When will the BTX form factor and PCI-Express be available to the public? I plan on building myself a new rig, but I don't want to have to be stuck with an ATX board when i know that BTX will be released sometime in the future. does anyone have at least a vague idea about when they will available?
BTX will start showing up later this year. However, ATX isn't simply going to drop off the map instantly. PCI express is going to appear with the next round of new chipsets, however, Via is offering their PT890 Pentium 4 chipset that features both AGP and PCIe. Intel and SiS's P4 chipset will be PCIe-only. Intel's new chipsets will support DDR and DDR2, as the latter's production is needing to ramp up. BTX I really would not worry as much about. PCIe is more of a major issue, as some people do not like to use Via chipsets. Current technology won't just immediately disappear, so you can still put together a nice box. However, by this time next year, I don't think I'll be advising people to go to an ATX board anymore. I believe mid-year is when PCIe is going to be available on retail motherboards, whereas BTX probably won't be seen in large numbers until late this year/early next.
For this year, you don't have to worry about that. Ati even announced that all of their cards built this year will be offered in both PCI express and AGP.
