Is the BTX Formfactor dead?

[Capper]

A little over two years ago, Intel began touting its new BTX formfactor, which changed the layout of computer systems to optimize cooling .
Recently, more and more people have been asking whats up with BTX. Maximum PC had a nice write up about it last month (either Dec or Jan issue) where they interviewed several industry type folks who all agree.....BTX is going away.
It seems that with Intel's retiring the Pentium 4, and its thermo-nuclear core, there really is no need for a major formfactor shift........ couple that with AMD's refusal thus far to switch over, and it seems that no one is buying into BTX.
Does this mean its totally dead? No, but things don't look good

Cool Tech Zone
Here is an article from Cool Tech Zone saying that it may take up to 5 years for BTX to catch on (sorry, but 5 years in the tech sector is an eternity, on top of that, others feel that desktop PCs as we know them will be gone by then)

[gvblake22]

Good read, thanks Capper! :D

Just goes to show that even a giant like Intel still can't completely control the computer world on thier own.

[Tyreal]

I didn't really like BTX. Then again, i don't really like most big changes that require me to change my whole system.

PCI-E is differnent though....

[gvblake22]

Well you better get ready for DDR2 also, because it's coming whether you like it or not! :shock:

[Tyreal]

:( when is Amd gonna respin the a64 core to support it? im planning to make the switch to pci-e soon and i don't want to have to buy a brand new mobo and cpu a few months or even a year after.

[gvblake22]

AMD's next generation platform will support only DDR2 and will be called socket AM2. There will be a nice range of processors from the Sempron line, to single and dual core high end processors. I'm not completely sure on the release date, but I would expect to see it start to emerge in the second half of 2006.

[Tyreal]

not bad. i should have enough dough by then. How expensive do you estimate their midrange cpu to be?

[gvblake22]

I would expect them to come into the retail market about similar to what the current processors (Venice and San Diego) started at. So a "Venice 3200 level" processor (which will probably be bottom of the line) will possibly be about $200.

Here is a nice roadmap that someone puts together on their own time:
http://www.c627627.com/

[Tyreal]

cool. seems about right. that would be about 1.8 or 2 ghz. Gotta see how well they o/c though. :D

and ddr2 ram will be alot cheaper by then.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

and ddr2 ram will be alot cheaper by then.

Yeah, that is the key. DDR2 is going to have to keep going through technology and manufacturing improvements in order for the whole switch over to be desireable and woth while. DDR2 has definately come a long way though and the cost has come down a lot. Now if we can get more lower latency, high speed products available it will make things much more interesting!

I know I'm excited to see what AMD can do with all that bandwidth!!! :D