The traditional ATX standard places the GPU perpendicular to the motherboard in order to cater to a multitude of expansion cards that were needed in the past for a computer to operate. Some of these expansion cards include but are not limited to graphics cards, audio cards, internal modems, network cards, storage cards, and more. However, as technology evolved over the years, the need for all these expansion cards have decreased. Out of the all the existing expansion cards, one that still remains in a majority of computers today are graphics cards. As the need for multiple expansion cards decreased, the amount of PCI Express connections have greatly reduced on standard ATX motherboards.
As ATX motherboards become more simplified, we see a heightened popularity in smaller form factor motherboards that offer a lot less PCI Express connections. To cater to smaller form factor motherboards, many chassis manufacturers design smaller chassis. One drawback to making smaller chassis is it leaves a lot less room for cooling. This is because the main limiting factor of making a compact system is ATX's orthogonal orientation of the motherboard and graphics card.
The one solution for ATX's motherboard and graphics card orthogonal orientation has always been to use a PCI Express riser cable. These riser cables extend a motherboard's PCI Express connection by connecting a male PCI Express connector to a female one by using a flexible ribbon-style cable. However, due to its use of extension cables and extra connections, the riser cable adds more points of failure. These riser cards also hit a limiting factor with how much bandwidth they can carry. As PCI Express is continuously evolves, riser cables remain stagnant at Gen 4. With Gen 5 PCI Express connections being widely available on motherboards and Gen 5 graphics cards being released, these riser cables stand no chance.
After thoroughly looking at what the ATX standard gives, and what us PC enthusiasts want, ZYTRA is proud to introduce a groundbreaking innovation that redefines the current ATX standard. Behold, the ZTX form factor: a motherboard form factor enabling the parallel placement of the graphics card with the motherboard.
The ZTX standard boasts a wide set mechanical, thermal, and computing benefits:
The mechanical benefits include superior compacity and superior mechanical resilience. The ZTX standard provides users with a parallel motherboard and graphics card orientation allowing us to achieve a reduced volume for compactness. By having a parallel motherboard and graphics card orientation, there is little to no stress added onto the PCI Express connector of a motherboard, making the ZTX standard highly resilient.
The thermal benefits include an unobstructed airflow and offers users the ability to use simpler loop configurations. Because of the parallel motherboard and graphics card orientation, air is not being blocked when flowing from the bottom of the chassis to the top as seen in ATX builds. The coplanar style also allows users to use shorter tubes when connecting their hardware to one another within a closed-loop build.
The main computing benefit of the ZTX standard is the proven improvements in performance compared to an ATX system utilizing a riser cable as they are only offered with Gen 4 PCI Express. The lengths of these riser cables and the additional male and female connectors add more points of failure as opposed to a direct connection to a motherboard's PCI Express connector.