Intel's Long Awaited BTX Form Factor

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 vacation work trip to Taipei a few weeks ago reveiled plans from all the major motherboard manufacturers to release Pentium M compatible motherboards to offset some of their Pentium 4 desktop motherboard sales.  If Pentium M becomes a large player for midrange desktop computing, motherboard manufacturers will probably have to decide for themselves where ATX and BTX stand with regard to their new platform design.  Small form factor would be an excellent position for Pentium M to penetrate, and if pBTX picks up then perhaps the form factor race could get very interesting very quickly. 

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.