Intel's power play: Hands-on with ATX12VO motherboards and power supply

Intel’s latest power play isn’t about toppling AMD, but about energy efficiency. The company's new ATX12VO power supply standard is designed to help desktop PCs meet increasingly stringent government standards on idle power consumption.

Update: If you prefer video, we've since embedded our full interview with Intel's Stephen  Eastman above. He literally wrote the spec for Intel's new ATX12VO. Watch it above, or here if you prefer YouTube.

ATX12VO does require a sacrifice. Newer power supplies will jettison support for old-school 3.3-volt and 5-volt rails, and concentrate solely on producing 12-volt power. But after kicking the tires on a pair of ATX12VO motherboards as well as an actual ATX12VO PSU, we can say that the future of desktop PC power looks brighter—and your old-friend legacy parts aren’t moving too far away.

To read this article in full, please click here

from PCWorld https://ift.tt/31qdjAw