Wave Issue 2000 1/3/00 Article 2-01

***Intel Announces ATX Riser Card Specification For Lower-Cost,
Low-Profile System Designs
(December 13)

According to DACafe, Intel Corporation has announced a board-
level specification to enable the design of low-profile, cost-
effective system solutions based on the ATX form factor family of
desktop boards. The ATX Riser Card V1.0 specification is intended
to meet the need in business and consumer markets for space-
constrained, lower-cost systems, using commonly available form
factor building blocks.

The specification describes a mechanism to reuse existing ATX
family (ATX, microATX, and FlexATX) designs to create low-profile
desktop PCs for point-of-sale, business client, and consumer
applications. The ATX Riser Card specification allows design of a
passive or active riser card design consisting of the addition of
a 2 x 11 riser connector and using the existing Slot 6 PCI
connector on ATX, microATX, and FlexATX motherboards. The
specification allows either a two-slot or three-slot riser,
though custom designs with more slots are possible. The
specification also defines the maximum height for the riser,
mechanical attach points, electrical requirements, and allows a
variable length riser card.

The specification allows horizontal placement of any full-height,
PCI-compliant I/O card and enables ATX family motherboards to
scale from low profile to tower designs. Systems based on this
riser can now be shorter than four inches, possibly saving more
than two inches in overall system height when compared to non-
riser designs. The simple riser design offers a more cost-
effective means to achieve low-profile system designs than
current low-profile alternatives. Taking advantage of the ATX
family of desktop boards, this strategy results in a reduction in
costs associated with the entire system design and potentially
lower system costs for the end user, as well as an improved
aesthetic value.

The ATX Riser Card V1.0 specification was developed in concert
with PC suppliers and is being adopted by a range of
manufacturers including Hewlett-Packard Company.

The ATX Riser Card V1.0 specification is available at the
following Web site: