Sunday, April 15, 2007

Dell goes BTX

Dell is todays subject. An aquaintence of mine recently was hired by Dell as a service tech. During his training and orientation he learned some interesting things he has shared. It seems Dell has decided to change over from ATX form factor to BTX form factor. My reply was:

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING???

For those that are not familiar with it, BTX is a 'new' form factor introduced by Intel about three years ago. It professed to solve a number of heat problems inherent with the ATX standard. The computer enthusiast community (custom builders and hobbiests) responded to this introduction with a huge yawn. BTX repositions everything on the motherboard for what Intel considers 'proper' cooling. First, they mounted the board on the left side of the case, so that the graphics card would be 'right side up' allowing heat to flow away from the GPU, instead of into the board - good idea, actually. Next they placed the CPU directly in front of the intake fan with a shroud around it, and the Chipset is placed directly behind it. So the air flows over the CPU, then the Chipset, and then out to the rest of the components. Sounds like a good idea, as long as you don't think about it any further than that.

So whats wrong with this idea?

Simple thermodynamics, thats what. For maximum cooling effect you need to maximize the temperature differential between the air stream and the object being cooled. When cooling multiple objects with a single air stream you need to consider the amount of heat coming off each item and cool from smallest to largest - because the smaller items (like the chipset) have less effect on the air stream, resulting in a larger average temperature differential overall. If you place the largest object first (like the CPU) you end up with a much hotter air stream at the end of your cooling path, lessening the cooling effect as you progress. Sure, the CPU is going to be cooler, but everything else is going to be warmer. With todays high performance chipsets, that can be a real problem.

The enthusiast community, led by overclockers, recognized this flaw immediately - hence the lack of interest in BTX over the last two years. Apparently Intel has a lot invested in this idea, so rather than letting it die a quiet death, (like the Itanium) they decided to foist it on the market by convincing (or maybe bullying) Dell into converting over. And Dell apparently has bought the idea (or capitulated).

Lets hope the other big manufacturers don't follow suit.

Forbidden PC

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Vista Sags, Flexgo Soars

You're probably thinking the same thing I did when I saw that article in an EETimes magazine from last summer - Flexgo???? What the heck is that??? Is this some new OS MicroSoft is working on that no one knows about yet? Well, yes, sort of.

At a recent Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, a 'new' system concept (FlexGo) for emerging markets from MicroSoft stole the show, while Vista looked like a snoozer. Vista offers a roster of technologically impressive features such as improved security architecture that has earned the OS CableLabs sanctioned access to premium digital cable TV content, and a new photo format that MS claims will replace the JPEG - despite the fact that it has virtually no industry backing so far. However, enthusiasm was far higher for Microsoft's FlexGo concept which borrows heavily from the cell phone industries' business model.

Several years back Microsoft floated the idea of a subscription based Operating System and the public basically gave it a big thumbs down. We in the US and Europe, want to own ALL of our PC, not just the hardware. Well, now they are trying it again from a different angle. Market research shows that in developing countries only 6% of people own PC's but 27% own cell phones - that fact, along with some ethnographic research, has led MS to the concept of subsidizing PC hardware in emerging markets, the way cell phones are subsidized today. FlexGo systems may sell for as little as $250, although they may have a value of $600 or more (These numbers make me wonder - have these guys priced a low cost Dell/Emachines/Gateway system lately?) and the cost difference would be made up in payments over time for internet access. Key to this effort is security, to make sure users don't hack the system to get free Internet access, or remove the components to make a quick profit by selling the system for parts. The FlexGo system would also allow service providers send a Web Services message that would cripple the systems functionality if the user didn't pay his bill.

MicroSoft kicked off a 1,000 system trial in Brazil last year and trials are planned for China, Eastern Europe, India, Mexico, Russia and Vietnam. "FlexGo will be a growth catalyst. We expect every major OEM will be building these PCs for emerging markets," said Will Poole, VP of Client systems for MicroSoft.

I really, REALLY don't like this idea at all. If this idea takes off in emerging markets, MS will certainly pressure Dell and the others to implement FlexGo here in the US and Western Europe. It will be the death knell for the independant PC builder, and the whole aftermarket PC industry.

Forbidden Computer Services