98 PCWorld APRIL 2020FEATURE
DON’T TAKE MY ATX12V
POWER SUPPLY AWAY!
Don’t panic, DIYers: The PSU Enforcement
Agents will not be coming to take away your
1,500-watt ATX PSU (there’s no such thing as
PSU police anyway). ATX12VO is currently
aimed mostly at PC OEMs and system
vendors—some of whom have already started
down this path on their own.
ATX12VO won’t be replacing ATX12V forThe ATX12VO spec removes voltage rails from
the power supply, all in a bid to improve
efficiency standards on the PC and meet
stringent government regulations. But while
the spec essentially removes +3.3-volt,
+5-volt, and +12-volt and +5-volt standby
power from the PSU, they aren’t going
away—they’re just moving to the mother-
board. That’s the other big change, so keep
reading to find out more.W
e don’t often talk about power supplies, but Intel’s new ATX12VO
spec—that’s an ‘O’ for ‘Oscar,’ not a zero—will start appearing
soon in pre-built PCs from OEMs and system integrators, and it
represents a major change in PSU design.