ATX 3.0 explained: Why Intel gave power supplies their first overhaul in 20 years

PC energy provide requirements change so slowly, the final main revision to Intel’s ATX energy provide information is probably going older than your automotive, your fridge, or your kids.

But this yr, Intel unwrapped the primary main overhaul to the spec since 2003 that ought to usher in more reliability, better efficiency, and run graphics cards up to 600 watts. Dubbed the ATX Version 3.0 Multi-Rail Power Supply Design Guide, it brings into focus pointers for “power excursions” to ensure high-power GPUs don’t crash your PC, provides a brand new GPU energy connector, and will increase effectivity whereas idling.

Intel’s ATX 3.0 Power Supply Design Guide isn’t the corporate dictating to energy provide firms what to make; they’re really helpful pointers put along with enter from different firms with pursuits within the PC. Because Intel’s footprint is so massive in computer systems, although, its specs do sometimes change into the defacto customary everybody coalesces round.

PCWorld just lately interviewed Intel’s Stephen Eastman, who actually writes the facility provide design information for the corporate. He defined not simply what what ATX 3.0 is, but additionally the “why” behind the selections behind the primary main revision to PC energy provides in virtually 20 years. You can catch all the main points in our video beneath, or proceed studying on. And sure—you could very effectively need to purchase a brand new energy provide earlier than later.

PCIe 5 12VHPWR connector

The eye-catching new function of the ATX 3.0 is a inclusion of a brand new PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connector. The connector clearly options 12 pins as an alternative of the same old 6 or 8, with a really comparable (however smaller) per-pin design. It consists of contains a smaller connector hooked up to it carry extra signaling that lets the graphics card know the way a lot energy is accessible from the facility provide.

Currently, how a lot energy is equipped to the graphics card is dependent upon what number of 6- or 8-pin connectors you plugged into it, with 6-pins rated for 75 watts and 8-pins rated for 150 watts. With the brand new PCIe 5.0 connector, the facility provide and cable might be able to supplying from 150 watts to 600 watts relying on the unit.

Since a 500 watt energy provide is unlikely to function a PCIe 5.0 connector that may provide 450 watts to the graphics card, the cable itself is really helpful to be labeled to point its most equipped voltage. The new cable primarily replaces the necessity for a number of cables for higher-wattage playing cards. On a modular energy provide, the brand new cable will mate to particular PCIe outputs much like what you see on at this time’s PSUs.

Confusing connector?

One barely complicated side of how PCIe 5.0 GPU energy connectors will work is because of the identical simplicity of that single plug design. Today if you happen to take a GPU that requires three 8-pin PCIe GPU plugs and attempt to pair it with a present 650-watt energy provide, it’s unlikely to work and also you’ll instantly realize it as a result of that PSU might solely have one or two 8-pin PCIe GPU plugs. That’s merely not sufficient to energy up the GPU and the system will warn you to that by not posting.

With PCIe 5.0 and ATX 3.0, the one connector and cables means a shopper might plug a 450-watt GPU that will have taken a triple 8-pin connector previously, right into a 650-watt ATX 3.0 energy provide.

Intel believes that in a mismatch like this, the system would hopefully boot into the OS and the graphics card vendor’s driver would warn you that the GPU is now working in a power-limited mode. Some GPU distributors can also choose to easily halt booting and show an error message that not sufficient energy is being equipped as we see at this time. The repair, clearly, can be to purchase a bigger energy provide or return that graphics card for one that can match that energy provide’s price range.

Adapters or dongles are in a grey space

Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 3090 Ti was the primary GPU to function the PCIe 5.0 connector, however since there aren’t any energy provides with PCIe 5.0 connectors extensively accessible but, board distributors included adapter cables or dongles that join three 8-pin PCIe GPU connectors to a single PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connector. They positively work, however the query is whether or not they’re legit. According to Intel, neither ATX 3.0 nor the PCI SIG group has sanctioned using adapters—however neither forbid them both.

