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With the rapid uptick in power draw by CPUs and GPUs perhaps its time for ATX to go and an entirely new standard to come in[0], ditching the antiquated 12v rail
by Arrath 3y ago
With the rapid uptick in power draw by CPUs and GPUs perhaps its time for ATX to go and an entirely new standard to come in[0], ditching the antiquated 12v rail and step up to 24 or 48v. We've got the twin kludges of the ever growing main power plug to the motherboard and the growth of supplemental power to the GPU first a 6-pin then 8, then two 6's etc etc and now with 12vhpwr and its attendant teething pains. When is enough enough?
[0]Yes, cue the xkcd comic.
- Osiris 3y agoBusinesses seem to prefer incremental changes over large ones. Look at IPv4 vs IPv4. The two are completely incompatible and decades later we still haven’t changed. 12v is a good compromise because PSUs can be manufactured to support both the new and old standard and motherboards could even accept ATX power inputs and just ignore the 5v and 3v rails. It allows for a transition period that’s much smoother than a complete revamp. It’s the more pragmatic solution.
- Dalewyn 3y ago>Look at IPv4 vs IPv4. I'm not sure if this was a typo or deliberate, but either way the irony is beautiful. >12v is a good compromise because PSUs can be manufactured to support both the new and old standard and motherboards could even accept ATX power inputs and just ignore the 5v and 3v rails. The biggest sticking point with 12VO is that it's physically incompatible with ATX. 12VO doesn't provide the voltages ATX expects (obviously), nor does 12VO provide compatible physical connections (this incompatibility is a selling point). ATX's biggest selling point and why we still use it to this day is its backwards and forwards compatibility. Outside of certain outliers you can just expect an ATX PSU to work with ATX equipment, regardless of when you buy or bought the parts; the virtues of a well-followed industry standard.
- intrasight 3y agoStandards must evolve
- aftbit 3y agoI agree with your larger point. That said, here in 2023 in the US, my phone only gets an IPv6 address from its LTE network. Of course there's some NAT6to4 somewhere that makes this all transparent to me, and I can still access v4-only resources just fine.
- shadowpho 3y ago24v requires more cost.
- 0xcde4c3db 3y agoWhile we're dreaming, could we also replace M.2 slots on desktop boards with U.2 or OCuLink connectors? M.2 is optimized for thin, light portable devices like laptops and tablets; it makes zero sense in a desktop, where it basically just wastes board space and makes cooling more awkward.