PCI Express

[Schadenfroh]

what about nforce4?

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

No Nforce4 i have heard yet on the horizon. I think the PCI-express will be a NF3 derivative. I hope thought that NVIDIA makes dual PCI-Express 16x slots (to put their new coming dual graphic cards in) for AMD64 processors. Talk about gaming power. huhuhuhuhahahahahahahahahahahah

 

[sunase]

I actually saw a blurb mentioning nforce4 at winbeta this afternoon:

Nvidia is still on track for its Q4 2004 release of the nForce4 chipset which boasts support for 2 PCIe 16 slots. The nForce4 will also improve its audio features with SoundStorm2, but no further details regarding changes from its predecessor (SoundStorm) are available at this time. The nForce4 chipset will support Athlon64/FX, Opteron, and Sempron CPUs.

In VIA's corner, the K8T890 chipset offers support for both AGP8X and PCIe 16 slots. The latest roadmaps still chime the K8T890 in at around Q2 2004.

Not to be ignored, SiS has its own PCIe solution ready. The SiS 756 chipset is planned for a Q2 2004 release as well. The chipset hit manufacturing earlier this spring, and now are in mass production. You can expect to see retail boards hit sometime in July. ALi has also announced its own Athlon64/FX PCIe chipset that will be ready in Q3 2004.

 

[Lvcifer]

so AMD mobos with PCI Express will be available sept - oct?
any confirmation on that?
cos im waiting for that, if its not worth of waiting then ill just buy AMD mobos with socket 939.

 

[Lvcifer]

any one have a good sites that i can keep track about AMD mobos with PCE express going to be releaseD?

 

[Brickster]

Originally posted by: Lvcifer
so AMD mobos with PCI Express will be available sept - oct?
any confirmation on that?
cos im waiting for that, if its not worth of waiting then ill just buy AMD mobos with socket 939.

Even though that's what I am hearing from people, it doesn't look like we have received any AT confirmation yet...Andy? Kris?

I am not waiting for PCI-E. It doesn't seem worth it for now to me until you have two 16x slots for two 6800 Ultra's...which won't be until Q4....and perhaps even later.

I am going AMD 939 with AGP 8x for now. Too much fun to be had for me to play this waiting game any longer.

Cheers,

 

[Lvcifer]

thats what on my mind too brickster,
however, i dont want to upgrade my new rig in another 6months (upgrade the PCEe i mean!)
if PCIe really kick AGP in another 6 months!

do you think its possible for PCEe video card will be overpower AGP in 6 months?

 

[Brickster]

Originally posted by: Lvcifer
do you think its possible for PCEe video card will be overpower AGP in 6 months?

Lvcifer, Unfortunately I am not capable of running down bandwidth multipliers and system benchmarks to prove anything or give accurate speculations on what performance gains will be had by PCI-E in 6 months, or exactly when it will overtake AGP. So, whatever I think is really just a semi-educated position and opinion. I don't think even the industry has an idea when AGP will really disappear.

That being said, my answer to your question is NO. I have been playing the waiting game for about a year now, and trust me my friend, it just goes on and on and on on and on....the beat don't stop until the break a dawn!

Personally, I must upgrade as soon as possible. In terms of gaming, with the software and video card hardware that will be out in 6 months, I seriously do not think that PCI Express will generate enough of a performance gain in the overall experience to cause anyone to think they would have to upgrade immediately from a 6th month old system that runs great.

Sure, when we see boards based on the Nforce4 with two 16x PCI-E slots supporting dual 6800 Ultra's (SLI), we will see some serious performance gains, and plenty of deep-pocketed enthusiasts claiming king of the FPS hill. Course, that's two 6800 Ultra's you would have to buy, not to mention the potentially high PSU requirements that would have being that only one recommends a massive 480W!!

Would board makers really ditch AGP totally, or perhaps we might see dual AGP slots to support the SLI feature? This I am just speculating.

Point being...no way to tell. Get the hardware that's coming out now, enjoy your monster machine, and then ignore ALL hardware reviews until your computer isn't cutting it anymore. Lol.

Good luck dude.

Peace!

 

[Lvcifer]

thanks for explaining it to me.

however, there are NONE of ATI Radeon X800 XT PE in stock right now!


do you think if i buy GeForce 6800 now, and when NVidia SLI (2 geforce 6800) come up, i just need to buy another one? will they work that way? if they do, which Geforce series 6 would you recomend me?

thanks again pal,

 

[Brickster]

Originally posted by: Lvcifer
thanks for explaining it to me.
do you think if i buy GeForce 6800 now, and when NVidia SLI (2 geforce 6800) come up, i just need to buy another one? will they work that way? if they do, which Geforce series 6 would you recomend me?

thanks again pal,

To my limited knowledge the current 6800's coming out in the right now have SLI supported gold connectors on the top edge of the card. IF that is the case, that would probably mean you could buy one right now, and then buy a second one later when the mobo's are available to support this.

First, read the SLI article HERE

And then contact the author, Derek.wilson@anandtech.com if you have further questions on that. He is a good guy and will answer you questions over email.

IF you are going to ask me, I would say buy the BFG 6800 Ultra. It's the 6800 Ultra, overclocked with a lifetime warranty. Frankly, I am going to be purchasing that and not even think about SLI for about a year. It's not quite available, but should be in a week or two in quantity.

No prob...and good luck!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: sunase
I actually saw a blurb mentioning nforce4 at winbeta this afternoon:

Nvidia is still on track for its Q4 2004 release of the nForce4 chipset which boasts support for 2 PCIe 16 slots. The nForce4 will also improve its audio features with SoundStorm2, but no further details regarding changes from its predecessor (SoundStorm) are available at this time. The nForce4 chipset will support Athlon64/FX, Opteron, and Sempron CPUs.

Whoa! That's big news, possibly bigger even than dual PCIE x16 slots or NV SLI. I thought that NV had publically said that they were discontinuing SoundStorm? Or was that still just a nagging unconfirmed rumor?
If they are bringing it back and enhancing it, I would assume that one of the major changes would be support for 7.1 audio instead of just 5.1, or even support for Intel's upcoming Azalia audio specs.

That, combined with a cheap Sem-pr0n CPU, could make a killer entry-level gaming/media PC.