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so where is BTX?

W

wizzackr

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 5, 2000
Messages
1,579
at IDF intel announced there would be microBTX based boards and chassis available in retail channels in Q3 2004. yet, almost all case manufacturers seem to remain sceptical and BTX is hard to find. do you guys think it'll become a second WTX standard that never really will be adopted? might it just never take off? on the other hand with the release of the BTX-system-design-guide intel seems to put a lot more pressure on moving the industry to BTX than it did with wtx...
a second factor holding back BTX could be AMD: the current ATX mobos with their thermal solutions seem to suit the A64 lineup perfectly and there really seems no need to adopt BTX - where arguably the ONLY major advantage seems to be its superior cooling as cases and motherboards themselves are getting bigger than their ATX counterparts, fans and noise directly in front of the user etc.

any opinions or URLs with info?

ah yeah - while I'm at it (no need for a second thread then): what interfact do laptop type of slim-CDR/DVD drives come with? i cannot hook them up a normal ATX board, can i?
 
I dont wanna think about BTX... :( I just bought my computer in July.


1000 posts!
 
Let's put it this way: WTX had more chance of becoming popular than BTX has right now.
 
wizzackr said:
there really seems no need to adopt BTX - where arguably the ONLY major advantage seems to be its superior cooling as cases and motherboards themselves are getting bigger than their ATX counterparts, fans and noise directly in front of the user etc.
Click to expand...

Let's not get started on "superior cooling" again. As argued again and again, it depends on your definition of superior. BTX will keep the processor cooler, but the rest of your case heats up like crazy. It is very poor thermal efficiency to have the air go through the hottest component first.

BTX will probably fade into the background and become just be a forgotten footnote in the historybooks.
 
BTX seems worthless to a lot of people. It's more like a streamlining of ATX mistakes. Nobody's gonna jump on it probably till the start of the year.
 
I read in e-week that Gateway or Compaq (I don't remember which) has annouced plans for a BTX-based consumer product in Q4 of this year
 
i could imagine intel using its power to push BTX into small form factor cases for the do-it-yourself segment and probably small corporate PCs. that could mean another very nice market for both mobo- as well as case manufacturers. they certainly seem to be very much dedicated to the whole BTX thing...

as for the cooling to be superiour i think a good thing would probably be the airflow underneath the mobo - and as for case cooling their larger BTX examples feature case-vents/fans in the back just like normal ATX cases... don't get me wrong: i don't like BTX, i just wanted to mentionthat as intel touts it like mad.

it's really gonna be interesting to see if intel will let their second approach to change the good ol ATX formfactor go under yet again... i doubt it although i personally see no use in the way they changed things.
 
I was at IBM recently and saw what was probably a pico form factor system. Very small footprint, all drives toolless install, the case wouldn't close unless the drives were locked into install position. Very nice engineering and design on the system.
 
I don't see BTX hitting the aftermarket any time soon. It's like the old "chicken and the egg" scenario. No one's going to make a case for a motherboard that isn't readily available. Equally, no one will make a motherboard if there aren't cases to fit it. The ATX form factor has been around for close to 10 years, so it's got a strong hold on the market. Add to that the lack of marketable advantages that BTX offers over ATX and the future looks bad for BTX.
 
Intel is pushing BTX currently but AMD is stating that they dont need the improved cooling capability for their current processor lineup. I doubt there will be any real shift to BTX until AMD signs on.

There was an article about this in a recent issue of Maximum pc, maybe 2-3 months ago.
 
Are you that naive? That AMD, a company which holds 15% marketshare of desktop x86 processors has any leverage in determining the market's direction?
 
While I don't agree with xonik's tone or his complete reasoning, I do think he's right to some extent. If AMD doesn't need the extra proc cooling, they won't do anything to actively promote btx, and since they're not the ones who make AMD based mobos, they probably really don't care. AMD won't have any influence over whether or not btx becomes prevalent.
Intel, on the other hand, produces it's own line of mobos, and can probably pressure case companies into producing btx cases with ease. If Intel wants btx, they have all the tools to push it into the mainstream.
 
wow, you mean BTX is not getting adopted just like i said it wouldent? thats amazing, never saw that one coming :rolleyes: :p
 
I(illa Bee said:
you still see a post count? I havent since they upgraded the forum?
Click to expand...

You have to click on the profile to see the count. You are at 2,949
 
FLECOM said:
wow, you mean BTX is not getting adopted just like i said it wouldent? thats amazing, never saw that one coming :rolleyes: :p
Click to expand...
lol couldnt resist making that comment?
 
BTX sux as far as Im concerned I think the only thing i can think of that is a good thing about it is that u have less power connectors going to the new PCIE vid cards than u do w/ the current ATX format. Also the power connectors are larger which i really don't like.
 
The world is just too ATX oriented for BTX to ever take off. Everyone will have to buy a new case/motherboard to get it to work, and who wants to do that? Screw BTX.
 
I agree with all of you, well most of you anways.

The concept is decent, create a dedicated pathway for cool air to enter the CPU heatsink assembly and push it out the case. Oh wait, that's called a side fan and some plastic ducting. :rolleyes:

I really don't think that BTX will go off very well at all. Look at the current motherboards on the market. Correct me if I'm wrong but I have yet to see a single Athlon 64 motherboard that was NOT full ATX. What are the new 915 and 925X chipset motherboards for the new P4 Prescotts? Full ATX. What does every single little "All parts included" water cooling kit strive to be easy to install in? An ATX case.

