2006 – The year of BTX?

Vikingod · Jan 20, 2006, 11:00 PM

Is 2006 going to be the year of BTX (Balanced Technology Extended)? So far there has been a lot of talk, but very few actual BTX form factor systems. Although Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway and others have been shipping BTX systems for over a year, the BTX standard has yet to hit the consumer market.

Let’s take a step back and have a look at what BTX is first and examine its purported benefits to give you an idea of why this new form factor was developed. The initial idea behind the BTX form factor was that ATX was getting to old to support the thermal dissipation needed for future CPUs from Intel, which were getting larger and producing increasing amounts of heat. However, thanks to Intel’s change of direction away from its clock speed obsessed Netburst architecture, BTX is not as crucial as it might have been.
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EcPercy · Jan 21, 2006, 03:01 AM

Does anyone know if using the BTX format requires a royalty fee to be paid to Intel?

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Jan 21, 2006, 03:38 AM

i dont care i want it now!

Judas · Jan 21, 2006, 03:44 AM

there are several BTX full blown form factor cases avaiable right now.....

You can use both ATX boards (which will mount slightly different then normal) or BTX boards in them..

Some of the cases are quite unique.... and i think the ones i've seen personally are canadian produced....

PSU mounts on bottom and how they moved stuff around is very interesting... allowing you to swap mounting from typical left to right installation mode to make a ATX form factor board sit similarely to that of how a BTX form factor board would be.... although not exact.. .very similare

Tipstaff · Jan 21, 2006, 04:46 AM

There is truely nothing special about BTX. No speed increases, no increased case airflow as you might think, nothing. Sure the CPU gets its air directly from outside the case, but guess what? It all blows INTO the case off the CPU. Take a look at THIS pic. Now, imagine a huge black box covering the CPU, starting from the left edge of the board in the pic, to the chipset heatsink in the middle, and as wide as the placement of the 4 mounting holes above and below the CPU socket. Now, what is to the right? The chipset, and the video card. Since the chipset is directly beside the vent it will soak up exhaust heat from the CPU, and the heat from the CPU and chipset will blow towards the video card. Since it will be upside down that places the GPU cooler towards the top of the board in direct line with the exhaust. All that heat will get blown onto the GPU thanks to the video cards cooler (heat may rise, but if something sucks it in, like a GPU cooler.. it's going to go in that direction). Cool the CPU, heat up the chipset, and double up on the video card. Nice.

And guess what? The AMD BTX boards are no better. One design difference in it's favour is that the PCI-E slot is futher away from the chipset by as much as 1-2 inches. However, it is still inline with the CPU exhaust, so the GPU cooler will still suck up and blow that hot air all over the video card.

No thankyou.

Jan 20, 2006, 11:00 PM	#1
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,149 Rep Power: 85 System Specs	2006 – The year of BTX? Is 2006 going to be the year of BTX (Balanced Technology Extended)? So far there has been a lot of talk, but very few actual BTX form factor systems. Although Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway and others have been shipping BTX systems for over a year, the BTX standard has yet to hit the consumer market. Let’s take a step back and have a look at what BTX is first and examine its purported benefits to give you an idea of why this new form factor was developed. The initial idea behind the BTX form factor was that ATX was getting to old to support the thermal dissipation needed for future CPUs from Intel, which were getting larger and producing increasing amounts of heat. However, thanks to Intel’s change of direction away from its clock speed obsessed Netburst architecture, BTX is not as crucial as it might have been. __________ Read More / Source: TrustedReviews __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*

Jan 21, 2006, 03:38 AM	#3
BiGBrOwNPimpsta DH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,224 Rep Power: 64 System Specs	i dont care i want it now! __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| ATI TV Wonder Elite \| Logitech G7 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

Jan 21, 2006, 04:46 AM	#5
Tipstaff DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Toronto Posts: 5,532 Rep Power: 95 System Specs	There is truely nothing special about BTX. No speed increases, no increased case airflow as you might think, nothing. Sure the CPU gets its air directly from outside the case, but guess what? It all blows INTO the case off the CPU. Take a look at THIS pic. Now, imagine a huge black box covering the CPU, starting from the left edge of the board in the pic, to the chipset heatsink in the middle, and as wide as the placement of the 4 mounting holes above and below the CPU socket. Now, what is to the right? The chipset, and the video card. Since the chipset is directly beside the vent it will soak up exhaust heat from the CPU, and the heat from the CPU and chipset will blow towards the video card. Since it will be upside down that places the GPU cooler towards the top of the board in direct line with the exhaust. All that heat will get blown onto the GPU thanks to the video cards cooler (heat may rise, but if something sucks it in, like a GPU cooler.. it's going to go in that direction). Cool the CPU, heat up the chipset, and double up on the video card. Nice. And guess what? The AMD BTX boards are no better. One design difference in it's favour is that the PCI-E slot is futher away from the chipset by as much as 1-2 inches. However, it is still inline with the CPU exhaust, so the GPU cooler will still suck up and blow that hot air all over the video card. No thankyou. __________________ >><< Last edited by Tipstaff; Jan 21, 2006 at 04:51 AM.

Jan 21, 2006, 03:01 AM	#2
EcPercy DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Iraq Posts: 1,529 Rep Power: 49	Does anyone know if using the BTX format requires a royalty fee to be paid to Intel?