Whatever happened to BTX?

[AmberClad]

Well? Wasn't this supposed to be the future a couple of years ago? Why did the whole idea get scrapped?

 

[Peter]

Because it solved a problem only Intel had, and even they didn't have it anymore when they scrapped the P4 and went with the Core. The problem was excessive CPU heat.

 

[heyheybooboo]

The problem was a bunch of overpaid anally-retentive engineers designed a platform with such incredibly tight tolerances that any deviation to any of their multitude of design standards rendered the platform effectively useless.

At first I thought the design standards were developed in a vaccum, but then it occurred to me that it was intentional and was simply a way to manufacture obsolescence with no upgrade path (unless you call going out and buying a new computer an upgrade path).

edit: No offense to engineers! 🙂

 

[NXIL]

Hi Amber,

you are probably too young to remember IBM trying to impose the new "MCA, microchannel architecture" on the young PC market--didn't work, and all the other PC manufacturers went with ISA/PCI--same sort of thing with BTX, which as someone above noted, was created to try to cool down P4 chips better.

Also, it was designed to kneecap AMD:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2...for_small_form_factor/

BTX was bad for AMD because it sat the CPU too far away from the memory slots, because the northbridge is integrated onto the Athlon 64's die. This was a cunning move by Intel to force AMD into an awkward position. Luckily, in the interest of consumer choice and competition BTX fell flat on its face.

The article notes that AMD does the equivalent to Intel with its new DTX form factor.

And, from

http://www.hardwarecentral.com...ts/article.php/3655091

A significant portion of the BTX spec concerns airflow and cooling, with an eye toward increased CPU thermals and power requirements. But a funny thing happened on the way to BTX dominance: the Core 2 Duo. This energy-efficient running powerhouse broke all of Intel's previous rules, making a 180-degree turn from the ever-ascending power and cooling demands of the Pentium 4 and Pentium D processors.

At that point, the raison d'être for BTX simply evaporated. AMD also ignored the BTX proposal, marking another setback for Intel's red-headed stepchild. While some larger vendors such as Dell and Gateway did sign up to produce BTX systems, the initiative was pretty much for naught, and Intel announced late last year that future BTX development has been canned. Here's one of the largest, most powerful technology companies in the world actively promoting a new form factor, and it's DOA after a few years.

Sort of like Rambus DRAM.....no thanks.

HTH

NXIL

 

[AmberClad]

Thanks for the info NXIL, and the others who replied. I think that pretty much answers my question. I still see some BTX HSFs sometimes at eTailers, so it's still clinging to life somehow. Replacement parts for the OEMs that actually got on board with it briefly, I guess?

 

[aussiestilgar]

At least uATX is going stronger these days. I wonder if something smaller will be developed, and be adopted widely enough to use. A slimline HTPC would be nice...

 

[NXIL]

AMD is working on that with the DTX form factor:

http://www.theinquirer.net/en/...s-amd-dtx-format-board

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/AMD_DTX_Sneak_Peek/

http://www.anandtech.com/casec...us/showdoc.aspx?i=3131

Anand says:

If DTX does become successful then we will run into another problem: further fragmentation of PC form factors. BTX won't go away given its prevalence in the OEM market today, it will simply be augmented by ATX and DTX, which is something motherboard makers wouldn't be particularly eager to entertain.

However, it looks like BTX is, in fact, going away.....

If DTX acheives low noise/low power/low cost, sort of a like a Mac Mini, but less expensive and more customizable, it could do well.

NXIL

 

[dajeepster]

actually, Dell is using the BTX form factor in the XPS line of desktops. I bought my little sister a 530 also and i'm pretty sure it was a BTX form factor.

 

[lopri]

Weren't there even BTX version CPUs from Intel?

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: NXIL

Also, it was designed to kneecap AMD:

That may or may not have been intentional. But yes, certainly BTX was not friendly to AMD's integrated memory controller-based architecture. A handful of BTX motherboards for AMD processors were produced, but they had fairly odd layouts.

Originally posted by: dajeepster
actually, Dell is using the BTX form factor in the XPS line of desktops. I bought my little sister a 530 also and i'm pretty sure it was a BTX form factor.

Dell adopted BTX in earnest, and AFAIK still uses it in most or all of their desktops.

Originally posted by: lopri
Weren't there even BTX version CPUs from Intel?

Only the heatsink is actually different, but yes.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: dajeepster
actually, Dell is using the BTX form factor in the XPS line of desktops. I bought my little sister a 530 also and i'm pretty sure it was a BTX form factor.

the 530/1 and up are micro ATX.

the dimension 520s were the last BTX consumer dells.


i think some precision and optiplex are still BTX.



as for the AMD thing, there were gateways and dells with amd chipset and BTX so I dont buy that.

I had a BTX desktop for a while and i'd say it was a good design. The only thing really wrong with it was that none of the case manufactureres wanted to support it and retool and then when core 2 came out there really was no reason to go to it.

it had a lot of good features, like the air duct cpu in front, the pci-e cards facing the other way for better heat dissipation, easier access to memory slots etc.


the modding community also hated BTX because the shape of heatsinks was pretty much unchangeable so there was no real support from the hobbyist companies either.

 

[dajeepster]

Originally posted by: hans007

Originally posted by: dajeepster
actually, Dell is using the BTX form factor in the XPS line of desktops. I bought my little sister a 530 also and i'm pretty sure it was a BTX form factor.

the 530/1 and up are micro ATX.

the dimension 520s were the last BTX consumer dells.


i think some precision and optiplex are still BTX.

the new XPS 420s is a BTX and so are the XPS 720s... I just got a 420... it's based off the X38 chipset and is a BTX form factor motherboard. it's listed on thier website. it's under the specifications for each one.

 

[hans007]

ah i guess the xps is still using that case. even intel isnt selling BTX boards anymore, but I wouldn't doubt dell will drop BTX eventually also. the compaq deskpro business desktops still use it and I think a few shuttle boxes use a wierd picoBTX variant with 2 slots.