There really is no reason to change the form factor. Shuttle did a good thing by introducing ITX to serve a niche, small attractive PCs that will not need a large amount of expandability but still have a broad range of functionality. But as they add expandability to them (ie space for more drives, they still at best have 1 AGP and 1 PCI, 2 for the knock-offs) they increase in size and become more like their mini-tower ATX cousins. That and stop and really look at it. Looking at the board from the top down, the I/O ports are all located in a cluster on the right half of the board, the expansion slots are on the left. It's still a derivative of ATX
 
The_Mage18 said:
I agree with all of you, well most of you anways.

The concept is decent, create a dedicated pathway for cool air to enter the CPU heatsink assembly and push it out the case. Oh wait, that's called a side fan and some plastic ducting. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
And in the case of BTX, the air, after passing over the CPU's heatsink, consequently warms up the RAM, NB and expansion cards to nice, toasty temperatures, whereas with ATX this air would be exhausted by the back/blowhole exhaust fans and the PSU's fans. Better cooling is definitely not a selling point of BTX.
 
The pico and next size up should see traction from the manufacturers. I have seen the new IBMs with the small form factors of BTX and they are very nice. figuring the average corporate refresh of every 3 yrs, it may take a bit, but those smaller sizes should take off. ATX will stay predomniant in the enthusiast community for quite awhile.
 
Dioretsa said:
The world is just too ATX oriented for BTX to ever take off. Everyone will have to buy a new case/motherboard to get it to work, and who wants to do that? Screw BTX.
Click to expand...


Just like the world was too AT oriented and ATX would never take off?
 
fat-tony said:
Just like the world was too AT oriented and ATX would never take off?
Click to expand...

no, more like WTX took off like crazy and all enthusiats now own WTX-cases instead of ATX ones... it's not that easy, but nice try ;)

...all in good fun, right?
 
i hope it dies out, no need for it just another reason companies come up with to make more money
 
BTX is a ways off before it hits main stream. I would say almost a year or so, thats if it even get's off the ground...
 
wizzackr said:
at IDF intel announced there would be microBTX based boards and chassis available in retail channels in Q3 2004. yet, almost all case manufacturers seem to remain sceptical and BTX is hard to find. do you guys think it'll become a second WTX standard that never really will be adopted? might it just never take off? on the other hand with the release of the BTX-system-design-guide intel seems to put a lot more pressure on moving the industry to BTX than it did with wtx...
a second factor holding back BTX could be AMD: the current ATX mobos with their thermal solutions seem to suit the A64 lineup perfectly and there really seems no need to adopt BTX - where arguably the ONLY major advantage seems to be its superior cooling as cases and motherboards themselves are getting bigger than their ATX counterparts, fans and noise directly in front of the user etc.

any opinions or URLs with info?

ah yeah - while I'm at it (no need for a second thread then): what interfact do laptop type of slim-CDR/DVD drives come with? i cannot hook them up a normal ATX board, can i?
Click to expand...
for btx?... i dunno... i think it might suddenly become popular when you least expect it lol... it'll probably be like, boom to your face

for the problem about hooking up a slim drive to a normal atx board, you need an IDE adapter... i just bid a slim drive and a ide adapter on ebay... its coming soon, yay
 
fat-tony said:
Just like the world was too AT oriented and ATX would never take off?
Click to expand...
It's not so much about what is being used the most at any point in time, but more about whether or not the advertised replacement actually offers any benefits over the 'old' product.

In the case of AT-ATX it's clear, with a relatively advanced type of PSU (new voltage, standby-voltage, soft-power off, no risk of electrocuting oneself because of a wrongly hooked up power switch, etc.), a _good_ layout (which moron decided it was a good idea to put the CPU where it would be in the way of the expansion cards and buried behind/below the CD-ROM drives, FDDs and HDDs?), and countless other benefits, the incentive to use ATX instead of AT was there.

AT is usable, ATX is good, WTX was not damn-near-perfect as it should have been to replace ATX, and neither is BTX. Heck, I'd use WTX before even considering using BTX.
 
i read something a month or two ago that A64's would not go BTX because the memory would have to be placed too far away form the processor. Don't remeber where.

I think we need to standarddize the positioning of the cpu in the ATX form factor so that we can h ave more preducted cases that will fit all mobos, add some cooling for behind teh cpu and add support for larger hs's, and possibly a water pump mouting area (well maybe not).
 
The_Mage18 said:
Shuttle did a good thing by introducing ITX to serve a niche, small attractive PCs that will not need a large amount of expandability but still have a broad range of functionality.
Click to expand...
VIA was the one who started the ITX spec; Shuttle's "SFF" designs have always been proprietary.
 
BTX is another one of Intels pathetic over marketed campaign ideas to have their overpriced, over rated and stove cookware Prescotts work decently that still get pwned by anything AMD 64 wise.

Death to BTX because it will never see the light of day and never needed to.
 
What is WTX??

I think the idea of creating better airflow is a good idea. BTX is a decent idea, but it will fail though because it is just too proprietary. And how about video cards with the heatsink/fan facing up? That is what I want to see :p
 
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