Computer chip specifications are evolving at a rapid pace. This drives industry associations and other organizations in the power conversion field to keep raising their efficiency requirements and certification standards. As a result, the ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide launched by Intel in 2000 is no longer suitable to serve as a standard for today’s chip design trends. In 2019, Intel began to work on a new specification, and in 2021, the ATX12VO Power Supply Specification for higher-efficiency pure 12V power supplies was officially released. The main transformer of the power supply has a single +12V output channel to reduce the wear and tear of +5V and +3.3V coil windings, simplify the internal cabling of the power supply, and optimize the ventilation and cooling to reduce heat generation and improve power conversion efficiency. All this brings a major reform to ATX power supplies.
The new ATX12VO design guide has raised the power conversion efficiency requirements to the same level as the 80PLUS Bronze certification, added a new definition of Alternative Low Power Mode (ALPM), and specified that the recommended +12Vsb at >230mA output efficiency should not be less than 75%. In addition, the timing control speed of PWR_OK and PS_ON signals has been accelerated. As the signal link between the power supply and the motherboard, the ATX12VO design guide also specifies that the PWR_OK and PS_ON signal ripple must be <400mVp-p.
Does your power supply unit (PSU) comply with Intel’s ATX12VO design guidelines? The Chroma 8000 PSU test system is used in a lab in Folsom, CA to test a total of 13 items of ATX12VO PSUs, including automatic measurement of PSU input/output parameters, efficiency and signal timings. After passing Intel’s Chroma 8000 system certification test, the PSU model can be listed on Intel’s Tested Power Supply list.
You can download the ATX12VO test guide from Intel’s official website to learn more about Intel’s test service and Chroma’s ATX12VO test system configuration.