Yeah, this has been a long time a coming. All the voltage regulation for other voltages will have to be done on the motherboards or via an external converter for older stuff.

Not necessarily a bad thing but we probably want to stock up on stuff for our retro builds.

There have been systems from the OEMs that essentially have something like this already, even going as far as to have NOTHING but the motherboard connector coming out of the PSU. Everything else power cable wise plugs into the motherboard itself and then goes to the drives, etc.

A rise in interest of repairing old power supplies isn't neccessarily a bad thing.

So much I can still learn about that. I'm looking forward to the future. 😀

Intel seems determined to ditch any trace of IBM's legacy on PCs. I guess this is OK if the 5V rail sticks around for drives, otherwise this is basically an open invitation from Intel for everyone not building laptops and all-in-one SFF business PCs to GTFO.

So instead of a UPS we can just chuck a car battery in parallel with the PSU?

48 or 56V DC would be a better standard as it would significantly reduce conductor requirements with wire insulation similar to or slightly upgraded from existing PSU conductors. I believe 48V DC is being looked at by OCP for the server space.

I don't see it necessarily being 12V only. This primarily applies to the ATX connector being 12V only now. Power supply manufacturers will still likely have 3.3V and 5V connections on breakout cables via molex/sata/etc for other voltages. Maybe years down the line when no peripheral devices need direct plugins for those lower voltages, power supply manufacturers will fully implement 12V only.

old power over ethernet uses 48v. Newer standards seem to use 56V now. I have a nice 6-port POE+ injector I use for my wifi nodes, and it outputs 56.8V

I mean, dc/dc power regulators have gotten so efficient, its almost a non issue. It make perfect sense to only have 12v. We've been using on-motherboard voltage regulators since the socket 5 era!

SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-25, 01:47:

Intel seems determined to ditch any trace of IBM's legacy on PCs. I guess this is OK if the 5V rail sticks around for drives, otherwise this is basically an open invitation from Intel for everyone not building laptops and all-in-one SFF business PCs to GTFO.

You just have the 5v rail coming off the motherboard or have a separate 5v supply that goes in between the PSU and motherboard.

I doubt a 12V-only design will work. 5Vsb is still required and making standby voltage to 12V see no advantage against 5V.

I don't know how good of an idea it is to route all the power through the motherboard, for SFF and some OEM designs, sure... but systems that make extensive use of drives or other peripherials would still depend on other voltages unless everything changes over to 12V first.

so I foresee PSUs adhering to the new standard will still supply other voltages, it's just the ATX connector that will go missing probably.

imi wrote on 2020-01-25, 13:44:

I don't know how good of an idea it is to route all the power through the motherboard, for SFF and some OEM designs, sure... but systems that make extensive use of drives or other peripherials would still depend on other voltages unless everything changes over to 12V first.

so I foresee PSUs adhering to the new standard will still supply other voltages, it's just the ATX connector that will go missing probably.

Again, with the server space going to 48V DC distribution in the rack, breaking AC to DC and DC to DC conversion into separate components makes quite a bit of sense as the DC to DC conversion can be standardized. Full sized systems could certainly use 48V, although smaller stuff (like laptops, all-in-ones, uSFF systems) could be done with 12V or 24V DC generation from AC with a variant of the same DC to DC topology, all depending on safety and battery requirements.

Laptops and other small systems have already mostly switched to using USB-C PD.

a lot of sff systems have been running off single voltages for quite a while already, but I was thinking more about consumer oriented PSUs... as long as we'll still be able to build our PCs ourselves at least.

I also don't think that we'll see 48V in the consumer space anytime soon for safety reasons alone.

pfft. 48v DC is perfectly safe. Its AC that will REALLY bite your ass.

https://www.techpowerup.com/263213/pure-12v-p … later-this-year

Intel has released a new PSU spec, ATX12VO, which rids of 5 V, 5 Vsb, and 3.3 V. The new spec only has 12V & 12Vsb.

Those folks putting the current spec PSU in their rig, you know what to do.

If that happens older ATX PSU prices may go way up....
Also that means motherboards will have many more VRM parts leading to more future failures....

added: Intel has not built a desktop motherboard for years so am curious of their motive. Wonder if board makers will ignore the new spec for desktop boards...

imi wrote on 2020-01-26, 03:06:

I also don't think that we'll see 48V in the consumer space anytime soon for safety reasons alone.

You already have it with POTS lines.

jmarsh wrote on 2020-01-26, 02:49:

Laptops and other small systems have already mostly switched to using USB-C PD.

True, although that's proving to be a gong show in many cases.

Horun wrote on 2020-01-26, 04:27:

If that happens older ATX PSU prices may go way up....
Also that means motherboards will have many more VRM parts leading to more future failures....

I think there are way too many old & current spec PSU out there for price to go up. But the highend ones, like digital PSU, might experience different story.

Btw, it seems my post is a dupe.
New ATX power supply standard will be 12v only

Mod, should you need to choose, plz remove mine.

They should introduce 24V instead, less copper, less current, less waste...