New Video Card with Old AGP

[scain826]

Hey everyone.

First off: I was just recently introduced to anandtech, and have to say, these forums are fantastic. So thank you.

On to the business. I'm very interested in getting a new video card ... probably the 6800 GT. My current motherboard is the Asus A7V333, which uses AGP 4x (if I'm not mistaken).

Am I going to drop $400 on a new video card, only to be limited by my two-year-old motherboard? Or am I in OK shape?

(The rest of my system is fairly strong. Athlon XP 3000, a GB of RAM, etc.)

Thanks again!

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Hardly. 8X vs 4X is a cosmetic increase at most. You should be just fine.

Welcome to the forums BTW. Who's responsible for the death of your free time?

- M4H

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Hardly. 8X vs 4X is a cosmetic increase at most. You should be just fine.

Welcome to the forums BTW. Who's responsible for the death of your free time?

- M4H

Why dont you get a 6800LE or NU and then get a new M/B. That would do a world of good.

-Kevin

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Hardly. 8X vs 4X is a cosmetic increase at most. You should be just fine.

Welcome to the forums BTW. Who's responsible for the death of your free time?

- M4H

Why dont you get a 6800LE or NU and then get a new M/B. That would do a world of good.

-Kevin

I disagree. As RussianSensation pointed out here, the video card is typically the biggest bottleneck in the system. His chip will be fine for now - better if he OC's it - but the GT will give better gains than an NU+nF2.

If he does go for a core system upgrade, I'd suggest an A64 anyhow.

- M4H

 

[Gamingphreek]

True... But that M/B is a VIA chipset... no DUal Channel (not big difference on AXP) it is slower than the KT400 and 600. Nforce 2 would be a lot better. I suggest the LE because it is just a downclocked GT.

I see your point though.

-Kevin

 

[Marsumane]

Ull be fine w/ agp

 

[gobucks]

I'm pretty sure that 4X is not too big a deal. In fact, Intel's Tumwater chipset runs SLI with a PCIe x4 and x16 slot, and there is no noticeable difference than the gains using SLI with dual x8 slots. Since PCIe x4 is about the same as AGP4X (at least downstream), I don't imagine it will be the problem.

 

[imported_Harbinger]

It wont be a problem whatsoever. Like M4H said agp 8x is cosmetc/marketing stuff. no need to worry. the greatest bottlenecks in todays gpus are cpus and not agp4x.