ATX vs BTX

[Jaymes]

What is the difference between ATX and BTX?

My case supports both apparently.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

BTX is an extension of the ATX format(larger motherboard)Intel was pushing it for more room and better cooling(more and larger heatsinks). The board layout was said to improve
air flow around componets.

While most everything in electronics is moving to a smaller scale, this was one giant step toward something literally bigger ;-)


Galvanized

 

[evilharp]

BTX is all about cooling. Intel spent a wack on money and time organizing the motherboard to allow for optimal cooling of the CPU, and general cooling of components. There are 3 BTX sizes from compact to full-size.

The board will (if BTX ever happens beyond OEMs such as Gateway) be divided into thermal zones, with the CPU near the front of the case. The CPU cooler is designed to draw cool air into the case to cool the CPU first.

For specifics see: http://www.formfactors.org/

 

[Zepper]

What the average person would most notice is that the back panel layout is inverted from the ATX. The card slots are above the I/O ports panel. BTX is currently doggo and unlikely to recover...

.bh.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

. . . and BTX could mean "b***h too Xtreme" -- once you've grown to love your VGA heatpipe cooler . . . .

 

[The Boston Dangler]

BTX is the bomb. If only products would hit the shelves.....

 

[Jaymes]

So when are BTX boards predicted to hit the shelves?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I found one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121295

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
BTX is an extension of the ATX format(larger motherboard)Intel was pushing it for more room and better cooling(more and larger heatsinks). The board layout was said to improve
air flow around componets.

While most everything in electronics is moving to a smaller scale, this was one giant step toward something literally bigger ;-)


Galvanized

Hey man, I gotta disagree.

 

[fierydemise]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
BTX is an extension of the ATX format(larger motherboard)Intel was pushing it for more room and better cooling(more and larger heatsinks). The board layout was said to improve
air flow around componets.

While most everything in electronics is moving to a smaller scale, this was one giant step toward something literally bigger ;-)


Galvanized

Hey man, I gotta disagree.

Are you going to quantify why you disagree, or are you just going to say "I disagree" for no reason.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

BTX is a fresh design. The entire box has a design philosophy focused on efficiency, aero and electric.

The CPU gets a blast of fresh air, with the chips and vid card right behind it. BTX specs airflow under the mobo as well. The cooler, that so many complain about, is much smaller than some of the monsters we already install. Besides, it's inside the box, so what's the problem?
Board layout is vastly simplfied, and more standardized. We can expect less awkward plug locations and angles, and legacy crap is a much needed step closer to death. The mobo isn't upside-down, like some pretenders today. The design puts the memory parallel to airflow. With current CPU sockets, this won't work, due to the mem controller traces. So, they flip the whole thing around. Anyway, shouldn't the vid cooler point up, and face open air? BTX does it. When layed flat, BTX allows for some very small systems.
The new form factor also makes things more efficient for mobo manufacturers. They design a board, and simply add or subtract from it to make different sizes. A full-size powerhouse will also be available in micro form, being identical except for the number of PCIE / PCI slots. A family of boards will share BIOS, drivers, everything. This is very budget-friendly for them, and easy on users. BTX will have a huge impact on business machines.
Today's new power supplies will be 100% OK, obviously future BTX spec changes will raise the bar.

In a couple years, you'll be able to use a computer that has a high performance CPU(s) and vid card(s), powered by a 90% efficient PS, and be air cooled by a single, quiet fan. Slightly better electrics, and BTX, will make this happen.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Dangler, i really do hope it is the panacea you paint.

But the pregnant question hangs in the air. Is Intel to be trusted?? Rambus was awhile
ago but Intel did just drop the dual 12V rail spec as the PSU venders protested it.

It would seem Intel wants to address heat managment rather than address the cause
of all the prodidous heat thier chips generate.

The giant little cares or knows where it's foot falls. ;-)


Galvanized

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Intel cares, about money. This platform will save big bucks for businesses, and that's good for sales. Higher margins + greater sales = Cha Ching!

Of course Intel's heat was a major consideration, they first cooked up BTX when Intel was still trying to push P4s to a 10GHz fantasy. The other side of the coin: wouldn't an an A64 system be even sweeter?

Dropping the dual rails is news to me.

 

[sygyzy]

Is BTX a big enough concern that if someone were to build a system TODAY, they should worry about it? That is, should they buy a BTX PS? BTX case, etc? ATX parts will still fit in a BTX case and still work with a BTX PSU right? In other words, should we worry about future compatibility?

