I have a 4x AGP should I get an 8X card????

[dbol]

I have ab Abit TH7II MB. Should I get a new video card or not? I know the new 9800 or 9700 will be faster but how much I am losing not having 8X AGP is it worth getting these cards or not? Thanks.

 

[Schadenfroh]

4x versus 8x agp MAKES NO DIFFERANCE, PERFORMANCE IS THE SAME WHETHER ITS IN 4X or 8X mode. The 9800 non pro is what i reccomend

 

[VIAN]

Don't listen to this guy. They are testing this based on games that are already out. Duh its not gonna make a difference. It will in newer games. This is just like when 4x was released it didn't make a difference, but everybody's using them. And it secretly makes graphics better cause you can't really tell unless you get the same graphics card in a lower AGP setting and play a game that supports the highest AGP.

If you don't support 4XAGP and aren't will to upgrade your mobo or processor, then don't bother with AGP 8x. If you have something lower than 2GHZ, you geforce 3 is fine.

 

[modedepe]

NO agp 8x is not neccessary EVEN FOR NEW GAMES. Hell, even 2x vs 4x doesn't make much of a difference. Why you ask? Because the amount of bandwidth each provide is not an issue. The issue is the amount of latency that an agp slot has, which is the same with each. Once you start having to transfer data through the agp slot cause your video card is out of ram, you're going to have a big performance hit, no matter whether you're running at 2x, 4x, or 8x.

 

[Torghn]

Originally posted by: VIAN
Don't listen to this guy. They are testing this based on games that are already out. Duh its not gonna make a difference. It will in newer games. This is just like when 4x was released it didn't make a difference, but everybody's using them. And it secretly makes graphics better cause you can't really tell unless you get the same graphics card in a lower AGP setting and play a game that supports the highest AGP. If you don't support 4XAGP and aren't will to upgrade your mobo or processor, then don't bother with AGP 8x. If you have something lower than 2GHZ, you geforce 3 is fine.

Don't listen to this guy, he doesn't have a clue!

 

[TheAudit]

The bandwidth difference between AGP 4X and AGP 8X sounds good but its not going to make a bit of difference in any game today. There is no way that you would see any bit of change. But it is a great marketing ploy, right? What would you rather have? An AGP 4X card or an AGP 8X card? Shoot! Give me the 8X, that HAS to be better, right??

Perhaps in the future bandwidth would become an issue but if it does then the cards we are using are going to be holding us back just as much as having "only" an AGP 4X card.

It's not a big deal now.

There are other slots coming down in the near future anyway.

 

[VIAN]

I agree with modedepe and TheAudit. There is a major performance hit when accessing RAM through AGP no matter what, but we should support newer comings because it is an improvement none-the-less and may make way for further improvements.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Yes, by all means! A Radeon 9200 SE with AGP 8X crushes a GeForce 4 Ti4600 with it's piddly AGP 4X. [end of sarcasm]

Actually, AGP 8X makes no difference whatsoever. Base your purchase on the card model, not the AGP speed. A Geforce 4 Ti4600 (or any GeForce 4 Ti card) are faster than most of the low-end AGP 8X cards today, including the Radeon 9200, the GeForce FX 5200 and the GF FX 5600 with no AA/AF on .

Schadenfroh is completely correct (below)

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
4x versus 8x agp MAKES NO DIFFERANCE, PERFORMANCE IS THE SAME WHETHER ITS IN 4X or 8X mode. The 9800 non pro is what i reccomend

 

[VIAN]

I agree with choosing the card model over the agp speed, but if it is the same price between card models then get the higher agp speed.

and i post this again

If you don't support 4XAGP and aren't willing to upgrade your mobo or processor, then don't bother with AGP 8x. If you have something lower than 2GHZ, you geforce 3 is fine.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
4x versus 8x agp MAKES NO DIFFERANCE, PERFORMANCE IS THE SAME WHETHER ITS IN 4X or 8X mode. The 9800 non pro is what i reccomend

What he said

 

[dbol]

Sounds like I should stick with the GF3 for now thanks for your input guys. I was just wondering if I should up grade when DOOM 3 or HL 2 come out.

