Briefly introduce PC power classification
Apr 07, 2018| 1, PC/XT power supply
IBM first introduced standards for personal PC/XT machines.
2, AT power supply
It was also a standard proposed by IBM when it introduced PC/AT machines in the early days, and it was able to provide 192W of power supply at that time.
3, ATX power supply
The ATX specification was introduced in 1995 as an industry standard. Today, the ATX architecture power supply has become the mainstream standard in the industry. ATX is an abbreviation of English AT Extend, can be translated as "AT extension" standard, and ATX power supply is designed according to this specification power supply. The power supply for home computers currently on the market generally follows the ATX specification. The standard size is 150x140x86mm.
4, BTX power supply
The BTX (Balanced Technology eXtended) power supply is also a PC power supply designed to comply with the BTX standard. It can be understood as an alternative to Intel's convenience for brand machine manufacturers. The BTX power supply is compatible with ATX technology. Its working principle and internal structure are basically the same as ATX. The output standard is the same as the current ATX12V 2.0 specification. The power output requirements and interfaces support ATX12V, SFX12V, CFX12V, and LFX12V. Although this type of power supply has not changed technically in comparison with the previous power supply, in order to meet the size requirements, an irregular shape has been adopted. At present, three specifications of 220W, 240W, and 275W are defined, of which the 275W power supply adopts independent dual +12V output. BTX is not a revolutionary power standard relative to ATX.
5, EPS power
EPS power supply and emergency power supply system (UPS) are completely different concepts. In 2002, with the development of the digital age, SSI EPS standards for the new Workstation and server chassis emerged. ATX power supply standard ATX2.03 motherboard power supply is 20pin, CPU power is 4pin. The EPS is characterized by the motherboard power 24pin, CPU power 8pin. So now we often see the motherboard power supply is 20 + 4pin, ATX power supply with 4 + 4pin CPU power supply is actually an extension of ATX power supply, the correct name should be "ATX/EPS".
The current popular motherboard motherboard CPU power supply often has 8pin interface. The 4pin on the ordinary ATX power supply can fully meet its power consumption (the remaining 4pin). There will be 8pin interface on the ATX power supply. This is because the Intel Xeon series CPU is required to have 8pin power supply - the current average CPU power consumption has reached more than 70W, so that the server dual CPU will exceed 140W, with 12V conversion is more than 12A current, 4pin's four thin line is obviously on the motherboard power supply will be unstable, but it will also cause security risks. ATX 20pin is also the same reason, taking into account the further development of the future, motherboard manufacturers in the general introduction of the motherboard home motherboard 24pin, and then ATX's single CPU also appeared on the 8pin interface, fully compatible with the EPS standard. It is perfectly possible to use a standard ATX power supply for such motherboards. However, for safety reasons, it is best to connect all the cables.
6, WTX power supply
The Workstations TX (WTX) is the workstation power supply, which is located between the server and the home computer. It can also be understood as an enhanced version of the ATX power supply. The standard was proposed at the time due to the appearance of the Pentium III Xeon (Slot 2). It is larger in size than the ATX power supply, and its power supply capability is better than that of the ATX power supply. It is often used in servers and large computers. The WTX power supply is one of the architectures of the IA server power supply.
7, SFX, CFX, LFX power supply
SFX power supply, CFX power supply, LFX power supply, like WTX power supply, can be said to be variants of ATX, all have their own specifications in size, power, are compatible with BTX power supply now ATX series motherboard. These power supplies are designed to meet the requirements of the current compact chassis with no discrete graphics and small size to facilitate the purchase of different chassis and other accessories for personal computer assembly. The CFX12V is suitable for chassis with a total capacity of 10 to 15 liters, while the LFX12V is suitable for chassis with a system capacity of 6 to 9 litres. Currently, the FFX12V is available in 180W and 200W versions. The SFX power supply is 125x100x63.5mm.