General Discussions

[black_zion]

See on the right? The Intel ATX12VO does away with the +/- 5v and +/- 3.3v connectors and just uses +/- 12v and grounds. Good in theory since ATX is relatively ancient in computing years, and all the dominant components run on 12v. Thing is, RAM uses 3.3v, USB uses 5v, and PCIe supplements with 3.3v and 5v. Intel's ATX12VO spec didn't call for on board downregulators of 12v, so that 3.3v and 5v still needs to be supplied. So this is what we end up with, an arrangement which takes up more space than ATX24 and still requires 24 pins. So not only has Intel required a new motherboard for their processors, they require a new PSU as well. Pray this doesn't catch on...

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/asrock-z490-motherboard-intel-atx12vo-10-pin

[SunnyDKShiki]

Pray it does catch on, the 12VO standard is meant to make efficiency at the wall better due to how the switching-mode power supply for pcs work, the fact of the matter is that it is much easier to have 1 transformer that takes the 1500w of avaliable power and converts it from 120v (or 240v in most of Europe and Asia) and just convert it to 12v AC to be rectified. The space savings of a 12VO psu combined with the fact that the DC-to-DC conversion on the motherboard means a higher efficiency computer on the whole, and it's not like motherboards didn't already have some DC-to-DC conversion already baked in. I mean if you run your CPU at 3v.. well... I hope you like your coffee mug warmer. Plus you aren't taking into consideration that as this new ATX12VO standard matures the components that handle power conversion will shrink. I don't think anyone in the beginning of the computer revolution thought computers would be practical for home use for similar reasons as well. If IBM and Apple had given up on home computers because the power switching needed to run the components were bulky, then we very well may not have the computers we do today.