VO. The ATX12VO replaced the thick 24-pin main power connector and the SATA connector with 10-pin connectors.

The advantage of ATX12VO is power efficiency. Existing multi-lane power supplies are not efficient in PC idle time with low power consumption, but the ATX12VO supplies power through a single rail, so there is no voltage conversion loss, resulting in improved efficiency. In addition, by moving the voltage converter to the main board, the manufacturing cost on the power supply side can be greatly reduced.

ATX12VO’s main board with voltage conversion function by main board increases production cost and requires cooling function for newly added circuits. There is also a downside to the main board manufacturer. However, if the mainboard has a voltage conversion function, power management is easy, and flexible voltage supply for each device such as USB terminal and audio controller becomes possible.

The ATX12VO is currently available only in the OEM market and is not available for general assembly PCs. When general-purpose ATX12VO-supported products are sold, the power supply is smaller than the existing product, and several other pin cables are not required. It is expected that the conversion cable will be connected to the main board to use the existing connector, and the method will change from connecting the SATA power cable directly to the drive through the main board. Related information can be found here .