PCI-E IS WORTH ENOUGH ATHLON 64?

[barbaroja9]

In the super offer of boards actually available, one gets to a question. Shall I buy a PCI-E compatible board or an athlon 64 compatible one, or either just get a good old AthlonXP with a decent graphics card. Is a serious discussion that generates at that point, and one has to consider: That the buy doensn't get obsolete too fast and that it has good performance. So there appear some boards like the MSI's, that is a good brand and has good features. There you will find

K7N2Delta and Delta2,
K8T NEO,
KT6 DELTA,
925X NEO PLATINUM,
915P NEO2 PLATINUM,
KM8M,
KM4M.

Who can choose?

I'm in the choose thing, and need someone of you people that knows a lot about this and can help to make the best choice.

Thanks in advance.

 

[xeenrecoil]

heya barbaro;

I am not a big supporter of MSI, so i wont recommend any of those mobo's, what i will say is that in October all the new PCIe chipsets for AMD processors are being released and motherboards will soon follow, so just hang in there a bit longer untill the new AMD motherboards hit the market and then make your decision.

 

[ChipDeath]

What do you need the computer to do, and how much money do you have to spend?

There's no inherent advantage to PCI-E at the moment. Nothing really takes full advantage of it's features, so I wouldn't use it as a criteria for purchasing. 'normal' PCI will be around for years yet.

As stated above, there will soon(ish) be PCI-E A64 boards available, so the choice should be a bit more diverse (at the moment PCI-E condemns you to the Intel Route).

You have a really odd style of English you know... I'm not Criticising - just an observation...

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
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[RichPLS]

The PCI-E X800XT PE card does benifit performance wise compared to the same card in the AGP version.


========================
Try everything...
Do not be afraid of failure, for this is how we learn and grow...
Live life to the fullest...
Do not regret what you have not yet done!!!

 

[Vapor]

Where have you seen that? How do you figure...they're the EXACT same aside from their interface (the 8xAGP provides only a SLIGHT advantage over 4xAGP, so I doubt that the X800XTpe will get any boost from the 16xPCIe).

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

 

[ChipDeath]

I looked around a little but can't find a direct comparison between PCI-E and AGP 8x. Where'd you get that info?

As Vapor says, AGP 8x doesn't even get fully utilised by these cards yet, so how does PCI-E enable better performance?

Plus there is no A64/PCI-E solution currently available, and any slight PCI-E advantage would surely be made up for by having an A64 AGP-based rig (as you'd have to use a Scotty system to use the PCI-E card).

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[etp777]

Vapor, you forget that the X800 is a native PCI-E GPU, so the AGP card has to have a bridge, which of course will always inherently induce some slowdown. The exact opposite of situation for Nvidia cards.

Guy I know has benchmarks on his wsite about it, will post them later today when he gets on and I can get link.

And I will say, that for gamers, no real reason for PCI-E yet. For high end graphics systems though, it lets you use the top Realizm cards from 3dlabs, which would sure be nice. Technically, that applies to games too, as they have DX9 compatible drivers out for it now, just don't know anyone who can afford one of those just to play games.

 

[Vapor]

The PCIe version of the X800 is native PCIe, the AGP version of X800 is AGP native...I don't know what you are talking about. ATi has the R420, which is the AGP variant, and the R423, which is the PCIe variant. ATi does not bridge anything yet.

If you take a look at X-bit's latest review, you'll notice the 6800GT PCIe beats the AGP variant (for some weird reason...since it's bridged to PCIe). You'll also notice that the X600XT loses to the 9600XT--what gives? My current suspicion is that ATi's rumored non-compliance with SIG PCIe standard is biting them in the ass, regardless of what SIG says (after all, they originally said it would make a difference, now they're saying it won't???).

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

 

[RichPLS]

PCI-E has slight advantage over AGP

http://www.gamers-depot.com/hardware/video_cards/asus/x800xt/001.htm



========================
Try everything...
Do not be afraid of failure, for this is how we learn and grow...
Live life to the fullest...
Do not regret what you have not yet done!!!

 

[ChipDeath]

The differences are so slight between the two that you can't possibly say it's PCI-E Vs AGP that makes the difference. Much more likely the rest of the platform that makes the difference, or perhaps drivers.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742