[SFF Network] 12V Please, Simplify!

[mantide]

This is one of a series of mini-rants by your faithful correspondent, John Morrison. These are a regular series focusing on issues in the SFF niche. All content is entirely opinion of John, not of SmallFormFactor.net, and should not be taken as fact.

As the ATX specification evolved, and as component manufacturers changed designs and other components, we have slowly edged towards a 12v dominant world. The two heavy hitters in your system, the CPU and GPU, both utilise 12V inputs. There's a good reason for this - they require higher amperage than the rest of your system.

Read more here.

This is actually what I am dreaming about! Holy $hit! will any vendor adopt this? The process could be painful.

 

[mantide]

Or just reroute all the the power through one or two cables through the motherboard, if we can eliminate 3/4th of the 12V wires with 48V. I expect that 300W for GPUs should be plenty if 75W in a slot is now possible. Storage could easily run off of the board too, like Thin-ITX.

Although many think 48V is safe. The regulation will never give green light to this voltage. Remember 36V is no longer the "safe voltage"

 

[jeshikat]

Although many think 48V is safe. The regulation will never give green light to this voltage. Remember 36V is no longer the "safe voltage"

?

 

[Thehack]

Although many think 48V is safe. The regulation will never give green light to this voltage. Remember 36V is no longer the "safe voltage"

I'd argue that 12V is more dangerous than 48V if we're talking about electronics. The 12V requires 4x the current. It is the current that superheats your rings and melt metal. The 48V will give you a shock but least you won't lose the skin off your finger.

 

[EdZ]

a few hundred watts DC is a few hundred watts DC, regardless of 12V or 48V. Don't stick your mitts in a running PC and fondle the power contacts in either case.

 

[nox]

you are not alone in your thoughts it seems. I've been wondering why this (massive & untidy) connector is still used, and it looks like ASRock felt there was better too - their new z270m-stx has a 19v 4pin DIN on the back plate.

nox

 

[jtd871]

you are not alone in your thoughts it seems. I've been wondering why this (massive & untidy) connector is still used, and it looks like ASRock felt there was better too - their new z270m-stx has a 19v 4pin DIN on the back plate.
nox

That's a mSTX standard that follows thin-mITX, IIRC. There's even less room on a mSTX board for a ATX power connector than mITX.

 

[Dyson Poindexter]

I've ranted about this topic too before, and the biggest drawback would be breaking backwards compatibility.

As an interim workaround, I've always though that a "Pico-PSU" type adapter could be used between the "nothing but a lot of 12v" connector and the motherboard to provide the 5, 3v3, etc. voltages.