BTX and PCI express

[Sturm]

Anyone know when this new form factor and interface will be coming into play?
Having read various articles, it would seem that the case is flipped giving the main panel for removing being the right side.

I'm looking at upgrading in the not to distant future, certainly a new case within weeks.
Don't really want to fork out for new kit, only for it be out of date/spec within the near future.

Nothing showing up at any stores yet so it could be a while coming yet.

 

[nut581]

dunno about the BTX form factor, but the PCI express technology is supposed to come out in a month or two .. but expect wide product support by christmas .. plus it'd be early revision, which more often than not, prone to problems (remember when USB 1 first came out? and then replaced by 1.1 pretty soon .. and now 2.0 is considered mature ..)

 

[bignig69]

PCI-Express and BTX will be coming out seperately. Look for PCI-Express to come out sooner than BTX, which will most likely hit shelves late summer, early winter. Remember that this will only be the FIRST BTX compatible boards, cases, etc. and most likely will be buggy. BTX is really just a better way for Intel to cool their insanely hot CPUs, though it is forcing an industry standard in case design and PSUs. That makes me sad . Anyway, I myself am waiting for at least socket 775 to come out and see where BTX is at that point. No sense in jumping in before BTX comes out if it will become a widely-accepted thing. As for PCI-Express, it seems that it will most definitely take over, so if you're looking for long-term upgradability, you should wait. The choice is yours.

 

[unforgiven]

PCI-Express boards will still have some PCI slots for a few years to come (just like ISA when PCI came in) so at least not all will need to be upgraded.

 

[Droban]

PCI cards will work with PCI-express mobos because they are backwards compatible, correct?

 

[Sturm]

PCI-Express boards will still have some PCI slots for a few years to come (just like ISA when PCI came in) so at least not all will need to be upgraded.

Yeah but the AGP slot will be gone.

 

[pby5cat]

Physicly speaking, a PCI card will not fit in a PCI Express slot.

PCI Express will be out in the second half the this year, most likely this summer, along with intel socket775. BTX start to show up in 2005, though motherboard makers don't like the change in format, and AMD has shown no interest in BTX and hints at sticking with ATX.

btw VIA's PT980 for the P4 and K8t890 will have support for AGP, PCI Express x16(graphics), PCI Express x1, and PCI. also DDR1 and DDR2. a good crossover chipset.

 

[a c i d.f l y]

Physicly speaking, a PCI card will not fit in a PCI Express slot.

PCI Express will be out in the second half the this year, most likely this summer, along with intel socket775. BTX start to show up in 2005, though motherboard makers don't like the change in format, and AMD has shown no interest in BTX and hints at sticking with ATX.

btw VIA's PT980 for the P4 and K8t890 will have support for AGP, PCI Express x16(graphics), PCI Express x1, and PCI. also DDR1 and DDR2. a good crossover chipset.

I don't know about anyone else, but that just sounds like a horribly nasty looking motherboard... The only two things in a system that need true bandwidth are the video card, and possibly a harddrive controller. Sound has become so mundane.. there has hardly been any improvement over the past couple years.. and it isn't a bandwidth intensive subject.

They need two slots for those two things (video and controller), and a BS slot for whatever other useless cards come out. (capture cards, nics, sound, blah blah blah..). Everything on the motherboard has just become so standard and easy to do.

Eventually we're all heading further and further into the space-age... where the system has this ultrasharp screen that is just the screen and maybe your keyboard and mouse hooked up via this terabyte bandwidth wireless connection........ can a brother dream?

-Frank

 

[BLOB]

will pci-express motherboards fit normal atx cases? o.0

 

[MiNdWaRp]

I hope so :O

 

[a c i d.f l y]

No, BTX motherboards will not fit in regular ATX cases. The slots and processor will be reversed.

New cases for everyone... unless you can figure out a way to mod your case... heh.

-Frank

 

[Big B]

will pci-express motherboards fit normal atx cases? o.0

If the board with PCIe is ATX, then yes. If it's BTX, then nope.

 

[kct2]

Remember that PCI-Express will require a new (or modified) PSU, whether in the ATX or BTX form factor.

 

[zip22]

i have never been around during a huge shift like this. would it be better to wait since we are within a year? im always looking at new things to buy, but should i wait till some of the newer mobos have been out? i dont want to jump the gun and get a brand new pci express mobo that turns out to be crappy, but i also dont want to be upgrading my memory or mobo to the ATX standard, and then have a huge drop in the prices of all the older ATX stuff. what are your opinions?

 

[Big B]

I wouldn't wait too long. Yeah, BTW is coming out, but ATX won't just instantly disappear. Additionally, PCIe isn't a BTX-only feature. While I'm sure the AMD side of things will go BTX at some point, Intel's the only one really gunning it right now. The first BTX boards out should be using LGA775/Socket T---which I'm not all that crazy about (bent pins are bad).

 

[Voltron]

Are the Pci Express slots longer or shorter than the regular Pci's that are out now? I've seen some server boards with a Pci-X slot, this isnt Pci Express is it?



The Pci-X slots are the longer ones and regular Pci are the ones to the right.

 

[hafa]

Are the Pci Express slots longer or shorter than the regular Pci's that are out now? I've seen some server boards with a Pci-X slot, this isnt Pci Express is it?

No PCI-X and PCI express are different. PCI express will be longer than PCI, but shorter than PCI-X. PCI-X has been around for a while and should continue in the server segment for some time.

 

[a c i d.f l y]

PCI-X is the longer, 64bit version of regular PCI. (Kind of like the VESA slots back in the ISA days that made ISA slots 32 bit instead of 16bit).

PCI express will have two versions. One short version that has half-bandwidth for less intense cards, and the full version for video and controller cards. All 64bit, and huge bandwidth. The way it actually looks, it looks like a reversed PCI slot (stick the small connector towards the back, and the long piece towards the front instead of the other way around).

PCI express
(back of case) |_|____| (front of case)

Regular PCI
(back of case) |____|_| (front of case)

Non-existent backwards compatibility.

Make sense?

-Frank

 

[liquidtrance123]

i'm not going BTX for a long while, i hate form factor changes

 

[a c i d.f l y]

i'm not going BTX for a long while, i hate form factor changes

There's a usefulness in going from ATX to BTX. If there wasn't, they wouldn't have completely re-organized things. Kind of like when AT went to ATX. God, did I ever hate AT.... anyone remember having to turn off your computer manually? F' that.

It'll be interesting though, having all the cards in the top of the system... puts a lot of weight higherup, but it also puts the cpu's noisy fan below them... less noise.

I'm waiting...

-Frank