Designs of the Motherboard
Form Factors are the design of the motherboard. It
is how the components of the main board are laid out, and especially what type
of case they fit into, and so what power supply they will be using.
ATX
ATX stands for Advanced Technology Extended. ATX
was designed by Intel to allow easier expansion, and a higher degree of compatibility
among component manufacturers, while still allowing the main components of a pc
integrated into the motherboard. It’s like the best of both integrated and non integrated
motherboards. There is specific design changes that have taken place over the years
in motherboards and since the ATX is one of the most recent, you can see that
the journey of motherboards has sometimes been drastic difficulties, including
where the expansion slots are in relationship to the processor. It used to be
that some motherboards couldn't have new components added to them, as there was
no room because of other parts of the board. The power supply connector for an
ATX board is a 20-pin, and can support soft power off.
Micro ATX
The Micro ATX Form Factor motherboard is much
smaller than ATX. The maximum motherboard size is 9.6" × 9.6". Micro
ATX uses a compact design, which is favored by pc manufacturers, who like to
focus on space saving pc's and designs for their customers. Typically their customers
are not pc enthusiast who prefer to get their hands dirty. This is the reason
and shift from a few years ago when a pc was an enormous tower, to the slim
line versions that you see now. Normally the board will have more USB peripheral
slots to allow external devices to be connected. There is also an even smaller
version of the Micro ATX which is called the flex atx. This is a motherboard at
the size of 9.6" × 7.5". Don't expect to be able to add a pumping hot
hardcore graphics card to motherboards like this.
BTX
The BTX Form Factor is the smoothest and quietist
of motherboard designs. It was designed to make sure that heat that is
generated from the components is not concentrated in one place, and the
motherboard can be kept cool by the primary airflow from the pc power supply.
NLX
NLX or New Low Profile Extended Form Factor was
the first effort of motherboard manufacturers at fitting slim line cases. The
way they done this was to add riser expansion slots, which meant that the
components would be parallel against the motherboard. This style was not
popular amongst consumer of manufacturers, and quickly became replaced. That’s
the reason you have probably never heard of it. However the concept may return
in the future, once the issues of heat and expansion are solved. It certainly
is a good way to compact components into a small amount of space.