The crew over at The Tech Report has discovered BTX may not work on AMDs Athlon 64 processors.
I've spoken with several sources here on the show floor from motherboard and enclosure makers who have all said the same thing: the BTX form factor is a non-starter on AMD systems. The problem seems to be the relative CPU and DIMM placement; the standard requires placement of DIMM sockets too far from the processor. With the Athlon 64's integrated memory controller, following the BTX spec becomes very difficult. Of course, BTX is Intel's spec, but it is also a proposed industry standard. Motherboard and enclosure makers are worrying out loud about the inventory control and design problems that may be caused by the extended coexistence of the ATX and BTX standards.
News source: The Tech Report
I've spoken with several sources here on the show floor from motherboard and enclosure makers who have all said the same thing: the BTX form factor is a non-starter on AMD systems. The problem seems to be the relative CPU and DIMM placement; the standard requires placement of DIMM sockets too far from the processor. With the Athlon 64's integrated memory controller, following the BTX spec becomes very difficult. Of course, BTX is Intel's spec, but it is also a proposed industry standard. Motherboard and enclosure makers are worrying out loud about the inventory control and design problems that may be caused by the extended coexistence of the ATX and BTX standards.
News source: The Tech Report
What's New in This Release:
· [+] Mail Chat (Tools|Mail Chat)
· [+] Chat Virtual folders for watching conversation threads or waiting for replies to specific messages
· [+] "Utilities|Create a Quick Template" menu command in the message editor to quickly create a QT based on the selected text
· [+] (#0001869) New Window Split Mode - Full-width Message List
· [+] Automatic filtering on IMAP
· [+] Customizable hotkeys for next/prev folder tab (Edit shortcuts/MainMenu/Specials)
· [+] It is now possible to re-filter only selected messages
· [+] Message Editor (using MicroEd) has new status - AutoFormat, AutoWrap, JustifyOnWrap, AutoSpell
· [+] Possibility to insert a line divider in HTML editor
· [+] URLs of incoming messages are added to the log
· [+] Possibility to open URLs by double click from the account's log viewer
· [+] Smartpad.ini: [Options] Taskbar = 1 - shows smartpad in taskbar
· [+] Support of ImagesPDSF.MSL file for translating smileys (see the Beta distribution file)
· [+] VF message DblClk - opens VF folder view; Ctrl+DblClk - Follows message; Shift+DblClk - opens folder view
· [+] Viewing account's log window is no longer modal
·
· [ * ] (#0002992) UTF-7/8 decoding is now much faster
· [ * ] It is now possible to log manual refiltering
· [ * ] Search options in the Accont Log View pop-up menu
· [ * ] The current folder was removed from the Unread tab when new mail was received
· [-] (#0001633) Character set detection bug in PGP/MIME messages
· [-] (#0001742) Unread messages were loaded and treated as read during refiltering process
· [-] (#0002259) Embedded image files were multiplicated at each [auto] save
· [-] (#0002653) Account tree nodes' states were not stored correctly
· [-] (#0002673) Selected shortcuts for Send/Queue in the message editor weren't remembered
· [-] (#0002716) Access Violation error while search in a deleted folder
· [-] (#0002764) The "l" LDAP attribute was not processed
· [-] (#0002922) Deleted messages counters were not updated in the Folder Maintenance Centre
· [-] (#0002951) Access Violation error when selecting folders for search in message reminder
· [-] (#0002955) Generic view mode setting is not saved, previous setting is used after restart
· [-] (#0002972) Account tree expand, when you open the account properties
· [-] (#0002997) Split mode - full width msg list - msg preview toggle one way
· [-] (#0003005) Virtual Folders think they're Normal Folders is VF name and Directory are not the same
· [-] (#0003026) Option "Edit | Select all" doesn't work in HTML editor, Ctrl+A works
· [-] (#0003027) MessageFinder does not "Follow"
· [-] (#0003038) Using "IMAP Folder management" deletes account level VFs
· [-] IMAP folder management could fail to see some folders on some IMAP servers
· [-] No duplicates of message in chat folders
· [-] Some other minor fixes
I wonder what btx stands for...
ATX - Advanced Technology eXtended
BTX - Balanced Technology eXtended
Why fix what isn't broke.
They know AMD is ahead in the race (and their CPUs don't run as hot). This year we haven't seen anything revolutionary from Intel. They are megahertz whores, they do anything to raise clock frequency (even if that means sacrificing IPC). Of course, this is a marketing ploy for consumers who should know better!
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