PC power-supply wire colors remain recognizable because Intel’s ATX design guides continued to show familiar assignments across decades. But the colors were never a universally required standard: Intel’s 1998 guide called them suggested, and the documents reviewed do not give an official explanation for why vendors kept using them. Familiarity and easier recognition are reasonable explanations, not documented fact.
What the common PSU wire colors mean
Intel’s displayed ATX Version 3.0 Multi Rail guide, version 2.01 dated February 1, 2023, assigns these colors to signals on the 24-pin main power connector:
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| Wire color | Signal |
|---|---|
| Orange | +3.3 V |
| Red | +5 V |
| Yellow | +12 V |
| Black | COM (common/ground) |
| Green | PS_ON# |
| Gray | PWR_OK |
| Purple | +5VSB |
| Blue | -12 V |
| Brown | +3.3 V default-sense wire paired with an orange wire at pin 13 |
This is the mapping in the displayed Intel ATX 3.0 design guide, not a guarantee about every cable or PSU. The page identifies itself as version 2.01 and dated 2023-02-01, and says a newer version is available.
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Why the colors persist—and what is actually documented
Intel’s 1998 ATX Power Supply Design Guide, version 0.9, says: “The following sections suggest wire color coding that is followed by many vendors, but this color coding is NOT required.” In other words, even the early guide presented the mapping as a convention rather than a requirement.
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The persistence is visible in the documents: the 1998 guide and the displayed 2023 guide share familiar assignments for several signals. It is plausible that keeping colors recognizable made cables easier to identify and helped preserve familiarity across systems. However, neither guide states that this was the historical reason, so it should be treated as an inference rather than Intel’s stated explanation.
The convention changed as signals changed
Color continuity does not mean every old rail remains in a modern connector. Intel’s 1998 guide shows a white wire for -5 V. In the displayed 2023 guide, pin 20 is reserved and the table does not list a white -5 V wire. The guides therefore show both sides of the history: familiar colors persisted for several signals, while the connector’s listed signals evolved. The 1998 guide is available as a PDF scan mirror.
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Can you identify a specific wire by color?
Use the color table as a description of a common convention, not as proof of what a particular wire does. Implementations and revisions can vary, and a cable’s appearance alone cannot establish its pinout. If identifying a connection matters, consult the exact PSU’s label and the manufacturer’s pinout documentation. Do not probe, short, or modify a PSU based only on a generalized color chart.
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