PCI Express

[Fenixgoon]

I don't konw too much about interfaces, so please bear with me. What exactly is so popular about PCIX? As for video cards, isn't it still slower than AGP? I really dont see the advantage too it. Then again, I don't know much either. That's why I'm asking.

 

[pcman83]

Its actaully like 2 times faster. Look on anandtechs home site their should be a review of it.

 

[ts3433]

Aside from SLI, there's no real benefit to the PCIe x16 bus for graphics right now. The interface itself is much faster, but cards can't take advantage of it quite yet. You probably will not see AGP just dying out anytime soon for this very reason.

 

[Geforcer]

It's still in its baby years, so in time it will be much better. Like ts3433 said, manufacturers have not made cards that take advantage of the extra bandwidth that PCI-E offers. And actually, it's somewhere near 15x's faster than AGP. When the new technology starts to mature, you'll see cards much faster than AGP can offer.

 

[JetBlack69]

PCI-X is different from PCI Express. PCI-X is mostly found on server boards.

 

[Geforcer]

Hmm, needs clarifying. Topic says PCI Express, then PCI-X in the writing. I'd imagine he's wanting to know about PCI-E.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Geforcer
Hmm, needs clarifying. Topic says PCI Express, then PCI-X in the writing. I'd imagine he's wanting to know about PCI-E.

I thought PCIX was just shorthand for PCI express.. sorry about the confusion

 

[klah]

Initially the benefits are in servers, but eventually it will benefit desktop users.

Think 10GbE, SCSI Raid, 4+ GPU Workstations. A lot of this can be handled with some of the future PCI-X specs such as 266/64 and 533/64 but they require ~80-100 more traces on the motherboard(since PCI-X is parallel) and require a seperate hardware controller for every slot, both of which mean $$$.

Ars has one of the better articles on the matter: http://arstechnica.com/article...ia/hardware/pcie.ars/2

 

[SrGuapo]

Think of AGP like an 8 lane highway with light traffic. Then think of PCI-e as a 32 lane highway, with the exact same amount of traffic. In theory, the 32 lane can handle more traffic faster, but it really isn't neccesary when there isn't that much info. As graphics cards advance, the need for PCI-e (or other later solutions) will become more aparent. PCI-e today is just insuring that you have an upgrade path in the future.

 

[edelbrock]

PCI-E also provides more power through the slot than AGP allowing more power hungry video cards to go without an auxillary connector. Although some of the high end cards still need additional power. If I remember correctly the PCI-E x16 slot can provide about 75 watts of power.