After looking a lot at various computer cases and the differences between the short-lived-and-now-generally-defunct BTX design, I've come to rather like it compared with the standard ATX design. BTX was designed by Intel, and many surmise it's because of the uncommonly hot temperatures generated by Intel processors of the day (mid-2000s). The BTX design emphasizes air flow across the processor. And interestingly, because the design is "reversed" from the standard ATX layout, the GPU on the graphics card is on the "top" of the card, and right along the main channel of air flowing through the case. With an ATX layout, the GPU side of the card points down and away from air flow.
I have two mini-towers at home at the moment: our Dell Dimension E521 (which is a BTX design) and an eMachines that I got free from work from someone who turned it in for recycling (which is an ATX design). I was originally going to keep the eMachines and build it for myself, but have decided to refurbish it and donate it to our church. So I was messing around with it last night and I'm temporarily using the add-in graphics card out of our Dell, which is a low-end nVidia 8400GS card with what I'd call a moderately-sized heat sink for this level of graphics card and a small muffin fan.
Our Dell has an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ processor and the eMachines has an AMD Athlon 64 4000 processor.
What I thought was interesting is the HWmonitor application is reporting higher temperatures in the eMachines computer, both for the processor and for the GPU. In the eMachines unit, the CPU has the stock heat sink and stock fan on top of it, providing direct cooling for the heat sink. The case design did not have a separate case fan, but I added a 100mm case fan that I found in the parts bin at work.
At idle, the eMachines CPU was running about 35-37*C and the GPU was running about 50-51*C.
This compares with the Dell, which runs the CPU at around 32-34*C at idle and the GPU at around 44-46*C at idle.
It's pretty clear to me that the BTX design, or at least this Dell case, provides better air flow, and better cooling, for equipment with modest cooling systems (like standard case fans and muffin fans). It appears that Intel was successful in getting more air to the processor (and graphics card). There are pros and cons to both case designs of course, but I've come to rather like the BTX layout. I think it's too bad it didn't catch on better than it did. It seems like AMD had a strong enough hold in the market at the time as to not be forced to change to a different standard, and at the same time, processors themselves became much more thermally efficient, largely negating the benefits of BTX.
I have two mini-towers at home at the moment: our Dell Dimension E521 (which is a BTX design) and an eMachines that I got free from work from someone who turned it in for recycling (which is an ATX design). I was originally going to keep the eMachines and build it for myself, but have decided to refurbish it and donate it to our church. So I was messing around with it last night and I'm temporarily using the add-in graphics card out of our Dell, which is a low-end nVidia 8400GS card with what I'd call a moderately-sized heat sink for this level of graphics card and a small muffin fan.
Our Dell has an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ processor and the eMachines has an AMD Athlon 64 4000 processor.
What I thought was interesting is the HWmonitor application is reporting higher temperatures in the eMachines computer, both for the processor and for the GPU. In the eMachines unit, the CPU has the stock heat sink and stock fan on top of it, providing direct cooling for the heat sink. The case design did not have a separate case fan, but I added a 100mm case fan that I found in the parts bin at work.
At idle, the eMachines CPU was running about 35-37*C and the GPU was running about 50-51*C.
This compares with the Dell, which runs the CPU at around 32-34*C at idle and the GPU at around 44-46*C at idle.
It's pretty clear to me that the BTX design, or at least this Dell case, provides better air flow, and better cooling, for equipment with modest cooling systems (like standard case fans and muffin fans). It appears that Intel was successful in getting more air to the processor (and graphics card). There are pros and cons to both case designs of course, but I've come to rather like the BTX layout. I think it's too bad it didn't catch on better than it did. It seems like AMD had a strong enough hold in the market at the time as to not be forced to change to a different standard, and at the same time, processors themselves became much more thermally efficient, largely negating the benefits of BTX.
