AGP no more? Don't buy a vid card?

[Jim0322 Profile]

Check this out. It is the first I have heard of this. They recommend against buying any new video card right now.

From AnandTech - http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.html?i=1962&p=3

However, consider one quick side note when buying a video card with those tax returns. Upcoming Intel and SiS chipsets anticipate completely eliminating the AGP bus in favor of PCI-Express. Essentially, if you purchase a video card today and hope to buy a Socket 775 Prescott and Motherboard in a couple months, you will have to pawn that wicked Radeon or GeForceFX. It appears as if VIA's PT890 core will support AGP and PCIe, but whether or not the performance will match SiS and Intel's solutions has yet to be decided. Our final advice? Don't buy a video card now unless you anticipate keeping your rig for a long, long time.

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I don't plan on this upgrade any time soon, but it is interesting info. I have never been one to spend 400-500 on a vid card anyway.

Jim

[Xenius]

If people are smart they'll wait untill those upcoming chipsets have gone through a revision or two before buying them. Which means it'll be even longer between then and now. If you have the money I'd say go for a good card. Now, something like the 9800XT may be a bit much..

[Bullhead]

Originally posted by Xenius
If people are smart they'll wait untill those upcoming chipsets have gone through a revision or two before buying them. Which means it'll be even longer between then and now. If you have the money I'd say go for a good card. Now, something like the 9800XT may be a bit much..

Yup. PCI-express, while great, is gonna be brand new, which likely means new problems. Also, current games won''t need the extra bandwidth (just like agp4x to agp 8x really didn't help alot). I wouldn't go out and drop $500 on a new card, but 200-250 for a 9800pro is a great idea, it'll last you awhile. I mean, to get the pci-x, you need a new motherboard AND a new video card......

[the_slog]

This only really applies to the people who go "OMG OMG THE RADEO 10000 XT 356 MB VIDEO CARD IS OUT!!!!! IT GETS A 1.23% HIGHER 3DMARK SCORE AND ITS ONLY $700 OMG OMG I GOTTA GO BY ONE NOW!!

Meanwhile, the savy do it yourself builder knows that most performance problems that are "solved" by purchaseing new hardware were actually software problems with windows/driver setups.

Do yourself a favor, buy a 9600Xt for 150 bucks and laugh all the way to the bank.

[Colonel Ingus Profile]

I posted this in another thread and I can't find it right now but I try to get it all down here.

In addition to the change from AGP to PCI-express there is going to be a shift to a new style of RAM, A new style chip to replace BIOS (something like EFI?, EFX? not sure right now of the correct nomenclature but it should significantly reduce start-up load times), the new CPU's from both Athlon and Intel, and the new OS from (EVIL!) MS that takes advantage of the 64 bit bus.

Some pretty widespread computer changes coming in the next year. So unless your like the person that the_slog describes (and we know you are out there) upgrading to cutting edge over the next year is going to be expensive and likely full of problems until the bugs get worked out.

[igloo17 Profile]

check this out :

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1693/

seems the new p4 runs a little hotter.

[Dakana]

I heard about PCI-Express a while ago. New AGP? Maybe...
However, I hope they keep AGP on most motherboards. PCI Express primary, AGP secondary, and PCI third. Three monitors, two of which could play games great. Now where can I buy those two extra arms...

[Jesseiscanadian]

They cannot have pci express and agp on the same board appearently cause the bridges and buses and shit are completely different. Also the new pci-x will replace pci at about the same time as pci express comes out. Thats a good thing!

[Bullhead]

Originally posted by Jesseiscanadian
They cannot have pci express and agp on the same board appearently cause the bridges and buses and shit are completely different. Also the new pci-x will replace pci at about the same time as pci express comes out. Thats a good thing!

Wrong. Via chipset support both fine. They've already got reference boards out with agp, PCI-X, and PCI......