Voltage Identification Digital
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Voltage Identification Digital or VID means that a voltage-producing unit produces a voltage as specified by a digital input. For example, a unit with 4-bit VID would output one of at most 16 distinct output voltages. These voltages are usually (but not always) evenly spaced within a given range. Some of the code words may be reserved for special functions such as shutting down the unit, hence a 4-bit VID unit may have fewer than 16 output voltage levels.
As of 2006 VID is still a relatively new technique, and mostly applied to power modules outputting between 1.5V and 3.5V. These are used to control the supply voltage of high-performance microprocessors, for example in order to reduce the power consumption during idle periods.
