Intel's Long Awaited BTX Form Factor
by Purav Sanghani on November 15, 2004 5:31 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Impact of BTX, Launch Schedule
Today we saw a microBTX board and an innovative AOpen case with all the BTX trimmings, but what did Intel plan in the long run for BTX? Obviously, today is an NDA launch so don't expect BTX motherboards and cases to start filling the shelves at Fry's tommorow. Furthermore, don't expect ATX to suddenly disappear while BTX becomes the new overnight standard stranding us ATXers in an upgrade dead end.According to Intel roadmaps, Intel's desktop motherboard business prospects ATX and BTX boards for H1'05. Glenwood, Intel's Alderwood (925X/E) successor, will feature Intel motherboards designed on ATX, BTX, uATX and uBTX! Keep in mind, this is Intel's motherboard lineup, and traditionally Tier I motherboard manufacturers follow suit very closely, but that doesn't have to be the case. Looking further down the roadmap, we see only ATX/uATX motherboards for the lower performance Lakeport-P chipset, with one uBTX motherboard similar to the one we saw today. Lakeport-G chipsets are not completely planned yet, but the roadmap shows one ATX, one uATX, one uBTX and one pBTX (pico BTX) board on the horizon. You may recall from our Computex 2004 show coverage that the majority of BTX motherboards on display were actually picoBTX motherboards. Given that picoBTX boards are smaller than microATX boards, we would not be too surprised if pBTX builds its own niche very quickly.
However, one thing we haven't touched on with BTX concerns Intel's new "East Fork" push. Anand's
Let us also not forget AMD needs to jump onto the BTX bandwagon in order for case and power supply manufacturers to migrate to the new standard. Power supply manufacturers have it slightly easier; virtually every 24 pin server ATX or BTX capable power supply comes with a 20 pin step down converter. For this corner we can effectively proclaim BTX power supplies backwards compatible with ATX and BTX motherboards.
Case manufacturers have things a little more difficult. Obviously, without AMD's support BTX will not become a universal standard and the burden to manufacturer two different form factors rests on the shoulders of case manufacturers. For larger case manufacturers like AOpen that do a lot of OEM work anyway, this will not be a huge deal. However, don't be surprised if smaller case companies start trending more towards ATX or BTX in a similar manner to small motherboard manufacturers that tend to focus mostly on Intel or AMD motherboards.
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ThelvynD - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
We've been getting in new HP 7100s here at my work center and they've been in the micro-BTX format. I don't any major problems with it so far. Pic below.http://www.picsplace.to/044712/HP-BTX.JPG
Nonsense - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
#36 - Thanks Purav.Can you tell me - is the PS blowing in or out, and is the CPU fan blowing in or out? I'm still trying to figure where all the air is comming from.
PuravSanghani - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
#34: If you look at the picture of the backside of the B300 on page 8 there are groups of holes above the VGA expansion slot as well as to the right between the expansion slot and the power supply. There are also holes lining the bottom of the case if you look closely. We were surprised ourselves to find how well passively cooling all of the components in a system would actually work. And from the pictures you can also see there aren't too many holes for a large amount of air to come in through!PuravSanghani - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
#25: Actually, the front panel connectors *are* standardized and combined into one single plug. We mentioned this on page 8 of the article, "First Look: AOpen B300 BTX case cont'd", in the paragraph where we talk about the auxiliary module.Nonsense - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
#28 - I don't understand the air flow.If the CPU fan is blowing out the front of the case, then the PS _must_ be blowing in.
Blowing hot air into a case does not sound good. Is that how it works?
If the PS is also blowing out, then you have a vacuum. I do not see any heat comming into the case from the PS, so it must be blowing out...?!
Where is the air comming from that is cooling the graphics card? It looks like mostly dead air in that corner - there are only tiny grills on the back.
Sunbird - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
From last paragraph of article:"The ATX case used more space and ran louder."
Space is not evil!, its a good thing for when your drop a small screw, or have hands that fit your 6'6" frame. And loudness can be adressed in other just as succesfull ways.
"Don't forget that additional non-redundant fans increase the failure rate of a computer as well - more moving parts."
And what if the single fan on the BTX sollution fails? That is really non-reduntant if you ask me, anyone agree?
Sunbird - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
#20, I agree, I have a Packard Bell P1 133MHz flat desktop case PC in my workshop and that is almost exactly the same design as this, except the stuff like the optical drive, hard drives and power supply was swapped from the right to the left side of the case, othewise its exactly the same. Glad to see some oldschool designs again, lol#27's idea is brilliant, they quickly implemented something like that with the cases and their front USB options, those LED and power button connector have been around much longer. What's taking them so long?
epiv - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
skunkbuster - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
flash in the pants?Zebo - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
This is going nowhere quick. It's obvious Intel will no longer need it when they make the Dothan desktop transition plus AMD all case and PS manufactures hate the idea. Just wahtever you do don't go buying an $300 Lian Li and $120 PSU since BTX is a flash in the pants.