AGP or PCI Express?

[andrew.brandon]

I am having a hard time deciding what slot to get with my board. I know that AGP is not as fast as PCI Epxress but it has been in use for a few years and seems to be at its peek of performance and card makers know how to get the max out ot it. PCI Express is much faster but it is also very new, which means it could be out of date in 6 months, like the older AGP slots were. what do you computer gurus think I should go with since I can't decide?

[HAZ-Matt]

Ok here is the story. If you are going to upgrade in the near future after this purchase, go with an AGP. However, If you are going to keep the system around for a while, PCIe will be the better choice as it will be more upgradable. Personally, I am waiting for the Socket 939 boards w/ PCIe to become available (I think the Asus A8N shipped today) for my upgrades. I'm looking at probably a Geforce 6600GT PCIe.

All of the current gen cards are cheaper on PCIe too.

[Loochy88]

If i were you I would definitely go with PCIExpress

[SirShaun]

PCIExpress is the faster of the two. Why go with the slow one?

[andrew.brandon]

good point hazmat, I am looking at the same setup as you with the 939 and the 6600-6800 GT. where can I find the board? any links? I want to order the case, board/processor, and another HDD this weekend, but I will use my FX 5200(PCI) card untill after christmas and then upgrade to a higher card. I have been leaning toward the PCI slot but I am just not sure manfactuars have gotten all they cay out of the card. I don't really want to get a new card in 12 months. But I think I will go ahead witht the PIC Express. If I can just get a link.

[andrew.brandon]

and if anyone can find one I would like one with the NVIDIA chipset. or are they out yet? I was just looking at tigerdirect and I can't find any 939 boards with PIC express

[L32Projekt]

I think the 939 boards with PCIe are going to use the nForce4 chipset (there are other chipsets out there, but are they even worth mentioning?) and it's not out yet. Try to have some patience on this and wait until the nForce4's hit the market and they aren't rare or hard to get, that way you don't get taken for a ride. Unless you like that sort of thing... :D LOL

[andrew.brandon]

lol any idea on the release date yet?

[C.O.Jones]

I have never quite understood this mentality with computers. Why do people always want the best (x) for their computers?

How long do you expect a computer to last? I myself build a new "box" approximately every 3 years. My Pentium 166 (jumped to a 200) lasted from summer 96 to winter 99. My Athlon 800 (still runnin - is being used a the work horse - e-mail, surfing, watching videos :D , etc... ). It was my main computer from Winter 99 - Winter 2002. Then came the Athlon 1800 (it's received 1 vid card upgrade, another 512 RAM, and been bumped up to a 2200). This I use for my games and any graphics. On each of these machines I spent about $1000 on the box.

What's the point of this long rambling crap? Why in the hell do you want to jump out there and buy the best (X) when you should sit back and think about it.

X = cutting edge technology
X = a staggering jump in price from (x-1)
X = risky technology (almost everyone on this board would say "No, don't buy the first year make on any new car. Wait a few years and let them work out the bugs", but these same people want to jump on new technology?

Way back in the day, just after graduation a friend of mine called me over to brag about his new computer. He had just paid cash for a Packard Bell 486 DX computer. About a year later a group of us were over at his house. He had just gone out and bought this killer game, maybe you've hear of it? "Wing commander III". Turns out it wouldn't work on the 486, it would only work on pentiums. $2500 on a "top-of-the-line" computer and he was up the same creek as if he had bought the $2000 one step down computer.

Since PCI Express is the best (x) at the moment, you should either hold off a few months and wait for newer/faster boards to come out (this will help drop the price on "old" PCI express boards) or you should get a good AGP board.

Remember, this isn't a long term thing. How long do you expect to keep this computer? Do you really think that you can sell it for anything worthwhile when you get a new computer?

Why buy X?

[chadder]

guys, you obviously dont read Tomshardware or anandtech, cause they have stated, and i know for a fact, that the bandwidth that pciexpress gives you wields NO real-time performance benefits. It is NOT any faster than AGP right now, but as cards rise in performance, a gap may eventually arise, but that wont be for a WHILE, so you are better off getting whatever really works out for your budget, be it pci or agp

[ABH]

Get AGP for now. For right now, there is no software that will benefit from PCI Express.

A good AGP card will serve fine for a long time to come.

[L32Projekt]

No benefits at the current time, but how long are they going to keep bringing out the "best" video cards on AGP? Something tells me they're going to dump AGP so they can force people to buy the newer PCIe standard. Yes, no current benefit, but you can avoid certain immediate obsolecense by getting a PCIe motherboard.


But don't listen to me, go on and be sorry at a later date... :D

[MrCoffee]

Originally posted by SirShaun:
PCIExpress is the faster of the two. Why go with the slow one?

because video cards that are out now do not take full advantage of the bandwidth AGP offers. so why pay more for a motherboard with PCIe when AGP is just fine.
and more so most of the cards that are out now 'for' PCIe are just reworked AGP. All they did was change the interface to fit into a PCIe slot.

I'd say it depends on what you have already as far as vid cards and money.

[ABH]

Originally posted by L32Projekt:
No benefits at the current time, but how long are they going to keep bringing out the "best" video cards on AGP? Something tells me they're going to dump AGP so they can force people to buy the newer PCIe standard. Yes, no current benefit, but you can avoid certain immediate obsolecense by getting a PCIe motherboard.


But don't listen to me, go on and be sorry at a later date... :D

You can still buy PCI vid cards. AGP was not the death knell that was predicted for them.

One does not avoid immediate obsolesence by getting a PCIe board. One avoids wasting money buying an immature technology that little software takes advantage of.

That's why I didn't go with a dual processor MB. No software I have takes advantage of it.

This is a good read: http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_031a.html

Far Cry benefits from it because of the DX9 shaders. But Il2FB, which is my favorite, does not.

[ December 11, 2004, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: ABH ]

[cboney2003]

My friend has a Radeon 9800 pro, 1 gig of DDR ram, and a 3.2 ghz processor and runs Half Life 2 on ALL full settings and the same with doom 3 without a hitch. Those are two of the MOST intensive games out graphics wise so there really isnt even a reason yet to shell out huge bucks for the newest cards, nothing requires as fast as they are yet. Go with a motherboard that takes AGP 8x and spend the difference in cash on more/faster RAM, it always helps. Even my Radeon 9800 (non-pro) and 512 of RDRAM (2.4 ghz processor) runs HL2 and doom 3 really well.