AMD unveils DTX standard

Posted on Wednesday, January 10 2007 @ 14:06 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
AMD unveiled a new standard for small form factor PCs called DTX. The DTX standard will take advantage of the existing ATX infrastructure and benefits, including cost efficiency, system options and backward-compatibility, to allow for ground-breaking PC design. A review copy of the DTX specifications is planned to be made available by AMD in Q1 2007.

The DTX standard will be designed to embrace energy-efficient processors from AMD or other hardware vendors, and allow an optimally designed small form factor system to consume less power and generate less noise. When processor power consumption is reduced, system size and cooling costs can also go down. Energy efficient processors can also help extend the longevity of PCs, while offering consumer and business users a quiet, more pleasant experience in their offices or living rooms.

OEMs will also be able to enjoy the inherent cost benefits of standardization. With the DTX open standard specification, the potential exists for the small form factor market to reap the similar benefits to what the ATX standard has done for the desktop market in recent years.

DTX will be designed to provide improved motherboard layout standardization, while being sensitive to the needs of OEMs, ODMs, and component vendors. As the desktop market moves to lower thermal design power (TDP) processors and works to lower costs, an eye to balancing interchangeability of components with small form factor products becomes critical. In addition, DTX chassis vendors can help mitigate the financial risk associated with proprietary small form factor designs by offering DTX-standard products to the channel, in either component form or as bare-bones systems. The general DTX specification will only define a minimum set of parameters necessary for interoperability, freeing vendors to innovate.

DTX, which will allow up to four motherboards – for low cost – per standard printed circuit board manufacturing panel sizes; and Mini-DTX, which will allow up to six motherboards – for low cost – per standard printed circuit board manufacturing panel sizes; DTX motherboards can be manufactured in as few as four-layers of printed circuit board wiring for motherboard cost savings. By leveraging backward-compatibility with ATX infrastructure, vendors may gain a low-cost DTX product offering with little development expense.

The market pull for small form factors PCs is of particular interest in the small and medium business (SMB) and consumer markets that value the size advantage, power savings, and quiet nature of energy-efficient systems.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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