Radeon 9900 agp4x vs 8x

[3leggedbrain]

After digging through this and other forums I've discovered that with current cards there is no loss of performance when plugging an agp8x card into an agp4x slot.
I want a new graphics card for my computer (with an agp4x slot, of course) and am thinking of waiting for the Radeon 9900...
My question is will the agp issue become significant with the newer card? That is, will I be unable to access the new card's full potential with my agp4x slot?

 

[Ghostdog]

It´s pretty much useless posting questions like that in advance. The card isn´t released, the "9900" name isn´t even confirmed yet, it´s still an R350.

AGP4x will be fine, and the difference to 8x shouldn´t be to big. A few percent, if that.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

 

[10GHZ]

yep

 

[3leggedbrain]

i know it's only speculation, but I was going on the possibility that there was some truth to this article:

<A HREF="http:// http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1044532924 " target="_new">http:// http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1044532924 </A>

There was another thread I dug up here that said something like the bandwidth used by current GPUs is less than that of agp4x... anyway, since I am only beginning to try to learn how graphic cards work, none of this means much to me. I don't know if the bandwidth referred to in the earlier post is in relation to the memory bus or the graphics chip or what. Just hoping to get some extra insight, or at least be directed towards some...

 

[Ghostdog]

From what I understand the sress on the AGP-bus is defined by the appliocations, not the card itself. Currently you don´t see a very big improvement over AGP4x when using 8x since there isn´t really a game (it´s mostly games)that needs all that bandwidth.

So to speculate an answer to your question:
AGP4x with the R350 should do just fine, but if you are about to upgrade your motherboard AGP8x is something to look at, not if it raises the price by much though. It depends on how often you upgrade things like your motherboard.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

 

[3leggedbrain]

Thanks, Ghostdog. That's basically what I wanted to hear.
I'm just looking to get a card with some longevity...

 

[Skipper007]

If it's longetivity you're shooting for, I've always found it most effect to buy the mid range cards. For example, a ti4200 is less than half the price of a 9700. If you bought a ti4200 now and a similar but newer card in say a year, you'd be in pretty good shape. Although I'd say the 9500 Pro is better than the ti4200. Consider the fact that eighteen months ago the Geforce 3 was the fastest card around. Cards just don't stay on top that long.

 

[Ghostdog]

That´s true Skipper, but it also depends on what you´re requirements are. As an example, I have used my TNT2m64 for games for nearly 4 years now, and I have been fairly happy with the performance. After new year I bought this 9700Pro, and I´m pretty sure I could play games just fine for atleast 2 years (I´ll probably upgrade earlier though). Then again, now that ATI has really started itching nVidia´s fur, the competition will drive the technological development faster, and thus we´ll probably have to upgrade out gear faster aswell.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>