 

[Indyboy2]

I remember reading somewhere a few weeks ago it said that the btx form factor was designed to make the communication between the north bridge and south bridge chips more efficient and improve airflow over the cpu but went on to say that intels new processors are going to run much cooler eliminating the need for btx and its going to lead a slow death .

 

[The Sly Syl]

I know that Dell ships quite a few BTX systems, (most obvious because of the odd "bridge" on the front that allows air to flow through the central fan).

It's an interesting idea, but i don't see it catching on unless something major happens. (The new intel chipset only comes in BTX, for example)

 

[Nocturnal]

Dell ships a few systems with BTX mobos. It's kinda funny. I worked on this unit and it had no PS2 ports whatsoever and you had to use a USB keyboard/mouse in order to use said items lol.

 

[vanvock]

I have to agree with Galvanized. I don't like being pushed to buy new cases, mb, power suplies etc. just because Intel is stamping out pressure cooker chips. It's hard enough to stay reasonably current with Vid cards, cpu's etc.

 

[Shadowknight]

My understanding was the BTX was designed to give the CPU better cooling since Intel was pushing heat levels up, such as the Intel "Blast Furnace" Prescott. I've heard that AMD boards wouldn't really work at all with this design. Besides, in the BTX design the cooling the CPU gets the cool air first, but everything else has to suffer from the heat from the CPU. Of course, now Intel has stated that in 4-5 years they're going to base most of their designs on the Pentium-M platform, so heat will be around 25-30w instead of 125-130w.

 

[themusgrat]

Quantify??? Ummm, BTX is stupid. Intel has hot chips, so they want something different. Blame it on ATX. Many years ago, we had something that was almost exactly BTX, and Intel said that we needed something different. If you will do your research, Intel is moving us in circles, and BTX isn't what it is all hyped up to be, thus the lack of real support. Of course Dell uses it, I think Intel secretly owns Dell. But many big manufacturers have refused to support it. And Intel said the whole market would be BTX by 2006. Well, this is a fad, and I don't think BTX will take over for a very long time, if ever. Besides, until DFI supports it, I'll never buy it.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: themusgrat
Quantify??? Ummm, BTX is stupid. Intel has hot chips, so they want something different. Blame it on ATX. Many years ago, we had something that was almost exactly BTX, and Intel said that we needed something different. If you will do your research, Intel is moving us in circles, and BTX isn't what it is all hyped up to be, thus the lack of real support. Of course Dell uses it, I think Intel secretly owns Dell. But many big manufacturers have refused to support it. And Intel said the whole market would be BTX by 2006. Well, this is a fad, and I don't think BTX will take over for a very long time, if ever. Besides, until DFI supports it, I'll never buy it.

I believe a few issues ago, in Maximum PC, there was a small side article, describing that an Intel rep. stated that BTX is dead, and was a mistake.

 

[Pr0phetX]

riiiiiiiight 70% percent of all desktops at bestbuy are btx. they even have btx's with amd chips, dual and single core. and thats compared to the 90% of btx cases on the prebuilt pcs at compusa. if btx is dead, these must be zombies.

 

[hans007]

btx definitely is not dead. all of dell and gateway's machines are btx now, and that is nearly 25% of the market for PCs right there.

i actually built a btx machine. the truth of it is, you can get away with using less fans because it is more efficient with them.

regardless of what CPU you have (there were a few motherboards for Athlons in btx shown as concepts at shows) it is probably a better design. there is a lot of resistance to it because there is a huge established base.

but they do make for quieter computers (case in point i have a pentium D 820 with 1 92mm fan on the cpu cooler and 1 120mm fan in the PSU) my older athlon machine was louder and had to use 3 80mm zalman fans at 7v with 2 psu fans and a cpu fan to keep it at the same temperature. and it was a single core winchester 3000+ athlon 64. so the case design is very good. because it gets cold air for the cpu etc.

 

[gbrux]

For build-your-own microBTX system, the pickings are slim with respect to cases.

I want a desktop style microBTX case, but there are only about three models on the market, and none of them are very attractive for a media center box.

The major media center brands, Ahanix and Silverstone, don't have any desktop cases for the microBTX form factor.

 

[hans007]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119101

is actually a really nice microBTX desktop case that would make a great media center.

to the people who say BTX is stupid. It does get rid of heat better from CPUs. ANY CPUs. the thinking is people do not think it is "needed" which doesnt mean its not better. hd-dvd is argueably not "needed" either but its still better than dvds.

when i first built my BTX system the ONLY case available was the chenbro pc30679 (its pretty good but not as nice as my new coolermaster). there are maybe 8-9 cases out there now.

it will eventually gain traction. just watch.