Hold out a little while longer for mobos with PCI-X slots. AGP is about to go the way of the dodo. It's not the best time to invest in a new board and new expensive AGP card, trust me.
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Thats part of the reason I didn't want to replace my motherboard
Short of replacing my motherboard, nic, audio, I really dont think thats an option :/
And if I would have to go that far, I would just get a new comp
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No one has mentioned this so I thought I would... Most Motherboards come with the NIC and Audio integrated on the board. And they really aren't all that bad either.
Hold out a little while longer for mobos with PCI-X slots. AGP is about to go the way of the dodo. It's not the best time to invest in a new board and new expensive AGP card, trust me.
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I don't much reckon that PCI-E will be a standard in every computer until at least this time next year, so really, there's still a year's worth of time where a moderately priced AGP card (say 9600-9800) running on a relatively cheap motherboard with AGP 8x (my board cost ~£40, works perfectly) just to bide your time until "true" PCI-E cards are released and the cost of new technology drops.
PCI-X is completly useless at the momment. AGP will not be replaced for at least 2-3 years. We barely even use AGP 8X now.
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PCI-E is running great as it is, and yes, 8x AGP is being used. What you're talking of is the fact that graphics cards are not utilising PCI-E slots to their full potential. That's true. Right now i don't think there is a "true" PCI-E video card on the market, i could well be wrong, but cards such as the 6800 are "bridged" PCI-E, which is basically just a cheap hack and offers little to no gain over it's AGP counterpart. The reason for the bridging is so you can buy a motherboard with PCI-E, which won't have AGP, and still be able to run a graphics card.
Yeah, the PCI Express cards aren't improving much over the regular AGP ones right now. But like Bob said, they will later.
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Bingo.
The best PCI card is the FX 5200.
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The question is, is it any good :p
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No, it sucks completly.
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hhehhahHHAhaHAHhAhhahHA.. pure GOLD BABAY!
Uh, if PCI can get faster then AGP for graphics cards... what's stopping AGP from getting even faster then PCI?
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PCI-X has about twice the amount of transfer jumpers, the hard limit for the AGP is the maximum amount of peices of metal they can put into the slot to allow data transfer between the card and the mobo. PCI slots are just bigger. Although cards still haven't quite reached the limitations on 8x AGP yet, it won't be long before the PCI-X slots are acctually needed, because the AGP slot just can't facititate enough data movement.
Uh, if PCI can get faster then AGP for graphics cards... what's stopping AGP from getting even faster then PCI?
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PCI-X has about twice the amount of transfer jumpers, the hard limit for the AGP is the maximum amount of peices of metal they can put into the slot to allow data transfer between the card and the mobo. PCI slots are just bigger. Although cards still haven't quite reached the limitations on 8x AGP yet, it won't be long before the PCI-X slots are acctually needed, because the AGP slot just can't facititate enough data movement.
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eggscellent explanation sir :)