Intel's Long Awaited BTX Form Factor
by Purav Sanghani on November 15, 2004 5:31 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
First Look: AOpen B300 BTX case
External DesignAt first glance AOpen's B300 chassis included with Intel's evaluation kit seems like a normal half height ATX desktop case. The only thing that sets the B300 apart from ATX form factor cases of this size is the placement of the drive bays on the left side instead of the right. Still, at first glance it will seem like it's only a minor design change. We also notice there is a large section of the bezel which looks to be designed as a ventilation of some sort for an 80mm or even a 90mm fan mounted on the inside as an intake.
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At the far right of the bezel is a small door which opens to the right to expose four USB ports, audio ports, and a FireWire port.
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To remove the cover we need to remove three screws at the back of the case. We then slide the cover foreward about an inch and lift to remove it.
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Internal Design
Inside we see the drive bays at the front of the case on the left side. There is a single 5-1/4" drive bay which makes use of "optical fixing bars" to secure optical drives in place. Beneath the 5-1/4" bay is space for two 3-1/2" HDDs also utilizing the same fixing bars to secure them in place. Though AOpen implements these screw-less devices here, many screws are still used elsewhere throughout the case. Ironic, isn't it?
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To get to the 3-1/2" drive bays AOpen has designed the case in a way that this entire right section, which includes the drive bays and power supply, can be unfolded from the rest of the case out to the right. This feature helps reduce clutter when installed the motherboard as well as drives into their bays. To unfold this section there are 3 screws that need to be removed, 1 at the front and 2 at the back below the power supply. We then pull the frame forward and turn it out to the left.
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Directly behind the drive bays and mounted to the fold out frame is the FSP 275W SFF power supply with an 80mm fan. The clearance between the drive bays and the power supply is only a few inches which worried us a great deal. HDDs come in SATA interfaces but most all optical drives have an IDE interface right now. Combined with the power supply's cabling, things will definitely become claustrophobic.
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The entire section to the right of the fold out tray will be taken up by the BTX motherboard. We noticed a metal plate on the motherboard tray called the Support Retention Module which can be removed.
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According to Intel this plate will provide extra support for the motherboard and retention for the thermal module due to the weight of the heatsink. The motherboard tray itself is made up of this entire section. Again AOpen has simplified things by using stand-offs for the outer edges of the motherboard while supporting the middle sections of the D915GMH with the retention module.
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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!!!