hu_xu, PCIe cards are cheaper because the originals are made on the PCIe interface. It is a difficult job to port PCIe to AGP. AGP will never survive any longer; there will be no more new AGP cards, only the current generation ones will be produced for a set time period before we fully go PCIe. Plus, even though AGP 8x isn't fully utilized yet, the bandwith is still twice as much as AGP 4x so there will be a difference, a noticable difference. PCIe at this time is not a waste of money, for those who buy pcs when new tech comes out and upgrade, it is a dream come true. There will be more advances in PCIe than there will be in AGP. For now, I'd say the rating would be 4. Better you not use it than use it. Get yourself a AGP 4x card instead of wasting money on something that would perform just the same.