In an anonymous leak to VideoCardZ, they received a “slip” describing the adoption of the ATX12VO power connector for the motherboard and power supplies; While there is still no official information on this from Intel, this leak shows a Photography that it does not appear to be retouched and that, that said, coincides with the intentions that Intel has already shown in the past with regard to the new standard.
Intel will adopt ATX12VO even if manufacturers don’t want it
The ATX12VO standard is officially known as the “Single Rail Power Supply Desktop Platform Form Factor”, or desktop platform with single-rail power supply (obviously referring to the 12V which is the only one you use). The advantage of using this type of power is that it is much more efficient than with the classic 24-pin connectorbecause tests have shown that the power can be halved at idle, although it is true that the efficiency gains are not as great as the load increases to 100%.
The prerequisite for this is that motherboard manufacturers will need to modify the motherboard power connector to use the new 10-pin connector (depicted in the diagram above), as will power manufacturers, who will need to add it (probably as an addition) so you don’t discard the 24 pins yet). This means that any voltage above or below 12 V should be transformed by motherboard and not through food.
Generally speaking, the adoption of the ATX12VO connector will result in a much more complex design of the motherboard, which will increase its cost and therefore also its selling price. In theory, the design of the power supplies will be simplified, but only in the event that they only launch power supplies with this 12V rail on the market, because if they intend to add it but keep the design of now (to maintain compatibility with current systems) the thing will also become much more complicated, also increasing its the price.
The source of this leak worked to confirm this information with its own sources and was able to discover that Intel is actively pursuing the adoption of this 10-pin connector on motherboards for its next generation of processors, Alder Lake-S. However, it looks like Intel is facing a lot of resistance (or rather reluctance) from motherboard and power supply makers, who are unwilling to change their designs to embrace the new standard just yet.
The widespread implementation of the ATX12VO connector makes the design of the motherboard much more complex and adds more steps in its manufacturing process. The leaked note shows that 4-5 months will be the time it will take before motherboards and power supplies are ready for sale, which lines up for September of this year, just as the Launch of Alder Lake-S.
This ATX12VO power connector may not be seen on many high-end motherboards, but it may start to find its way into entry-level motherboards used in pre-engineered systems for better power efficiency. The connector has some great advantages, but certainly also many disadvantages (starting with the price) and it will take time to fully embrace it.
