No AGP NForce4 boards..

[Proletariat]

I currently have an ATI X800 Pro AGP which I am not planning to upgrade for at least a year. I might upgrade my cpu/motherboard this summer when the dual-cores come out because I am currently running a:

Athlon XP mobile @ 2.2 Ghz
Albatron KX18D Pro2 motherboard
1 Gig PC3200 RAM

I DO NOT want to spend 400 dollars on another video card, so I was wondering if an NF3 Ultra would be that much of a performance hit from an NF4? Are there any major features I would be missing out on? Is it worth it to just upgrade the whole system - video card included???

 

[rgreen83]

Only difference that really matters between NF3 and NF4 is that NF4 is pci-express, so no NF4 boards will support agp. Dont worry about it though, stick with your agp card and get an NF3, you will notice no performance drop by not being on pci-e. Just upgrade to a pci-e board the next time you feel the need to upgrade your video card.

 

[Lonyo]

Yup, basically nForce4 = PCIe, nForce3 = AGP..
ALSO: The next gen graphics cards are supposed to be coming out in AGP as well, so you should be OK for a while.

ONE thing to think about: if you get a 939 nForce 3, will the offer support for dual core Athlon 64's, or is that only offered with nForce 4 chips?

 

[Andres3605]

and that nf4 has ncq and sata II support

 

[Odeen]

And nF4 Ultra and SLI versions have hardware-assisted firewall (ActiveArmor).

If you want to upgrade, the price difference between a used X800 Pro AGP and X800XL PCI-E isn't very large. It's a hassle, sure, but if you're doing a system upgrade, you may as well futureproof yourself a little bit.

 

[Shimmishim]

why do you have to spend $400 on a new video card...

the x800xl (pci-e version) goes for around $250-$280 these days...

there is a connect3d one from monarch computer for $249... check out the hot deals forum

 

[FastEddie]

Actually, there are a number of manufacturers that have NF4 based boards with both PCI-e and AGP. The problem is that these are not 939, but provide an upgrade path for skt 754.

 

[Proletariat]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
why do you have to spend $400 on a new video card...

the x800xl (pci-e version) goes for around $250-$280 these days...

there is a connect3d one from monarch computer for $249... check out the hot deals forum

Again I'm not willing to spend that money on another video card, even if it is 250. I would much rather just keep my current setup as it is adequate and has not become weak yet.

 

[Odeen]

Originally posted by: Proletariat
Again I'm not willing to spend that money on another video card, even if it is 250. I would much rather just keep my current setup as it is adequate and has not become weak yet.

Except that your current card has a similar resale value, so you aren't going to be out much, if any money. Just need to get it sold, and ship it off.

Stay away from "combo" PCI-E / AGP boards - the PCI-E works fine, but the AGP slot is nothing but a PCI slot (of the 33mhz, 133megabytes/sec bandwidth shared amongst all PCI devices and slots) in an AGP form factor. You'll be running AGP 1X, with no advanced AGP features (i.e sideband addressing, fast writes, AGP texturing)

 

[Proletariat]

Originally posted by: Odeen

Originally posted by: Proletariat
Again I'm not willing to spend that money on another video card, even if it is 250. I would much rather just keep my current setup as it is adequate and has not become weak yet.

Except that your current card has a similar resale value, so you aren't going to be out much, if any money. Just need to get it sold, and ship it off.

Stay away from "combo" PCI-E / AGP boards - the PCI-E works fine, but the AGP slot is nothing but a PCI slot (of the 33mhz, 133megabytes/sec bandwidth shared amongst all PCI devices and slots) in an AGP form factor. You'll be running AGP 1X, with no advanced AGP features (i.e sideband addressing, fast writes, AGP texturing)

Ah, well thats news to me. I would have thought that the AGP cards would be losing value by the minute, LOL.