PCI x and x16

[section-8]

You guys have any good links that describe the difference? Whats the best pci x/x16 card out there? IF there is another thread on here, point me to it...
I might be buidling a new system...this is the motherboard i plan on using...
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16813130487

[asch]

That board should be fine. PCI is the standard slots for expansion cards. PCI Express is the new new "faster" slot that has been introduced. You will sometimes see PCI x1 or PCI x16... you want the PCI x16.

[drew_952]

Section, see if you can find a board that has a built-in hardware firewall. nVidia calls it 'Active Armor.' One less thing that has to be running in the system tray.

HardOCP has a nice review on this board.
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzE0

*edit* it also does not appear to support NCQ (native command queuing)

[verbose]

Unless you're planning on running dual uber-fast SLI-capable graphics cards, with SLI-capable games, don't buy an SLI board. That's extra money you're spending on a feature you won't use.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358

[T_BEAR]

I am thinking about buying a X800 pro. I only have an agp slot though. Is it worth my money to upgrade my videocard even though its agp? Basically is there a huge difference in fps between agp and pci x16?

[asch]

Originally Posted by verbose

Unless you're planning on running dual uber-fast SLI-capable graphics cards, with SLI-capable games, don't buy an SLI board. That's extra money you're spending on a feature you won't use.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358

Just because you may not want to run two SLI capable video cards now, does not mean that you shouldn't get a SLI mobo. One benefit of a SLI mobo is that you can purchase one video card now and add a second later. That can increase your video performance without having to dish out the extra $$ for that super video card.

If you never plan to use SLI, then don't go that route... but don't short yourself by not getting it and then having to upgrade your mobo later or spend the extra money on that more expensive video card.

[verbose]

Originally Posted by T_BEAR

I am thinking about buying a X800 pro. I only have an agp slot though. Is it worth my money to upgrade my videocard even though its agp? Basically is there a huge difference in fps between agp and pci x16?

No real difference. Video cards don't even use all that AGP can currently offer. PCI express is planning for the future, and for SLI setups. I just bought an ATI all-inwonder X800 XT (That's XT folks, yes!) for a decent price:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...4&loc=101&sp=1

AGP. I don't have a PCI express board, and since my current mobo back in September, I'm not ready to replace it yet.

[Twisted_Firestarter]

Originally Posted by verbose

No real difference. Video cards don't even use all that AGP can currently offer. PCI express is planning for the future, and for SLI setups.

LOL, I would beg to differ. The charts found here show that PCI-E cards are considerably faster than their AGP bretheren and the charts found here show that SLI cards are absurdly faster than anything on the market today.

So, yes T_BEAR there is a huge difference in FPS.

And I have a feeling that battlefield2 will eat up all the GPU power you can throw at it.

[Overlag]

err PCI-E and AGP cards of the same type are the exact same speed twisted.....

SLI is a good thing with PCI-E though, BUT you'd need a FX55 to feed them, and to be fair SLI is only really useful if you use 1600x1200

[verbose]

Twisted, I'm not sure what your first link is supposed to demonstrate, but it makes no comparison between the same card in an AGP bus version and a PCI-E version. Here's a link to a recent article trying to isolate the difference the bus can make. The results show that the bus currently makes little difference, and the separations shown could easily be due to subtleties in the card designs, motherboard designs, or other factors. Having more cards compared, and using multiple motherboards would be a better storyteller.

Your second link does show two SLI setups leading the way in a synthetic benchmark, but remember that that's a DUAL card setup beating single cards. Anandtech has an article showing that the normal pci-e version of a card, and dual-SLI setup of the same model currently perform virtually identically, unless the SLI drivers support that application. If support is there, then you get a nice performance boost from having that second card. Not double the speed, but a respectable boost.

To reiterate:

1) Buying an AGP version of a card will not hurt you vs. the PCI-E version. If you want to upgrade your motherboard and CPU anyways, PCI-E is the future. If you have a

2) SLI-capable motherboards and video cards offer absolutely nothing unless you run two of that video card. SLI is currently for the most hardcore of the enthusiasts only. I predict that for the gamer, you'll likely find it a better bang-for-buck ratio in the future to upgrade to the next generation of card than to add a second card to your SLI setup.