There are many types of chassis. The current market is more common AT, ATX, Micro ATX and the latest BTX. The full name of the AT chassis should be BaBy AT, which is mainly applied to early machines that can only support the installation of AT motherboards. The ATX chassis is currently the most common chassis and supports most types of motherboards. The Micro ATX chassis is built on the basis of the ATX chassis. In order to further save desktop space, it is smaller than the ATX chassis. Each type of chassis can only be installed with the type of motherboard it supports. Generally, it cannot be mixed, and the power supply is also different. Therefore, everyone must pay attention when purchasing.
The newly introduced BTX is the abbreviation of Balanced Technology Extended. It is a new specification for desktop computing platforms defined and guided by Intel. The BTX architecture, which supports the new form factor of next-generation computer system designs, enables the industry to achieve the best balance between thermal management, system size and shape, and noise.
BTX new architecture features: support Low-profile, that is, narrow board design, the system structure will be more compact; for heat and air movement, the motherboard circuit layout has been optimized design; motherboard installation will be more simple, mechanical properties will also Optimized design. Basically, BTX architecture is divided into three types, namely standard BTX, Micro BTX and Pico BTX.
From the point of view of the size of the whole series of BTX platform motherboard is no smaller than the ATX motherboard, so the development of BTX is not a smaller desktop computer, but the more flexible circuit wiring and modular component area, is BTX's The focus is. The most obvious difference between the BTX chassis and the ATX chassis is that it has changed the side panel that was previously only open on the left side to the right side. Other I/O interfaces have also been changed to the opposite position.
The interior of the BTX chassis is quite different from the ATX. The most important design focus of the BTX chassis is the improvement in heat dissipation. The location of the CPU, graphics card, and memory is completely different from that of the ATX architecture. The position of the CPU is completely Moved to the front panel of the chassis, rather than the original rear position, this is to more effectively use the cooling device to enhance the thermal performance of the various devices within the chassis. For this reason, the equipment of BTX framework will be disposed in linear, and design mainly in order to reduce the impedance factor of the cooling air current; Through inhaling the cooling air flow from the front of the chassis, and along the device of the linear arrangement inside, finally in The back of the chassis flows out. This design is not only more conducive to improving the internal heat dissipation performance, but it can also reduce the fan speed of the cooling device and ensure a low noise environment inside the chassis.
In addition to the location change, in the installation of the mainboard, the BTX specification has also been re-regulation, the most important of which is that BTX has an optional SRM (Support and Retention Module) support protection module, which is between the bottom of the chassis and the motherboard A buffer zone, usually made of low-carbon steel with high strength, resists strong external forces and is not easily bent, thus effectively preventing the deformation of the motherboard.
In addition, the chassis has ultra-thin, half-height, 3/4 high, full height and vertical, horizontal chassis points. The 3/4 high and full height enclosures have three or more 5.25-inch drive bays and two 3.5-inch floppy bays. The ultra-thin chassis are mainly AT chassis with only a 3.5-inch floppy slot and two 5.25-inch drive bays. Half-height chassis are mainly Micro ATX and Micro BTX chassis, it has 2-3 5.25-inch drive slots. In the choice of the best vertical ATX and BTX chassis to prevail, because of its large space, more installation slots, scalability, ventilation is also good, fully able to meet the needs of most users.