While the included adapters that include the GPU are wonderful, what you plug them into is of concern. Technically, 8-pin GPU connectors assist a most of 150 watts, for a most of 450 watts on paper if you use three of them. In actuality, most energy provides and most 8-pin plugs can assist 324 watts (27 amps at 12 volt) and even 468 watts (39 amps at 12 volts) in line with energy provide maker Corsair. That, after all, is dependent upon the facility provide design. There’s no assure of what every PSU can assist by these three 8-pin GPU plugs.

Intel

Power excursions and why you would possibly want a brand new PSU

With the brand new PCIe 5.0 connector and ATX 3.0, Intel and the PCI SIG handle what each euphemistically name “power excursions.” You would possibly acknowledge it by the much less sugar coated time period “power spike.” The PCI SIG has mainly outlined the aptitude of a GPU to exceed the utmost sustained energy of the cardboard by 3x. That means a 600 watt card on a PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connector is allowed to spike to 1,800 watts for 100 micro-seconds.

To assist easy out these extraordinarily quick energy excursions, an influence provide needs to be designed with sufficient further capacitors to forestall the system from sagging energy and probably crashing the PC. By Intel’s estimates, a 300 watt GPU on a correctly designed ATX 3.0 might be supported with a 750 watt energy provide with 300 watts for the CPU and one other 150 watts for the remainder of the {hardware} within the field.

If you had been to attempt to adapt an present ATX 2.X energy provide to run that very same 300-watt GPU, you would probably want an influence provide at 1,100 watts to assist the GPU, CPU and account for the facility excursions, Intel believes. This will seemingly depend upon that older PSU design in addition to how usually that GPU will make these excessive energy excursions.

Thiago Trevisan/IDG

That’s just for a 300 watt GPU too. Intel’s estimates that the very best energy GPUs at 600 watts, with 300 watts for the CPU and 300 watts for the remainder of the parts in a PC, might probably require an ATX 3.0 PSU at 1,200 watts. On an older ATX design, you’d want even extra headroom because the design might not have the added capability to assist the facility excursions.

Many will balk at retiring their energy provide and surprise why excursions matter a lot. Aren’t “power excursions” simply GPU makers breaking the principles and exceeding energy consumption, in any case? We’d agree with that outlook, however to restrict these extraordinarily quick excursions would imply additionally limiting GPU efficiency. It’s additionally clear we’ve been proper on the very restrict of energy provide capabilities for a while.

Anecdotal experiences of the GeForce RTX 3080 and 3080 Ti crashing methods resulting from transient voltage spikes have been popping up for a while. While the overwhelming majority of players had been wonderful, it might seem sure energy provides or system configurations simply couldn’t deal with the identical energy excursions. Even worse, add-in board makers would know they were exceeding power for microscopic quantities of time however they actually had no thought what the various designs of energy provides might deal with.

With ATX 3.0, these excursions can be formalized so GPU distributors lastly have boundaries they will observe. Again, beforehand, energy excursions had been by no means spelled out on paper however beneath ATX 3.0, a GPU or board vendor now is aware of it’s allowed to push 200 % of the facility provides most rated energy for 100 micro seconds or 120 % of the PSU’s most rated energy for 100 milliseconds.

In the top, this could assist cut back or largely remove individuals’s methods randomly crashing when the GPU decides to spike as much as 180 % of energy as a result of an ATX PSU is now designed for it.

Intel

How massive of an ATX 3.0 PSU do whereas I would like?

Although no shopper GPUs accessible at this time (nor introduced) can draw 600 watts, it’s clear that the ATX 3.0 spec has the headroom for them—so in the future, we’ll seemingly see a card there. For the typical DIYer, that begs the query: Just how massive of a PSU to I would like if I need to run a future 600 watt GPU? Intel has recommendation and many individuals in all probability received’t prefer it, since its suggestions are seemingly be far larger capability than what trendy PC DIYers are used to.

