AMD Introduces The DTX Form Factor Author:  Jason Jacobs Date:  2007.10.22 Topic:  Motherboards Provider:  AMD Manufacturer:  AMD

DTX Specifications:

Currently DTX standards include:

• Two expansion slots (PCI or PCIe) plus one XpressCard slot planned
• Designed for lower wattage CPUs and currently defined for up to 65w TDP
• Designed to allow chassis vendors to sell products supporting both DTX and ITX
• 4-layer motherboard that can be backward-compatible with ATX chassis and can support mini-ITX
• Specifications will only define the mechanical aspects of the PC necessary for interoperability
• DTX will be defined by AMD, but open to all, supporting AMD64 processors, as well as competitive solutions

What is interesting to note here is that DTX seems to be merely a mechanical specification standard and while this may lead to a wider array of chassis it may also lead to problems with compatibility in terms of technology. What this also means is that you can look forward to your standard 24 pin Molex connector and 4 pin ATX 12v connectors as well as no changes to the type of memory. Indeed for all practical purposes the DTX form factor is simply a mini standard PC board. So as we said before the idea here is to make a PC smaller while still being able to utilize much of the same hardware available to standard PCs.

The DTX standard as set forth by AMD is also open to other vendors which translate into the eventual entrance of Intel into this form factor if market demand is high enough. With a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 65w we may even see mobile CPUs make their way into the DTX form factor.

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With the inclusion of two expansion slots and a planned XpressCard slot the DTX system has some degree of expandability. The PCIe and PCI slots are full size but you may be limited to half height cards depending upon the chassis design.

Conclusion:

DTX seems to be an excellent answer to a market need for smaller, more efficient, and cooler running PCs. AMD has rightfully realized that the critical factor to the sucess of DTX will be industry adoption, manufacturing, and ultimately availability of DTX hardware. To this end it is clear that AMD is doing everything in its power to gather support for DTX. They have left the standard open to all and made it a mechanical specification so that the they do not leave any manufacturers without access to DTX. We expect to see more availability of DTX based systems and motherboards by Q1 or Q2 of 2008 with the possibility of many systems being showcased at CES and Computex 2008.

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