BTX was actually Intel's idea
Right. Dell was one of several who released BTX Form Factor systems. And while the new design was good, it just did not offer any significant improvements and so it was not well received by the manufacturing industries, or more significantly the consumers, big and small.
The problem is MUCH MUCH BIGGER than I suspect many realize.
First, you cannot simply change an entire motherboard layout and be done. The current ATX Form Factor standard dictates, among many other things, the exact location for where every motherboard mounting hole may be positioned. That means components cannot go there, or block access to those locations. It also means cases must support those same locations by ensuring case standoff mounting locations precisely align with motherboard mounting holes.
Expansion slots must precisely align in the case with the slots/sockets on the motherboard. Same with the rear panel I/O sections.
Power supply cable lengths are currently influenced by the expected location of various sockets.
It was a MASSIVE accomplishment just to get the AT, and later ATX Form Factor standard accepted and implemented across multiple industries way back in the day. It
ONLY worked back then because all those manufacturers had one common objective and a common enemy! They wanted to break the monopoly IBM had on the PC market. They wanted to build IBM PC "clones".
And note such an agreement was attempted to standardize form factors with laptops - but that failed! Why? Because makers had already created, and wanted to continue to do their own thing the way they were currently doing it. And no way did they want to change their entire design and manufacturing to their competitor's format.
So to make such drastic changes today for the PC would require a consensus on a MASSIVE scale. Not just every motherboard maker would have to agree to retool their entire
design and manufacturing machine to the new standards, so too would case makers and PSU makers and perhaps many peripheral makers too. Not going to happen.
Also, the GPUs should be turned with the fans upward, and the fans should pull hot air from the PCB upward, in order to naturally accelerate the heat dumping convection process.
Heat moves upwards. Hot air is lighter, cold air is heavier.
I don't agree with this. Yes, hot air rises. So
"IF" the graphics card is "passively" cooled (no fan, heatsink only), then it might make sense to turn the card over so the heat sink is facing up. But
these days and on, new builds that don't need a powerful graphics solution simply use integrated graphics. No GPU heatsink or fan required.
And again,
these days and on, most cards have and will have a fan or fans to negate the "heat rises" issue (
in a properly cooled case). The more power hungry, heat generating GPUs are often mounted on double and triple height cards with fans that resolve this issue simply by channeling the heated air directly out the back of the case. Issue solved.
It is then, again, up to the case and ultimately the computer builder/user to properly configure case cooling to ensure there is an ample supply of cool air flowing through the case to support GPU cooling too. And that is NOT hard -
AS LONG AS the builder/user does their homework when researching and doesn't try to cut corners or trim the budget in the wrong places when selecting their case for the build.
So a totally new form factor standard is not going to happen! There just isn't any big advantage or incentive for manufacturers or consumers. A properly designed case, and properly configured case cooling can effectively cool even the most power hungry, heat generating components now.
Sure, there may be a few exceptions here and there with a tiny number of extreme monster builds. But exceptions don't make the rule. "
Hardcore" gamers and "
extreme performance" enthusiasts need to remember they are but a small "niche" market in the grand scale of the entire "
PC" industry. Please note: I chose my words and emphasis very carefully there - read it again before you disagree. There are millions and millions of gamers out there, but most cannot be classified as hardcore or extreme performance enthusiasts. In fact, most gamers don't even game on "PCs". The majority game on mobile computers and consoles, not PCs.
Minor tweaks have and will continue to happen. We see it all the time with things like new versions of USB ports, or drive interfaces, power connections, etc. One such big change that did come about from the BTX proposal was PSU placement. In the past, all PSUs were placed at the top of the tower (right side of horizontal/desktop) cases. Today, many, if not most cases support bottom mounted PSUs. But even after that change, the "ATX" Form Factor standard remained the industry standard.
