Big difference between AGP 4x and 8x

[niwi7]

Have Ti4200 rite now on MB that only supports 4x

i have the top of the line (fgt the name) MSI N-FoRCE2 8x AGP Mobo and 2600+ 333fsb comin tomorow (rite now i got 1800+)

how much of a performance gain will i notice....i get around 9500 on 3dmark2001.....wut will i get after all this is installed?

also....forget all teh other stuff how big of a diff does agp 8x and 4x make

plz answer both ?s....thats gr8 thanks

 

[Dack76]

You won't notice much from the 4x to 8x. You will notice the difference with the new MB and processor obviosly. I had a Ti4200 and defaulted it to 4x from 8x and I only went down about 150-200 on 3dmark. No noticeable difference in games either. But of course the new motherboard and processor will be a nice upgrade. I got a around a 20% increase by just upgrading my MB from a generic DFI MB to the Asus A7N8x.

 

[Corporate Thug]

there is practically no difference between 4x and 8x

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: shady06
there is practically no difference between 4x and 8x

Thats what I was going to say.

If you really want to find a very detailed difference, its the latencies.

 

[nemesismk2]

There's a tiny difference, you will get 1 or 2fps difference if your lucky.

 

[JammingJay]

Another vote for minimal difference.

 

[ELopes580]

lol funny how people said the same thing about 2x and 4x back in '99-'00 (i think).... but we dont see ppl saying that they only need 2x. 8x will be useful as time goes on. but should ppl who have good system now get it, then of course not. for ppl like me who have no system or an oldie, then why not get 8x.

 

[Pete]

Have you tried benchmarking at both AGP 2x and AGP 4x? I'll bet you won't see more than a few percent difference there, either. Face it, if you're hitting AGP memory, you're going to be unplayably slow for the few moments you're swapping in textures no matter what AGP speed you're at. AGP just can't compete with on-card video memory.

 

[niwi7]

whoaaaaa wuts on card video memory?

 

[Odeen]

Originally posted by: niwi7
whoaaaaa wuts on card video memory?

It's memory that's attached to the actual video card. A Ti4200 has 64mb or 128mb of DDR memory.

Onboard video memory is typically MUCH faster than the memory in your system, and it's faster to access.

However, when you run out of video memory, the video card will try to store textures in the system memory, going over the AGP bus. The bandwidth of the bus itself is greater with AGP 8x than it is with 2x (naturally), but, since the system memory is slower, and is otherwise occupied with keeping your system running, it will be VERY VERY VERY SLOW.

The moral of the story is, if you're have to use AGP texturing, you're already chugging enough so that the potential bandwidth of the AGP bus doesn't matter.

 

[BFG10K]

Face it, if you're hitting AGP memory, you're going to be unplayably slow for the few moments you're swapping in textures no matter what AGP speed you're at. AGP just can't compete with on-card video memory.

Remember tbough, AGP isn't just used to transport texture data. Among other things it contains all of the pre-processed scene information from the CPU (such as vertices) that the GPU needs before it can start rendering the current frame.

The difference between AGP x2 and AGP x4 on a fast system is probably higher than you think although I agree that there's little difference between AGP x8 and AGP x4.

 

[ELopes580]

For those who are on AGP 4x and AGP 8x, i doubt you have it set to 2x mode.... reminds me of an infamous quote from Bill Gates "... 640K..." Though i dont know why they would spend R&D resources on something that will be replaced next year with PCI Express. oh well..... I'll either build an older 4x system since i cant afford to build new top of the line now... or just save up for a big system next year. Someone give me advice???