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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DerekBaker - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
#25From here I should think: ">From the picture we see the flow of warm air pulled forward from beyond the VGA card. As it moves towards the front of the case the air flows over the Southbridge and Northbridge passively cooling each chip. We then see from the shades of red the air warms up as it flows through the CPU heatsink then begins to cool as it moves out the front of the case."
http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?...
Derek
Oxonium - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
Let's see, a new form factor with new case requirements and STILL no standardized connector for the front Power/Reset/LED's/etc.? I'm all for cooler cases, but a standardized connector for those items is something that should have been implemented years ago.HardwareD00d - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
#24, who cares since athlons run much cooler and don't need this case form factor.Doormat - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
I heard a rumor that it wont work with Athlon 64 chips or any type of chip that has the memory controller integrated with the processor, because the distance between the processor and the RAM banks are too far. Anyone confirm this?Superbike - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
Wow AT is back.phisrow - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
While I agree that the tweaky enthusiast market doesn't have much to gain at the moment by moving from ATX to BTX, especially as most of them are running A64s or praying-for-death overclocked mobile Athlons, I think there is certainly something to be said for the form-factor. It does seem to be more efficient for cooling than your average ATX(especially for small cases). Even if you are running some PentiumM or a derivative thereof, more efficient is still better. After all, if a given case design can cool a high-end Prescott without deafening its user, it can probably cool a brutally overclocked Pentium M with its fans running at half the speed. For that matter, if the trace length issues aren't actually crippling, I would like to see some A64 motherboards in this format.johnsonx - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
Visualize an office full of MicroBTX Desktop computers. Visualize the women in the office cupping their hands around the heat exhaust... visualize the overclocking tips flowing around the female staff as they strive to increase heat output... visualize the men pouring sweat, desparately trying to duct-tape the front vent to block the hot Intel Air.I'm sorry, but any spec that seeks to exhaust hot air out the FRONT of any case, whether it be a desktop, tower or SFF, is just plain STUPID.
araczynski - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
my god, after all these years, they fall back on the packard bell mentality...KristopherKubicki - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
GTMan: Temperatures were certainly taken with the cases closed.Kristopher
GTMan - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
I wonder if all those temperature measurements were done with the case open? I would think a case designed for efficient air flow would only perform properly (as designed) when fully assembled!!!