Hold Up Time
Hold up time represents the duration, a PSU can maintain stable output as defined by the ATX specification without input power. This is very important when the quality of your electricity varies, and there are short drops in the supply (dips or brown outs).
In the oscilloscope screenshots below, the blue line is the AC input mains signal, the green line the "Power Good" signal, and the yellow line the +12V rail. The measured timing variable is listed as ΔX.
Hold Up Time
AC Loss To PWR_OK Hold Up Time
PWR_OK Inactive to DC Loss Delay
Hold up time is below 17 ms. However, this is not the worst thing here since the power ok signal is not accurate. No PSU should at any point report a "false" power ok signal.
Timings for Alternative Sleep Mode (ASM)
Traditionally, sleep mode (S3) shuts the system off for a long time (minutes or hours) to reduce power consumption. However, this approach adds a few seconds delay when resuming from standby. Microsoft recently introduced Modern Sleep, which brings the instant-on capability to PCs—just like your phone instantly turns on without any noticeable delay. Modern Sleep builds on the Alternative Sleep Mode capability, which Intel has defined. To support ASM, a power supply must wake up from sleep quickly to ensure system stability—think of it as the PSU's boot time.
Source: IntelTimings for Alternative Sleep Mode |
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Parameter | Description | Recommended Value |
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T0 | AC power on time | < 2s |
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T1 | Power-on time | < 150 ms |
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T2 | Rise time | 0.2 - 20 ms |
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T3 | PWR_OK delay | 100 - 150 ms |
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T4 | PWR_OK rise time | < 10 ms |
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T5 | AC loss to PWR_OK hold-up time | > 16 ms |
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T6 | PWR_OK inactive to DC loss delay | > 1 ms |
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For the reviewed PSU, we measured T1 and T3 at 20% and 100% load.
T1 (Power-on time) & T3 (PWR_OK delay) |
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Load | T1 | T3 |
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20% | 80 ms | 260 ms |
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100% | 78 ms | 272 ms |
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The PWR_OK sits outside of 100–150 ms, which means this PSU is not compatible with alternative sleep mode (ASM). Not a huge drawback since compatible motherboards are not available yet, ASM compatibility would be nice for future-proofing.