News: BTX hits shelfs for Intel platform

[Maveric169]

First BTX Motherboards Hit Shelves

PCs using the new standard should be quieter, thanks to fewer fans.


Tom Mainelli
From the February 2005 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Thursday, January 06, 2005
Intel's new BTX (Balanced Technology Extended) specification gives motherboards a makeover. The company says that the new motherboard and chassis spec uses fewer fans, resulting in PCs that run more quietly, and possibly at a lower temperature, than those based on the aging ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) standard found in most of today's PCs. To that end, BTX boards sport significant changes in component layout and thermal engineering (see picture).

Rest of the article here:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119042,tk,dn010605X,00.asp

I can't seem to post anything into the "submit news" so posted here.

 

[ming]

I can't seem to post anything into the "submit news" so posted here.

You submit the news, and a news poster will post it on the front page. You don't actually do this yourself.

 

[ming]

I can't see how fewer fans there will be compared to an average home PC. I have a CPU fan and a PSU fan only in one of my machines (running an AMD Athlon) and that's probably the same or less than what will found in a BTX case.

Nonetheless, I shall be keeping an eye out for the BTX board as they are supposed to allow better airflow.

BTW, what happens to the thermal module for those who already have water cooling?

 

[Heeter]

BTX= Quick fix for crappy, uncontrollable heat issues with Prescott CPU.

Idea for Intel, how about building a better CPU, instead of pushing something motherboard makers don't want to do.

Heeter

 

[ming]

They're probably going to build another cpu with even deeper pipelines. lol

 

[Maveric169]

BTX= Quick fix for crappy, uncontrollable heat issues with Prescott CPU.

Idea for Intel, how about building a better CPU, instead of pushing something motherboard makers don't want to do.

Heeter

Well I wouldn't say that is the case. The ATX form factor was designed back when CPU's didn't even need a cooling fan. Nowdays however nearly every component generates heat (cpu, vid card, north and south bridge chip, HDDs, etc.) so a new form factor is something that has been needed for a while.

 

[Steevo]

The whole legacy BS needs to die. One terrible death then we all move on to newer and better. But this will not happen as too many people want to keep their old crap around "as I might need it".


It's why I'm typing on the last 98' machine left here. With a whopping 64Mb of RAM. Cause someone decided to keep this POS "as they might need it some day", I have spent more time fixing it than it is worth. But then again they pay me more to fix this crap than to keep the new in shape, mebey old ****e is better.

/end of ranting

 

[Heeter]

Well I wouldn't say that is the case. The ATX form factor was designed back when CPU's didn't even need a cooling fan. Nowdays however nearly every component generates heat (cpu, vid card, north and south bridge chip, HDDs, etc.) so a new form factor is something that has been needed for a while.

I guess I didn't mean the actual ATX form factor, but more like everything attached as well. Things like cases. AMD has no problem with their heat issues. Byproduct of the Prescott is excessive heat, and instead of addressing the heat issue, Intel decides to come out with a new form factor. Forcing industry to accomodate them.

Same thing goes for the actual pins under the chip. Intel decides that they shouldn't bear the brunt of putting 775 pins under the Prescott, instead, force industry to put the pins on the mobo.

Who do they think they are, Microsoft?

Industry as whole should embrace new technology as the need arises (SATA, PCI express, etc, etc)

Heeter

 

[RickyC]

I see Intel still haven't put any thought into cabling issues. According to the pic, the power and floppy cables will be dragging all over the gfx and pci cards. Most decent mobo manafacturers place the headers on the edge of the boards these days.

Intel Head Engineer "let's just mirror the current ATX layout, call it BTX and everyone will think we're brilliant!".

That's basically what they've done!

 

[Tuffgong4]

to me BTX is just logical. To keep the hotter parts of the system lower makes them stay cooler. Whether you are intel or amd you would benefit from this. Yes the prescott processors are hotter by a lot but why wouldn't amd benefit from having their chips run cooler. Heat rises and most systems are set up to have the cool air intake on the bottom front of the case. why not have the hottest part of the system in the bottom where the air is cooler and in direct contact with the cool air intake in the front.

I for one am excited about btx because it's just logical. hot air rises cool air stays low. It is as simple as that