MY mobo only supports upto AGP 4x

[pookie69]

I read someplace that gfx cards still don't fullt utilise the b/w offered by 8x AGP ports >>> but is my o/c'ed 9800SE being choked at all by my 4x AGP port? If i were to change to a mobo that supported 8x, should i expect to see any {significant} improvements?

Also, could someone please gimme numbers for the b/w's of 2x, 4x and 8x AGP ports as well as those of the new PCIe x8 and x16 slots please? If anyone happens to know numbers for the average/peak transfer rates of gfx cards, that would be interesting to compare with also.

Appreciated as always

 

[The Green Bean]

4x is enough for any 9800 let alone SE

 

[nick1985]

there is no difference between 4x and 8x. marketing at its best.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: nick1985
there is no difference between 4x and 8x. marketing at its best.

The funny thing is people are falling for the EXACT SAME THING with PCI-E :brokenheart:

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: nick1985
there is no difference between 4x and 8x. marketing at its best.

The funny thing is people are falling for the EXACT SAME THING with PCI-E :brokenheart:

It's about planning for the future. AGP was good, back when chipsets weren't as quick as they are now, and fast video RAM was very expensive. Using system RAM for textures was a good idea, as was having a dedicated graphics port. And now, though the textures are now stored in large caches of video RAM on the card, AGP is still useful in providing a fast path for video data. Granted, 4x vs 8x isn't as great an improvement as everyone wanted. Same goes for PCI-E - where graphics throughput is concerned. I see PCI-E mainly as a replacement of PCI, to give that a major boost. As far as I know, it also gives a new spec for increased power supply to videocards.

 

[Gamingphreek]

The only people who see improvements from going from 4x-8x or going from AGP-PCI-E will be the highend graphic designers. People who do massive data transfers, people who can use all 4.2gig/sec of AGP 8x.

-Kevin

 

[imported_Amuro]

AGP 4X vs. AGP 8X Pt. III

It seems that the more powerful/memory buffer a graphics card is/has, the less the increase in performance using the AGP 8x interface over AGP 4x will be. With a card like the Radeon 9700 Pro, the difference between AGP 4x and 8X performance is way less than 1%.

 

[SneakyStuff]

People are too quick to judge PCI-E, it does have benefits, because it's a completely new standard, whereas AGP 8x was the idea "Let's just double the AGP4x bandwidth that nobody's even using to its fullest anyway!" And it worked! I hear people all the time, at BB, or Compusa "Is this AGP 8x? Is this AGP8x compatable? "Does this comptuer have AGP8x for gaming?" Yes, the differences between AGP8x and 4x are negligable, but it's too early to tell about PCI-E.

 

[pookie69]

COOL - i was thinking it wouldnt make any significant difference - gd gd - so im ok with my 4x AGP port then

Thanks for the replies people.

 

[pookie69]

As far as I know, it also gives a new spec for increased power supply to videocards.

SO with PCIe gfx cards, you won't need to plug in power connectors from the PSU to the gfgx card?

 

[SneakyStuff]

WHO KNOWS! nobody really has their hands on a PCI-E board and gfx card yet sooooooo, its kinda up in the air.