AGP vs. PCI-E

[dartgande]

Well unfortunately, my budget only covered enough to build this sytem:

AMD 3500+ 939 pin
1 gig Corsair Ram running in Dual channel
Radeon X800 XT
Neo2-Platinum nForce-3 Ultra motherboard
Soundblaster Platinum Audigy 2
7.1 Surround sound speakers
74 gb Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM
250 gb Western Digital SATA 7,200 RPM
16x Sony DVD Rom drive
52x32x52 Sony CD-RW Drive
Mitsumi Floppy Drive
17 inch eMachines CRT monitor
Logitech Mouse and custom keyboard
Syphon case with 480 Watt PS
Windows XP Home Edition
and a one year warranty on everything

for the price of $2170

But it is AGP!

And I want to know how much of a difference would I have noticed with PCI-E instead of AGP, and how much better PCI-E is.

 

[turtile]

There really isn't a gain right now. But a few years later it will be hard to find AGP cards that are any good.

 

[dartgande]

Well good, as long as I wouldn't have noticed a significant increase in performance, all is well

 

[gaara]

No, unless you are planning on playing something like Doom 3 at 1600x1200 with all settings maxed out, neither bus will shine above the other particularily.

That being said, if you plan on doing some extreme 3D rendering, then you will notice a difference, but unless you work for a high scale business that does such work I highly doubt it.

 

[dartgande]

nah, just VtM bloodlines and City of Heroes maxed out

 

[Wall7486]

WIth 2170, you can get yourself a DFI Lanparty nforce 4 ultra.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-152&depa=0
I don't see why you should stick with AGP, with a decent budget like yours. I assume you won't be upgrading for a long while with that set up. So in my opinion, just go with the PCI-Express.

 

[dartgande]

I already have the cpu built and all though, but, considering that I don't have a PCI-E set up, how long do you think my comp will be good until it needs upgrades? Obviously it is all for gaming, and how long ya think til it will be obsolete?

 

[Wall7486]

Most people will say AGP will still last for a period of time, because majority of the people still uses AGP. However, a lot of people I know, mainly my friends and colleagues, tend to build a new rig using PCI-Express. In my opinion, I'm seeing a very gradual change, as the population move onto PCI-Express. However, AGP is still very good for at least another year or two. That's just my opinion though, i'm sure many members in this forum may have a different look.

 

[dartgande]

That's kool. If I need to, I will just spend money on PCI-E next year

 

[dartgande]

well, now I feel smart. I just recently realized that I should've dropped the graphics card from an X800 XT ro an X800 XL and went PCI-E. Awww....Oh well, can't beat myself up to much. At least it is an awesome gaming rig.