[PLUG] RE: what is form factor?

[Sushrut Kulkarni]

Dear Member,

Form factor refers to the physical size and shape (according to outside
dimensions) of a computer device. 
It is most often used to describe the size of circuit boards, especially
the motherboard and expansion cards.
The ATX form factor is a replacement for the older AT and baby AT form
factors. Invented by Intel in 1995.

The ATX motherboard rotates the orientation of the board 90 degrees than
older AT type . 
This allows for a more efficient design, with disk drive cable
connectors closer to the drive bays and the CPU closer to the power
supply and cooling fan. 

All Intel motherboards currently produced are ATX motherboards. .
The ATX form factor is the form factor of choice for both commercial
mass-production systems and for home PC builders. 
It offers Better power supply connector  and "Soft Power" support .

Upcoming Standard is BTX : 

ATX has been around for almost a decade now, and is starting to show its
age.
The BTX standard takes care of the two major contributors to raising the
case temperature, the processor and graphic card.
The processor’s heat sink is placed in an air duct which draws cold air
from outside of the case directly in. So the airflow is not hampered by
any obstructions. 

This air duct location and size adhere to strict specifications.
All other components such as the processor socket, power connector,
memory and expansion slots 
have a set location on the motherboard, so a BTX case and motherboard
are matched exactly. 

Because of this efficient use of space, BTX cases can be smaller than
ATX cases.
They make optimum use of the available space, but, due to the optimized
airflow, run cooler than ATX. 

Whoosh . . . 

Sushrut Kulkarni (sushrutkulkarni at vsnl.net)


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