Intel’s steering is predicated on the facility consumption of the GPU mixed with the facility consumption of a CPU together with an influence price range for remainder of the parts or “rest of platform” within the PC. You can see the configurations above for varied GPUs, however a 600 watt GPU with a 300 watt CPU and 300 watts for the followers, RAM, storage and the entire different {hardware} you run in system would translate to roughly a 1,200 watt energy provide for that high-end GPU. That’s fairly a step up from the really helpful 850 watt PSU utilizing the older ATX 2.X PSUs for Nvidia’s high of the road GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. Mind you, this is dependent upon the CPU getting used in addition to how a lot different {hardware} is in a system. Reductions in different areas means going with a smaller and decrease value PSU is feasible.

ATX12VO 2.0 to the rescue

Eyeing the price of a 1,200 PSU for a high-end construct would possibly throw you off, however there choices and that’s the youthful sibling to ATX 3.0 Multi-Rail: Intel’s ATX12VO 2.0. You can learn our hands-on with ATX12VO 1.0 {hardware} here, however in a nutshell, it’s Intel’s try to scale back energy consumption whereas a system idles by eradicating the 3.3 volt and 5 volt energy rails from the facility provide and transferring them to the motherboard. It was initially geared toward PC OEMs and PC system integrators to assist them meet more and more stringent energy laws imposed by governments on desktop PCs. For the DIY crowd, it hasn’t garnered a lot assist and, actually, ATX 3.0 can now additionally strategy (however not fairly meet) ATX 12VO’s low idle energy.

Intel’s ATX12VO 2.0, nevertheless, brings in PCIe 12VHPWR in addition to the identical energy tour guidelines and provides a function utilized in cellular and servers: I_PSU%. I_PSU% makes use of a pin within the 10-pin connector to speak between the facility provide and motherboard so the system can know in real-time how a lot complete energy is getting used. That means your pc might realize it’s approaching the boundaries of your PSU and tamp down consumption to forestall overloading it.

Yes, this implies the CPU or GPU might probably be throttled again in efficiency if it’s approaching the sting, however I_PSU% additionally means a system might be constructed utilizing a decrease capability and—extra importantly—a lower-cost PSU. As we noticed earlier, a 600 watt GPU and 300 watt CPU and 300 watt “rest of platform” is really helpful to be paired with a 1,200 PSU ATX 3.0 energy provide in anticipation of the worst case eventualities. A system constructed with an ATX12VO 2.0 energy provide, nevertheless, might step again a number of notches as a result of the PSU and system can now talk their states.

Intel believes this is perhaps a solution to entice many who’ve shunned ATX12VO because the upsides had been small. With ATX12VO 2.0 and the flexibility to run a decrease value and smaller PSU, there’s a chance of ATX12VO 2.0 lastly catching a break.

Cybenetics

This PSU sticker is sweet too

The closing massive transfer in ATX 3.0 and ATX12VO 2.0 is the formal acknowledgement of a competing energy provide effectivity customary referred to as Cybenetics. Most customers are accustomed to the 80 Plus emblem that’s been used on PSUs since 2004. The 80 Plus program was the primary program to check for a PSU’s effectivity at changing AC to DC. Cybenetic’s program is comparable and may now be seen as an alternative choice to 80 Plus stickers on PSUs.

What’s higher? Intel isn’t selecting favorites but it surely’s clear Cybenetic’s program is stricter because it assessments alongside a a lot bigger vary of masses versus 80 Plus’s handful of effectivity factors. Cybenetics additionally assessments PSUs at the next temperature, which it says is nearer to the fact most individuals face. Finally, Cybenetics additionally has certification for PSU acoustics as effectively. Although Cybenetics doesn’t at the moment take a look at whether or not energy provides really meet the facility tour necessities, the corporate might sooner or later as effectively.

The TLDR is a Cybenetics sticker on a brand new energy provide might point out it’s a great one, and probably even higher than ones sporting the 80 Plus sticker you’re used to.