ATX Standard desktop, mini-tower, and full-tower systems; most common form factor today; most

flexible design for power users, enthusiasts, low-end servers/workstations, and higher-end

home systems; ATX boards support up to seven expansion slots.

Mini-ATX A slightly smaller version of ATX that fits into the same case as ATX. Many so-called ATX

motherboards are actually mini-ATX motherboards; mini-ATX boards support up to six

expansion slots.

micro-ATX A smaller version of ATX, used in Mid-range desktop or mini-tower systems. Fits micro-ATX or

ATX chassis.

Flex-ATX Smallest version of ATX, used in expensive or low-end small desktop or mini-tower systems;

entertainment or appliance systems. Fits in flex-ATX, micro-ATX, or ATX chassis.

Mini-ITX Minimum-size flex-ATX version, used in set-top boxes and compact/small form factor
computers; highly integrated with one PCI expansion slot. Fits in mini-ITX, flex-ATX, micro-ATX, or ATX

chassis.

NLX Corporate desktop or mini-tower systems; fast and easy serviceability

LPX Style

The next power supply form factor to gain popularity was the LPX style, also called the PS/2 type,
Slimline, or slim style (see Figure 3.1). The LPX-style power supply has the exact same motherboard and
disk drive connectors as the previous standard power supply form factors; it differs mainly in the shape.
LPX systems were designed to have a smaller footprint and lower height than AT-sized systems. These
computers used a different motherboard configuration that mounts the expansion bus slots on a "riser"
card that plugs into the motherboard. The expansion cards plug into this riser and are mounted
sideways in the system, parallel to the motherboard. Because of its smaller case, an LPX system needed
a smaller power supply. The power supply designed for LPX systems is smaller than the Baby-AT style in
every dimension and takes up less than half the space of its predecessor.

NOTE

IBM used this type of power supply in some of its PS/2 systems in the late 1980s; hence it is sometimes
called a PS/2-type supply.

Figure 3.1 LPX form factor power supply.

As with the Baby-AT design in its time, the LPX power supply does the same job as its
predecessor but comes in a smaller package. The LPX power supply quickly found its way
into many manufacturers' systems, soon becoming a de facto standard. This style of power supply
became the staple of the industry for many years, coming in everything from low-profile systems using
actual LPX motherboards to full-size towers using Baby-AT or even full-size AT motherboards. It still is
used in some PCs produced today; however, since 1996 the popularity of LPX has been overshadowed
by the increasing popularity of the ATX design.

ATX Style

One of the newer standards in the industry today is the ATX form factor (see Figure 3.2). The ATX
specification, now in version 2.03, defines a new motherboard shape, as well as a new case and power
supply form factor.

Figure 3.2 ATX form factor power supply, used with both ATX and NLX systems.

The shape of the ATX power supply is based on the LPX design, but some important
differences are worth noting.

One difference is that the ATX specification originally called for the fan to be mounted along the inner
side of the supply, where it could draw air in from the rear of the chassis and blow it inside across the
motherboard. This kind of airflow runs in the opposite direction as most standard supplies, which
exhaust air out the back of the supply through a hole in the case where the fan protrudes. The idea was
that the reverse flow design could cool the system more efficiently with only a single fan, eliminating the
need for a fan (active) heatsink on the CPU.

Another benefit of the reverse-flow cooling is that the system would run cleaner, more free from dust
and dirt. The case would be pressurized, so air would be continuously forced out of the cracks in the
case—the opposite of what happens with a negative pressure design. For this reason, the reverse-flow
cooling design is often referred to as a positive-pressure-ventilation design. On an ATX system with
reverse-flow cooling, the air would be blown out away from the drive because the only air intake would
be the single fan vent on the power supply at the rear. For systems that operate in extremely harsh
environments, you can add a filter to the fan intake vent to further ensure that all the air entering the
system is clean and free of dust.

Although this sounds like a good way to ventilate a system, the positive-pressure design needs to use a
more powerful fan to pull the required amount of air through a filter and to pressurize the case. Also, if
a filter is used, it must be serviced on a periodic basis—depending on operating conditions, it can need
changing or cleaning as often as every week. In addition, the heat load from the power supply on a fully
loaded system heats up the air being ingested, blowing warm air over the CPU, reducing overall cooling
capability. As newer CPUs create more and more heat, the cooling capability of the system becomes
more critical. In common practice, it was found that using a standard negative-pressure system with an
exhaust fan on the power supply and an additional high-quality cooling fan blowing cool air right on the
CPU is the best solution. For this reason, the ATX power supply specification has been amended to allow
for either positive- or negative-pressure ventilation.
Because a standard negative-pressure system offers the most cooling capacity for a given fan airspeed
and flow, most of the newer ATX-style power supplies use the negative-pressure cooling system.

