AGP vs PCIe Single Card Configuration

[AndysRevenge]

Seeing as SLI still has some maturing to do, I have chosen to opt for the single card soloution in my new pc. My question is this.. AGP vs PCIe for single card configurations? What are the pro's and con's of each? From what I have read it looks like a speed vs reliability thing?

 

[Matthias99]

Should be no difference in speed (PCIe x16 is faster than 8X AGP, but 8X AGP is already overkill for today's graphics cards). First-gen PCIe boards may be less reliable than more mature AGP-based chipsets -- but that's pretty much inevitable with any new product as complex as a motherboard. They'll certainly be more expensive, at least for a while -- especially the NForce4 SLI motherboards.

 

[LTC8K6]

They are equal in terms of speed and reliability.

PCI-E will obviously keep you good for the future, though.

 

[AndysRevenge]

Thanks to both of you for your fast and knowledgeable reply's. Seeing as there is no speed increase for PCIe, I think ill stick with the reliability of AGP. Im not looking for an upgrade route with this pc, ill build another one when that time comes.

 

[REMF]

i just spent £1100 on a box with an AGP MSI K8N Neo2, only because i know it to be a good board, when an nForce4 board gets a similarly good repuation (hopefully january) i will spend a similar amount on a second PC.

 

[Pete]

No difference in speed for a generation or three, but PCIe 6600GTs are cheaper than the AGP versions by $30-50, and all future video card GPUs will be PCIe-native. So the future is PCIe. If you're aiming for a 6600GT, and the PCIe GPU savings covers the higher cost of a PCIe MB, I say go with PCIe.

But if you'll upgrade again anyway, nothing wrong with AGP for now.

 

[AndysRevenge]

Good advice pete, my thoughts exactly. I am planning to build one before january, and another before march. I figure ill stick with the reliable s754 and AGP video for this one. Next one I'll most likely be interested in SLI so PCIe will be a must.

 

[housecat]

sli has maturing to do?

nvidia did it.

that means it will work pretty damn good first time out. all the reviews say it works fine for the most part.

considering how monumental the task was, for NV to have it passing all the review site benchmarks is a great accomplishment.

never go with old technology, get PCIe. if nothing else, it can be put into a SLI board once you feel its matured.

 

[wb182]

Originally posted by: AndysRevenge
Good advice pete, my thoughts exactly. I am planning to build one before january, and another before march. I figure ill stick with the reliable s754 and AGP video for this one. Next one I'll most likely be interested in SLI so PCIe will be a must.

that's what I just did today. bought a dfi lan party mobo with a socket 754 atholon 64 3400+ and a 6600GT agp.

Just got tired of waiting for the nforce4 ultras, and i figured that when they finally *do* appear, they'll still be overpriced for a decent while.


Total cost for mobo+processor+video card = $558 shipped in 2 days from Zipzoomfly

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: housecat
sli has maturing to do?

nvidia did it.

that means it will work pretty damn good first time out. all the reviews say it works fine for the most part.

considering how monumental the task was, for NV to have it passing all the review site benchmarks is a great accomplishment.

Yes, SLI, like any first generation technology has some maturing to do. Over the next year their drivers will only get better, plus the motherboards that support SLI will actually be availiable to the market in quantity, which they are not presently.

never go with old technology, get PCIe. if nothing else, it can be put into a SLI board once you feel its matured.

According to that logic, we should all be running Intel DDR2 based systems.


It's definately better to go with newer technology if possible, I'd probably recommend an Intel buyer to get a socket 775 setup over a socket 478 one these days, but when the new technology is impossible to find or is way more money for no performance improvement, sometimes it's better to wait it out.

Remember socket 423 and Rambus RAM? It was a dead-end technology that people in-the-know (ie. people who read sites like Anandtech) knew was a stopgap technology before Socket 478. But unknowledgeable buyers who may have thought they were getting the "latest and greatest" wasted tons of extra money on (slower or marginally faster) P4 1.3 and 1.4 GHz systems with Rambus RAM when they were first launched, when those buyers could have gotten similarly performing 1 GHz and 1.1 GHz Pentium 3 and AMD Athon systems, respectively, for much less.