How does ATX power supply work?
Mia Smith
Published Mar 09, 2026
How does ATX power supply work?
ATX power supplies are turned on and off by a signal from the motherboard. They also provide a signal to the motherboard to indicate when the DC voltages are in spec, so that the computer is able to safely power up and boot.
What is brown wire on ATX power supply?
The brown wire (sometimes also orange but thinner) is the Sense terminal, it’s usually connected with the 3.3V or orange wires, and it is responsible for making sure that these outputs always have 3.3V. If the voltage is different than that, it’ll probably shut down the PSU.
What pins turn on a power supply?
To start up a stand alone PSU for either testing purposes or as a bench power supply, we need to short together pin 14 – Green (Power-ON) to one of the common black wires (ground) which is how the motherboard tells the power supply to turn “ON”.
What wires turn on a PC power supply?
In order to turn on the power supply we need to connect the green wire with the ground (one of the black wires). I used a small push button switch to make this connection. Solder the green wire from the 20 pin connector to one side of the switch, then solder the second green wire to the other side of the switch.
What is difference between AT and ATX power supply?
AT-style computer cases had a power button that is directly connected to the system computer power supply. An ATX power supply is typically controlled by an electronic switch. Instead of a hard switch at the main power input, the power button on an ATX system is a sensor input monitored by the computer.
What does ATX stand for?
Advanced Technology eXtended
ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) is a motherboard and power supply configuration specification developed by Intel in 1995 to improve on previous de facto standards like the AT design.
What is the function of +5 SB pin ATX power supply?
+5 VSB (+5 V standby) supplies power even when the rest of the supply wire lines are off. This can be used to power the circuitry that controls the power-on signal. +3.3 V sense should be connected to the +3.3 V on the motherboard or its power connector.
How do I turn on ATX power supply?
The PSU needs a connection to the motherboard to be told to turn on. When you press the power button on your case, it jumps the green wire to a ground, telling the PSU to turn on. When this “jump” is broken, the PSU shuts off. The green wire on ATX plug is the “power on” line and is pin #14.
How do you power an ATX power supply?
What is the wattage of an ATX power supply?
When high-powered GPUs were first introduced, typical ATX power supplies were “5 V-heavy”, and could only supply 50-60% of their output in the form of 12 V power. Thus, GPU manufacturers, to ensure 200-250 W of 12 V power (peak load, CPU+GPU), recommended power supplies of 500-600 W or higher.
How does an ATX power supply turn off?
ATX power supplies are turned on and off by a signal from the motherboard . They also provide a signal to the motherboard to indicate when the DC voltages are in spec, so that the computer is able to safely power up and boot. The most recent ATX PSU standard is version 2.31 as of mid-2008.
What is an ATX style connector?
What is an ATX Style Connector? An ATX style connector is a replacement for the older P8 and P9 AT style connector. It is one of the largest connectors inside a computer. It connects a power supply to an ATX style motherboard. As shown in the picture, the 20-pin cable is a multi-color cable and may be labeled as P1.
Is an uATX motherboard a micro ATX?
Micro ATX is a standard introduced in 1997 based on the ATX specification. It is also referred to as uATX, mATX, or µATX. The primary difference of the standard comes from the dimensions of the computer system. The maximum size of a micro ATX motherboard is 244 mm × 244 mm.