Socket 754 video upgrade path

[spwango]

Hey all,

My current rig is running a radeon 9800 NP on a MSI K8T Neo-FSR with a socket 754 3000+. I've been trying to figure out what to do with my dying 21" CRT for quite some time. I am very interested in replacing it with a 19" gaming LCD (probably the Imagequest everyone seems to like so much)--the problem is that my video board is a getting a little long in the tooth to be able to push a decent FPS at 1024x768, let alone the higher native resolution for the LCD. So, I want to replace the video board.

The problem is, if I replace the video board, I'm super weary of buying an AGP card at the moment--does it make sense for me to change motherboards to a socket 754 board with a PCIE slot instead? The proc is a 3000+, so I'm not very motivated to replace it at the moment, it doesn't seem as if anything has moved that far. The only other thing that is holding my box back is my less-than-stellar PC2700 ram, which I would probably upgrade if I did just the mainboard--you guys have any suggestions on mainboard and ram for my situation?

Thanks

 

[DanDaMan315]

Do you want a PCIE mobo or a AGP mobo?

 

[Chosonman]

PCI-e performance wise not any different from AGP right now.

 

[Elcs]

It might be worth your while to look into overclocking your 9800 NP.

You might be able to squeeze a little more life out of it that way. Maybe enough to hold off an immediate upgrade.

At the moment, Im stuck with a Mobile Barton (Athlon XP at 2.3Ghz) and a Radeon 9800Pro. I cant justify a move to PCI-E yet and I cant justify upgrading to an AGP Socket 939 board so Im stuck with them until it becomes reasonable to upgrade.

That reminds me, I need to overclock my 9800 Pro

 

[spwango]

I have been alternating years (roughly, it's more like an 18 month cycle) for video board upgrade and full system rebuild. IE, one year I replace the video board, next year I replace the mobo and CPU, year after that I replace the board, etc. This strategy has worked out well for me up to this point. So, if I purchase a new video board, the intent would be to put it in the next system I build. That would seem to me to mean that AGP is a stupid upgrade, no? My understanding is that the future of AGP is grim, right?

As for overclocking the 9800NP--I looked into this in the past. They ATI boards shipped with two different RAM modules, I have the one that doesn't overclock so well.

 

[Chosonman]

The future of AGP is grim like the Sun running out of heat.

The PCI-e bus speed is still limited by GPU and memory band width.
There is no single Video card today or tommorow that can take full davantage of a single PCI-e slot. (Maybe next week)

They way is looks PCI-e are better used in graphics systems like SLI where high band transfer rates are needed rather than a single card set up.
That may change, but not in the next year or two. You're looking way down the road before you'll see anything significant.

 

[spwango]

Thanks for the reply....Perhaps I'm cornfused then...I thought it was already getting difficult to buy the current generation of motherboards and videocards with AGP on board--I'm fine buying another AGP card, as long as I know it's got 3-or so years worth of life in it. I'm not at all concerned with the performance of AGP vs PCI-e, I just don't want to be limited next time I upgrade because I bought AGP instead of PCI-e

 

[Chosonman]

The standard is shifting toward PCI-e. Although AGP cards will be around for awhile the shortage will be in the motherboards that support AGP. In that sense AGP does not have much of a future.
If you plan to upgrade your system soon then I recommend waiting and replacing EVERYTHING at once rather than only replacing your card now.

 

[Bar81]

I would stick with AGP as even the next gen cards at the very least will support the format, and the refresh since it's based on the same core. Top end video cards are unlikely to be PCI-E only at least 3Q 2006 and even then expect midrange cards to still sport AGP variants (ATI and nVidia didn't go to all the trouble to develop bridge chips to not use them on the 75%+ of the market that will still be AGP through the end of 2006.) By the time PCI-E becomes "standard" we're looking at 3Q 2006 and even then there will be AGP variants of all the cards. When it's time to upgrade the CPU you'll be looking at a new mobo and then you can worry about a PCI-E.

 

[spwango]

I can't wait if I'm going to buy an LCD. My CRT is dying, and am pretty uninterested in buying another CRT. The 21" aperture grille models are getting hard to find. So, that's left me with three options:

1) Buy a PCI-e mobo and a PCI-e video board
2) Buy an AGP board
3) Rebuild the full system for PCI-e

My assumption is that considering I'm running a 3000+, a system rebuild simply isn't worth it at the moment. That said, if I can turn over just the motherboard for a hundred bucks or so and go PCI-e, perhaps that's worth it?

Time frame wise, I am planning on upgrading the CPU and motherboard this time next year, so, the board I buy now either has to be cheap enough to be tossable or be workable in my next system.

For that matter, i haven't put that much thought into the board itself...I may go as far as a 6800GT, but those are still a bit pricey. Perhaps an X800...

 

[DanDaMan315]

XFX Geforce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card ?

I would just get a 6800gt agp or something, no bother upgrading completly.

 

[Bar81]

NOT worth it (read, ZERO percent performance increase moving from AGP to PCI-E), *especially* if you're gonna upgrade mid next year. Keep the mobo and pick yourself up an AGP X800 XL (same performance as a 6800GT and cheaper unless of course you're the overclocking type and then you have a shot with the 6800GT of Ultra speeds and you have to decide if you want to pay up for that)

 

[spwango]

Thanks for the help, guys. It sure seems like the AGP board is the way to go...so, do you think my current rig will have enough legs to last say two years with a new video board?

 

[IntegraGSR]

Originally posted by: spwango
Thanks for the help, guys. It sure seems like the AGP board is the way to go...so, do you think my current rig will have enough legs to last say two years with a new video board?

yes



in addition to what everone else has said concerning pci-e vs agp.. current top of the line video cards have a hard time using up the bandwidth of agp 4x.. agp will DEFINETLY NOT be the limiting factor for a long time to come.