Form Factors

This is a topic on which i haven't seen much discussion, so i thought to start one. As a few days ago THG tested some great coolers for thermal solutions based on ATX form factors (assume if not). But what about the BTX form factor? According to formfactors.org

"The BTX form factor specification gives developers options to balance thermal management, acoustics, system performance, and size in the system form factors and stylish designs that are desired in today's products. The BTX form factor is a clear break from previous ATX form factor layouts and was developed with emerging technologies such as Serial ATA, USB 2.0, and PCI Express*.

Thermal improvements come primarily from taking advantage of in-line airflow. The BTX defined in-line airflow layout allows many of the main board components (i.e.: processor, chipset, and graphics controller) to utilize the same primary fan airflow, thereby reducing the need for, and noise from, additional system fans. In some cases this also allows fewer and/or less expensive heat sinks to be used when compared to ATX solutions. The system level acoustics are also improved by the reduced air turbulence within the in-line airflow system. The BTX layout supports better component placement for back panel I/O controllers – important as the signal speed of external devices continues to increase. In addition to smaller than microATX system sizes, BTX was designed to scale up to tower size systems using the same core layout by increasing the number of system
slots included."

So the question is "Is BTX form factor the future of motherboards and casing designs?". I personally think that there should be an article up at THG about the form factors, also it would be nice to see a comparison between ATX and BTX to see which one is better.

IIRC it was an ill-fated attempt to replace ATX. Despite its many advantages it was cost-prohibitve for many consumers to adopt a new case and mobo for better cooling that could be achieved by merely springing for a better cooler.

I still don't get how flipping everything around results in better airflow anyway.