 

[VIAN]

When D3 & HL2 comes out. will probably be next year. Don't buy a new computer until they are released. I would suggest at that point to have an athlon64 3200+(good balanced performance) with 1GB PC3200(good enough for a while) with 9800XT(may be a little weak compared to new gen but will suffice at max 50fps).

 

[lifeguard1999]

Hmmmmm....... If AGP 4X vs 8X is essentially the same, then what about the PCI-Express cards coming out in 2Q next year?
My opinion would be that the answer is still the same. There is going to be very little difference. Of course, you will still have to upgrade since the motherboards will stop supporting AGP sometime next year.

 

[VIAN]

Isn't that weird now. AGP8X offers double the bandwidth of 4X which offers double the bandwidth of 2X which offers.... Now what about PCI-E, Well, It's supposed to offer like 10 times (guessing, but I know its high) the bandwidth of AGP8X. What difference will it make - I don't know. See the problem is that people review these specification when they get released and never review them again, so if there is an advantage to 4X over 2X who knows cause noone never tested it out later in the game when it actually might have mattered.

 

[JasonandBecky]

If you have something lower than 2GHZ, you geforce 3 is fine.

No.

 

[Torghn]

Originally posted by: VIAN
Isn't that weird now. AGP8X offers double the bandwidth of 4X which offers double the bandwidth of 2X which offers.... Now what about PCI-E, Well, It's supposed to offer like 10 times (guessing, but I know its high) the bandwidth of AGP8X. What difference will it make - I don't know. See the problem is that people review these specification when they get released and never review them again, so if there is an advantage to 4X over 2X who knows cause noone never tested it out later in the game when it actually might have mattered.

Yes they have tested them 4x helps a little, 8x doesn't help at all.

 

[Nebor]

The advantage of PCI express isn't JUST it's greater bandwidth. YOu can build a tunnel as wide as you like, but if cars only drive 20mph through it, it doesn't really help you get them from home to work any faster. PCI express should reduce latency, those little guys will be doin' 90 through the tunnel!

 

[Torghn]

The real advantage of PCI express will be to your high end cards, such as raid and gigabit Ethernet. But since PCI-E is better than AGP there is no point in not upgrading it too.

 

[dbol]

Has anyone done a testing with say a 0700pro on and old MB with APG 4x and then a newer MB with 8x agp with close to the same CPU?

 

[VIAN]

Hey Torghn, but have they tested the it with games that take advantage of 8X. They would need a geforce4 ti 4200 4x and 8x versions. Take a game that supports 8x and lets see how they perform. Who has done that.

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: VIAN
Hey Torghn, but have they tested the it with games that take advantage of 8X. They would need a geforce4 ti 4200 4x and 8x versions. Take a game that supports 8x and lets see how they perform. Who has done that.

It isn't the game that supports agp8x, it's the card and mobo. No game actually supports or has some sort of enhancements if you have 8x. I have seen benchmarks done on this a while back, and there was very little gain. Also, somebody on here recently ran their 3dmark with a fx5900 in 8x and then switched to 4x and only lost around 300 points I believe.

 

[TheAudit]

Here is an article about the differences between 4X and 8X.

4X AGP vs 8X AGP

They didn't find much of a performance boost. Not enough to worry about.

 

[dbol]

Audit thanks a lot.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

right now it's nominal, for games like half life2 (If ever actually gets released), and doom3 you should see about a 10-20% boost on the same card as they will have more requirments that will actually use the extra bandwidth of the 8x AGP buss. If all you play is quake3 and the sims, then I'd recomend going with a radeon 8500LE or a 9000pro, you'll get plenty of eye candy at a good price. and upgrade to a faster card as you need to. It makes no sense to buy a 9700 pro if you don't have games that would need it's speed, when you can save your $200 and upgrade something else(like mobo and proc).

 

[Mem]

Difference between 4x AGP and 8x AGP is very small,more important if you`re going with a 9700 or 9800,you`ll need a CPU that`s decent (scales well) & that`ll give good performance with those video cards.

dbol what cpu do you`ve and your price range for your video card? We can give you some good suggestions .