Tiorapatea
Member
Hello everyone, I'm new here.
Have been lurking for a while and it seems like a lot of you will have some views on this.
My question is, I'm afraid, a variant of the perennial should-I-wait-or-buy-now kind.
It's been a while since I bought a new PC. What I'm looking for is an all-purpose machine (OK, not literally, maybe internet gateway, general business, a few games), which I would hope also to use as a home media server for video, sound and pictures. I've trawled through some reference material on PCI Express and it seems as though this interconnect has been been designed specifically to address issues to do with the priority that should be accorded to real-time data in a system. I'm thinking that this will make a big difference when using TV cards and/or network cards, for example. Although I am keen to buy now, this has made me think I'd be better to hold off for six months or so by which time I hope to see new systems incorporating this standard.
I've also been following various threads here to do with the bandwith usage of AGP cards and it seems like a PCI Express 16x link would have plenty of headroom (as, I learn, do existing AGP 8x cards). My thought therefore is that graphics cards for PCI Express 16x will continue to be developed for several years, whereas I have a feeling that the AGP slot will likely be abandoned quite quickly by the industry. Given that there will likely be a lot of new technology developed in the area of media servers in the next few years, some of which may end up specifically on graphics cards, I'm thinking that maybe if I wait for PCI Express, I'll be able to keep pace for a little while.
I'd welcome any comments on what you see happening in media servers in the next couple of years and what kinds of platform obsolescence you think this will lead to.
Thanks in advance. 🙂
Have been lurking for a while and it seems like a lot of you will have some views on this.
My question is, I'm afraid, a variant of the perennial should-I-wait-or-buy-now kind.
It's been a while since I bought a new PC. What I'm looking for is an all-purpose machine (OK, not literally, maybe internet gateway, general business, a few games), which I would hope also to use as a home media server for video, sound and pictures. I've trawled through some reference material on PCI Express and it seems as though this interconnect has been been designed specifically to address issues to do with the priority that should be accorded to real-time data in a system. I'm thinking that this will make a big difference when using TV cards and/or network cards, for example. Although I am keen to buy now, this has made me think I'd be better to hold off for six months or so by which time I hope to see new systems incorporating this standard.
I've also been following various threads here to do with the bandwith usage of AGP cards and it seems like a PCI Express 16x link would have plenty of headroom (as, I learn, do existing AGP 8x cards). My thought therefore is that graphics cards for PCI Express 16x will continue to be developed for several years, whereas I have a feeling that the AGP slot will likely be abandoned quite quickly by the industry. Given that there will likely be a lot of new technology developed in the area of media servers in the next few years, some of which may end up specifically on graphics cards, I'm thinking that maybe if I wait for PCI Express, I'll be able to keep pace for a little while.
I'd welcome any comments on what you see happening in media servers in the next couple of years and what kinds of platform obsolescence you think this will lead to.
Thanks in advance. 🙂
