what type graphics card is better - pci or agp

[spidster]

i have just been rudely told that agp cards are better than pci cards of the same spec???
this is all wrong, yes maybe back in the day when agp had the edge on pci but not anymore has no1 heard of pci-e (express) - twice as fast as agp.
please people tell me im rite.!

 

[Hectic Glenn]

PCI-E > AGP > PCI
(but how many people have PCI-E slots these days?)
Should be hardware forum btw. nothing to do with HL2.

 

[Alan Freeman]

AGP are right now , I think we wont be needing pci express for any games untill 2006. but what do i know

 

[Teta_Bonita]

AGP are right now , I think we wont be needing pci express for any games untill 2006. but what do i know

You don't need them, but they sure are nice to have!

 

[duckmoose]

I have PCI-E. But that's because I just got a new mobo this past September (or early October...) so I figured I ought to get PCI-E while I was at it.

EDIT: It's odd your name is Alan Freeman because I wrote a short story of that very same name.

 

[Gary_Jones]

Well, if you are planning on buying a motherboard for the next 5 years, then go PCI-Express.

To say that PCI Express is better than AGP is really a futile arguement and vice versa.

In a nutshell.
Neither the bandwith provided by 8x AGP nor PCI-express are anywhere near fully utilised (think an 8x AGP card uses just 5% extra of the bandwith than 4x). Benchies on 8x AGP vs PCI-E should be nearly identical and to that point also, 8xAGP vs 4xAGP is debatable.

I was lucky enough to be able to try a SLI rig this year and have to say that it was dissapointing - 3dfx did a much better job, results were again - marginal.

Its just another "lets get everyone to upgrade" marketing gimmick, that seem to come round every 2 years - a'la firewire / RAMBUS / etc etc etc -


First time I've posted here since the release of HL2 - isn't it just great!

 

[Revenge]

2 cards of the same spec will always be just as good as each other. What PCI and AGP refers to is the way information travels between your graphics card and motherboard.

Try to think of it as different varieties of roads, with PCI being just a simple dirt track, 1x AGP being a paved footpath, 2x AGP being a paved road with one lane on each side, 4x/8x AGP being highways and motorways with 2 and 3 lanes on each side, and PCI-E being a massive motorway with 4 lanes on each side.

Now, is it really worth spending the money to build such big highways on your street if you are only going to have foot traffic passing through? Alternately, what do you think would happen if you tried to send never ending convoys of B-trains (huge trucks with 2 trailers attached) in both directions down your simple dirt track built for pedestrians only?

Sure, if you have the money to throw around, then by all means get yourself a PCI-E, but an AGP8x motherboard will probably be a bit cheaper. I wouldn't recommend buying anything less than either of those two, because you'll just end up with traffic jams up the hoo-ha otherwise!

 

[Dr. Freeman]

as pointed out already...theres no real advantage right now to getting a PCI-Express motherboard/video card combo because the cost of upgrading is not worth it.

plus the technology is fairly new...and its going to take a good 8-9 months before pple see any major benefits to switching over...in short...i'd wait til the PCI-Express techology matures before even thinking of switching.

 

[spidster]

cheers for that guys i needed to know :cheers: