What Is Balanced Technology Extended (BTX)?

The future is here. That's right. The future has arrived in a new motherboard standard called Balanced Technology Extended (BTX). It's going to be your best friend and your worst enemy—and it's going to change everything. BTX is designed to decrease power needs and reduce heat. Furthermore, it employs enhanced technology that includes the serial advanced technology attachment (ATA), universal serial bus (USB) 2. 0 and peripheral component interconnect (PCI) express. It is standardized by Intel and is not backward compatible with the ATX. One of the most frustrating things about being a PC user is that you can't always trust your PC to be stable, especially when working on a deadline. There are many reasons for this: Maybe your system isn't powerful enough, or you've got too many programs running simultaneously. But sometimes the problem is even simpler: Your computer's motherboard is too old. It's no secret that the BTX form factor was a short-lived standard, but we're not going to give it up without a fight. We all know what happened: Gateway Inc. , MPC Corporation, and Dell Inc. introduced the BTX form factor with high hopes for success. But then Apple came along and ruined everything with their proprietary version of the BTX form factor that was never compliant with the authentic standard. And then, Intel canceled development, primarily due to the lack of backward compatibility and support from other vendors who were busy making their proprietary versions of the ATX form factor instead of sticking with what worked. But here's the thing: we still believe in this idea! We think it's time for us all to come together and push for a standard that works for everyone—not just Apple users who want yet another proprietary format that locks them into buying more expensive computers from only one vendor every time they upgrade their hardware (and therefore lock you into buying more expensive software).