The ATX specification was first released by Intel in 1995. In 1996, it became increasingly popular in
Pentium and Pentium Pro–based PCs, capturing 18% of the motherboard market. Since 1996, ATX has
become the dominant motherboard form factor, displacing the previously popular Baby-AT. ATX and its
derivatives are likely to remain the most popular form factor for several years to come.

The ATX form factor addressed several problems with the power supplies used with Baby-AT and mini-
AT form factors. One is that the power supplies used with Baby-AT boards have two connectors that
plug into the motherboard. If you insert these connectors backward or out of their normal sequence,
you will fry the motherboard! Most responsible system manufacturers "key" the motherboard and
power supply connectors so that you cannot install them backward or out of sequence. However, some
vendors of cheaper systems do not feature this keying on the boards or supplies they use. The ATX form
factor includes different power plugs for the motherboard to prevent users from plugging in their power
supplies incorrectly. The ATX design features up to three motherboard power connectors that are
definitively keyed, making plugging them in backward virtually impossible. The new ATX connectors also
supply +3.3v, reducing the need for voltage regulators on the motherboard to power the chipset,
DIMMs, and other +3.3v circuits.

Besides the new +3.3v outputs, another set of outputs is furnished by an ATX power supply that is not
normally seen on standard power supplies. The set consists of the Power_On (PS_ON) and 5v_Standby
(5VSB) outputs mentioned earlier, known collectively as Soft Power. This enables features to be
implemented, such as Wake on Ring or Wake on LAN, in which a signal from a modem or network
adapter can actually cause a PC to wake up and power on. Many such systems also have the option of
setting a wake-up time, at which the PC can automatically turn itself on to perform scheduled tasks.
These signals also can enable the optional use of the keyboard to power the system on—exactly like
Apple systems. Users can enable these features because the 5v Standby power is always active, giving
the motherboard a limited source of power even when off. Check your BIOS Setup for control over these
features.

NLX Style

The NLX specification, also developed by Intel, defines a low-profile case and motherboard design with
many of the same attributes as the ATX. In fact, for interchangeability, NLX systems were designed to
use ATX power supplies, even though the case and motherboard dimensions are different.

As in previous LPX systems, the NLX motherboard uses a riser board for the expansion bus slots. Where
NLX differs is that it is a true (and not proprietary) standard. See Chapter 4, "Motherboards and Buses,"
for more information on the NLX form factor.

For the purposes of this discussion, NLX systems use ATX power supplies. The only real difference is that
the supply plugs into the riser card and not the motherboard, enabling NLX motherboards to be more
quickly and easily removed from their chassis for service.
SFX Style

Intel released the smaller Micro-ATX motherboard form factor in December of 1997, and at the same
time also released a new smaller SFX (Small form factor) power supply design to go with it (see Figure
3.3). Even so, most Micro-ATX chassis used the standard ATX power supply instead. Then in March 1999,
Intel released the Flex-ATX addendum to the Micro-ATX specification, which was a very small board
designed for low-end PCs or PC-based appliances. At this point, the SFX supply has found use in many
new compact system designs.

Figure 3.3 SFX style power supply (with 90mm top-mounted cooling fan).

The SFX power supply is specifically designed for use in small systems containing a
limited amount of hardware and limited upgradability. Most SFX supplies can provide
90 watts of continuous power (135 watts at its peak) in four voltages (+5, +12, –12, and +3.3v). This
amount of power has proved to be sufficient for a small system with a processor, an AGP interface, up to
four expansion slots, and three peripheral devices—such as hard drives and CD-ROMs.

Although Intel designed the SFX power supply specification with the Micro-ATX and Flex-ATX
motherboard form factors in mind, SFX is a wholly separate standard that is compliant with other
motherboards as well. SFX power supplies use the same 20-pin connector defined in the ATX standard
and include both the Power_On and 5v_Standby outputs. Whether you will use an ATX or SFX power
supply in a given system is dependent more on the case or chassis than the motherboard. Each has the
same basic electrical connectors; the main difference is which type of power supply the case is physically
designed to accept.

One limiting factor on the SFX design is that it lacks the –5v and so shouldn't be used with motherboards
that have ISA slots (most Micro-ATX and Flex-ATX boards do NOT have ISA slots). SFX power supplies
also won't have the Auxiliary (3.3v and 5v) or ATX12V power connectors, and therefore shouldn't be
used with full-size ATX boards that require those connections.

On a standard model SFX power supply, a 60mm diameter cooling fan is located on the surface of the
housing, facing the inside of the computer's case. The fan draws the air into the power supply housing
from the system cavity and expels it through a port at the rear of the system. Internalizing the fan in this
way reduces system noise and results in a standard negative-pressure design. In many cases, additional
fans might be needed in the system to cool the processor (see Figure 3.4).