Comparison of the form factors for motherboards ATX, µATX (micro-ATX), DTX, mini-ITX and mini-DTX

The DTX form factor is a variation of ATX specification[1] designed especially for small form factor PCs (especially for HTPCs) with dimensions of 8 × 9.6 inches (203 × 244 mm).[2] An industry standard intended to enable interchangeability for systems similar to Shuttle's original "SFF" designs,[3] AMD announced its development on January 10, 2007. AMD stated that the DTX form factor is an open standard, and is backward compatible with ATX form factor cases. They also present a shorter variant named Mini-DTX which is smaller in PCB size of 8 × 6.7 inches (203 × 170 mm).[2]

The specification provides for up to 2 expansion slots on a DTX motherboard, in the same position as the top two slots on an ATX or microATX board. The spec also provides for optional ExpressCard expansion slots on DTX motherboards.

Comparison

DTX is a shorter version of ATX and micro-ATX, and Mini-DTX is a slightly longer version of Mini-ITX. Mini-iTX can have only one expansion slot, whereas Mini-DTX has the same width and can have two expansion slots.

Specification Year Dimensions of motherboard Expansion slots
ATX 1995 12 × 9.6 in (305 × 244 mm) 7
microATX 1997 9.6 × 9.6 in (244 × 244 mm) 4
DTX 2007 8 × 9.6 in (203 × 244 mm) 2
mini-DTX 8 × 6.7 in (203 × 170 mm) 2
mini-ITX 2001 6.7 × 6.7 in (170 × 170 mm) 1

Benefits

There are several benefits DTX provides to reduce production costs.[4]

  • DTX will allow up to four motherboards – for low cost – per standard printed circuit board manufacturing panel sizes
  • Mini-DTX 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

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ATX Specification is inch-based". Archived from the original on 2008-11-08. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
  2. 1 2 "DailyTech report". Archived from the original on 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
  3. ↑ Early SFF Description
  4. ↑ AMD Press Release


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