PCI-E vs AGP

[wolvereen]

Can anyone point me to some decent article comparing PCI-E and AGP performance? Wasn't sure if this would go in th emainboards category or the video card category. I am not really interested in specific of individual cards, more how the formats compare to each other in terms of performance.

I have a friend looking at building a new system, and he is wondering if PCI-E is the way to go considering its greater cost.

THanks!

 

[Crashman]

OK, I'll write you a brief article, since that's what I do...

PCI-Express has 250MB/s per channel. That's nearly 2x as fast as PCI for an x1 PCI-E slot, and nearly 2x as fast as AGP8x for a PCI-E x16 slot. Graphics cards go on an x16 slot.

Having said that, few graphics cards exceed the bandwidth provided by AGP4x. For example, most benchmarks show the 9800 Pro in 4x mode tied with the same card in 8x mode. The X800 series and 6800 series can outperform the 9800 Pro of course, but still don't require 2x the bandwidth.

So for now PCI-E isn't about graphics card performance, it's only about future compatability with newer cards. Other devices, such as RAID controllers, will get a better gain since the old PCI slots were slow, but graphics cards won't see gains for a while.

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[addiarmadar]

Im only looking for PCIe right now for the future features to put into the rig but there is no current one for AMD platforms. Been wating for that.

Till there is high-end 512mb graphics cards, there is no immediate need for the bandwidth of PCIe but just nice to have for the future.

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