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FIRST LOOK: AMD DTX small form factor PC

TBA

Manufacturer: AMD

User Rating: Our users rate this 1 out of 10

By | 09 November 07

The form factor of a PC is rarely something that you need to think about, until you try to purchase a PC that's smaller than a mid-tower. That's when tough decisions need to be made. Do you go for a pre-built system from Shuttle or Dell, which, for the most part, use proprietary designs, or do you try and build one using an off-the-shelf micro-ATX motherboard and the smallest case you can find? AMD's DTX may be the answer.

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The front of the concept AMD DTX PC also featured USB and memory card facilities, as well as a cooling vent, with more vents located at the rear and top panel above the CPU fan. Our system also had a notebook-style DVD drive, due to the case being only 10cm thick, but it employed a 3.5in, 7200rpm, desktop hard drive so as not to sacrifice performance.

The system itself only had two fans. One was located in the tiny power supply, which was rated at 250W, and the other was located on the CPU. Coupled with the motherboard's fan management capability, it ran extremely quietly, which is an advantage for office workers and for users who want a lounge-dwelling media centre PC.

For the moment, AMD DTX is still in its infancy and vendors are yet to release any products based on this standard. However, motherboards should become available in early 2008, from the likes of Albatron, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI, while cases, ranging from tiny desktop units to elegant home-theatre components, should become available from Cooler Master, SilverStone and Thermaltake, to name a few.

AMD DTX Expert Verdict »

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Reviewed by DieSse on Thursday 15 November 2007

1 star rating

Duration of ownership: 0 days

Strengths:
Does it have any?

Weaknesses:
It's smaller but nothing else.

Overall Evaluation:
Pointless - It's not low cost - it's not silent, it's not green - It's not one thing or another. Look at the Zonbox and others similar for a new type of small system This is just a regular system, with new form factors (who needs 'em) built into a small box. Waste of effort.

MODEL REVIEWED: 350x350x100mm
full DTX form factor, memory card slots, ExpressCard slot, notebook-size DVD burner
250W
1 3.5in Internal Expansion Bays
Power Supply Included
1 CPU fan

AMD's new open-standard small form factor looks promising. It should hopefully re-ignite interest in the small PC market, as long as motherboard and case vendors take advantage of the smaller motherboard size and implement cool features such as ExpressCard slots.

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