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Intel's BTX Form Factor Launched Today
Hack Jandy writes "It's been almost three years in the making, but Intel's BTX form factor finally has some retail products to show for itself. Anandtech has some extremely thorough benchmarks of the new technology and proves that BTX definitely shows an improvement over ATX for the same sized chassis. Anand claims BTX as a design win, "It's obvious why Intel waited for Monday morning to lift their BTX platform - they have a winner on their hands.""
it may be a non starter judging by this article http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/6809
"I've spoken with several sources here on the show floor from motherboard and enclosure makers who have all said the same thing: the BTX form factor is a non-starter on AMD systems. The problem seems to be the relative CPU and DIMM placement; the standard requires placement of DIMM sockets too far from the processor. With the Athlon 64's integrated memory controller, following the BTX spec becomes very difficult. Of course, BTX is Intel's spec, but it is also a proposed industry standard. Motherboard and enclosure makers are worrying out loud about the inventory control and design problems that may be caused by the extended coexistence of the ATX and BTX standards."
Business Voyeur
Gateway's 7200 line uses BTX.
Judging by this image I'd say no. Looks like the same assortment of little twistyfellas.
For what its worth, the BTX board demoed on anandtech was a microBTX form factor -- which might explain the lack of expansion ports.
Grabbed from Koan Computers: BTX - What is it BTX is the new computer case form factor that is replacing the aging ATX form factor. Some highlights of BTX are: BTX stands for Balanced Technology eXtended. BTX is being developed by Intel but will be supported across all platforms. BTX will initially have 3 sizes - BTX, microBTX and picoBTX. BTX is designed from the ground up with noise reduction in mind. PS2 connectors, Serial Ports, and Parallel Ports - all replaced by USB. PCI Express slots instead of AGP, PCI, or ISA. 20pin power supply will remain compatible with ATX, with the addition of 3.3v connectors for Serial ATA.
AnimeNEXT anime convention
It seems that you can almost get something similar for AMD platforms, and existing Intel ones as well. Some new cases flip the mobo upside down in the case and put it at the top, while moving the power supply to the bottom. Obviously not quite as good as a whole re-design like BTX but it seems to help quite a bit.
see: Lian Li PC-V1000 (I think Anand may have a review too)
We'll probably have to wait for CTX now to fix it, if at all.
Actually, nope. BTX seems to fix this, the article said this:
We also notice that the front panel connections (power/reset buttons, power/HDD activity lights) are also grouped into a single plug to make things easier.
RTFA says yes, they did. The mishmash of led, powerswitch etc cables has been combined into a single plug.
This is not a sig.
It's not really a problem to have an AMD cpu with integrated memory controller in the BTX form factor. The AMD cpu would be located more centered to the board and memory slots while being rotated 45 degrees from the Intel cpu orientation.
The AMD design would still meet all the mechanical requirements of the BTX form factor.
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur