Form factor of mother board
Motherboard Form Factors
MicroATX
The microATX
form factor was developed as a natural evolution of the ATX form factor to
address new market trends and PC technologies. While offering the same benefits
of the ATX form factor specification, the microATX form factor improves upon
the previous specification in several key areas. Current trends in the industry
indicate that users require a lower‐cost solution for their PC needs. Without
sacrificing the benefits of ATX, this form factor addresses the cost
requirement by reducing the size of the motherboard. The smaller motherboard is
made possible by reducing the number of I/O slots supported on the board. The
overall effect of these size changes reduces the costs associated with the
entire system design. The expected effect of these reductions is to lower the
total system cost to the end user.
<p
Through careful
designing of a microATX motherboard, an OEM can capitalize on the benefits of a
reduction in total system costs. These cost savings come from a reduced‐output
power supply (see the separate document SFX Power Supply Design Guide), reduced
chassis costs, and minimal redesign of existing ATX compliant chassis for
backward‐compatibility.
<p
microATX benefits also include those
found with the current ATX form factor: more I/O space at the rear and reduced
emissions from using integrated I/O connectors.
.</p>
FlexATX
FlexATX offers
the opportunity for system developers to create many new
personal computer designs.
.
BTX
Balanced Technology
Extended (BTX) Form Factor
The BTX form factor
specification gives developers options to balance thermal management,
acoustics, system performance, and size in the system form factors and stylish
designs that are desired in today's products. The BTX form factor is a clear
break from previous ATX form factor layouts and was developed with emerging
technologies such as Serial ATA, USB 2.0, and PCI Express*.
Thermal improvements
come primarily from taking advantage of in‐line airflow. The BTX defined
in‐line airflow layout allows many of the main board components (i.e.:
processor, chipset, and graphics controller) to utilize the same primary fan
airflow, thereby reducing the need for, and 136 noise from, additional system
fans. In some cases this also allows fewer and/or less expensive heat sinks to
be used when compared to ATX solutions. The system level acoustics are also
improved by the reduced air turbulence within the in‐line airflow system. The
BTX layout supports better component placement for back panel I/O controllers –
important as the signal speed of external devices continues to increase. In
addition to smaller than microATX system sizes, BTX was designed to scale up to
tower size systems using the same core layout by increasing the number of
system slots included.
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