READ: Here Comes BTX: Should You Care?

[TechZ]

This week Intel begins in earnest its push to establish what it sees as one of the PC industry's next big things: BTX. Balanced Technology Extended replaces today's aging ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) motherboard and chassis specification, and Intel says it will lead to cooler, quieter, and more efficient PCs of all sizes.

Intel has been promoting its BTX specification for some time now, and a handful of PC vendors have started shipping BTX-based PCs. This week, the chip giant is rolling out its first two retail BTX motherboards. The company expects partners such as AOpen to begin shipping new BTX cases in the coming weeks (a BTX board won't fit in one of today's standard ATX cases).

Intel's BTX motherboards come in two flavors: Digital Home (model BOXD915GMHLK) and Digital Office (model BOXD915GMHL). Based on Intel's 915G chip set, both boards include the same core features, such as integrated graphics and PCI Express support. The Digital Home board will include advanced audio options and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support; it will sell for about $138 to $148 at retail. The Digital Office board includes gigabit ethernet and RAID support; it will sell for about $120 to $130 at retail.

View: Full Story (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118533,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp)
News source: PC World (http://www.pcworld.com/)

[thorian]

Ehh not really all hyped up about it. I have been wating a year or so for serial ATA to catch on before i switched. it still isnt main stream so ask me again in 2-3 years. Remember the hype that surrounded BlueTooth it was going to revolutionize everthing and make champainge fall from the heavens. It was just a extremely short range (6ft or less) cable replace ment. or how about that RAMBUS memory that was needed for the first gen P4's sure it was fast but it was also expensive and that "standard" Died quicker then BETAmax.

[confus-ed]

If I have any 'complaint' about the Techz News Channel its that you offer no ed-itorial :rolleyes: :D , but as I just made that pun I suppose its over to me ;) ..

BTX specifications have been flying about for a year or so now & basically it comes down to a revised layout of motherboards to improve airflow, if you know how motherboards are laid out now then this picture will paint a thousand words :thumbs: ..

http://www.pcworld.com/news/graphics/118533-c_110904_btxboardb.gif
('new' BTX layout - though I can think of boards already out & about in the server market that look strangely similar ;))

[WebHead]

Hmmm,... I'm not real impressed with it as far as what I can see here. (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/p4/btx/) Give it time though,.. in a few years once it becomes more standard it will be good.