micro atx power supply

ATX Power Supplies

How to Choose a Computer Power Supply

Executive summary about ATX Power Supplies by Matthew Thompson

micro atx power supply

What does “ATX” stand for? ATX stands for Advanced Technology eXtended. Below are pictures of some common connectors found on atx power supplies:

20 pin ATX Connector - The 20 pin ATX connector that inserts into an atx motherboard.

24 pin ATX Connector - Some computer motherboards require a 24 pin ATX Connector. The converters tend to have poor power distribution while a power supply with the 24 pin connector built in will be powered directly from the power supplies.

P4 Connector - Most motherboards that have Intel Pentium 4 processors will have a slot on the board for this P4 connector.

4 pin IDE Connector - This is the IDE connector that supplies power to your hard drives and cdroms. Most atx power supplies have 4 connectors of this type included.

4 pin floppy connector Floppy Connector - The 4 pin floppy connector supplies power to any floppy drives that may be on your computer.

6 AUX connector - Look on your motherboard and see if there is a slot that accepts the 6 pin AUX connector. If there is a slot for it then chances are you’re going to need it.

SATA connector - If you have any devices in your computer that use the SATA connector you’re going to need a power supply with SATA connectors.

It’s okay to buy a power supply that is larger than necessary because the power supply will step down to your power requirements.

ATX Power Supply Repair And Troubleshooting

Executive summary about ATX Power Supplies by Jestine Yong

Customer ATX power supply came in with the complaint of intermittent no power. The failure of the fan would not suck out the heat generated by the components especially the switch mode power transformer.

If you switch off a working power supply and power removed, touch the power transformer, you could feel it is quite warm. Another heat source would be the heat sink where the output diodes attached to it. Diodes run a little bit hotter in filter circuit than diodes in other circuits due to the high current present at the secondary output line.

As for the malfunction fan, you actually could use a Philips oil based contact cleaner to service the fan. The grease inside the fan would run dry after serving for sometimes and eventually stop rotating. It will actually work just like a new fan.

Some ATX power supply would take you a longer time to troubleshoot because of ‘too many’ components on the board.