pci-e vs. agp

[tigerfootball05]

Is PCI-express much faster than AGP or what? Why are pci-e cards more expensive?

 

[FadingTheory]

Not all PCI-e cards are more expensive.

And PCI-e has a theoretical faster bus. To my knowledge, nothings been made that REALLY blows AGP out of the water. Nothing that has to do with the bus anyway.

 

[diabloII]

pci-express uses 16x bus while agp uses up to 8x

games don't even use up to 8x, so they perform the same

 

[idiotec]

PCI-e is way faster as far as bandwidth, but current cards don't even max out AGP x8 at this point. However, PCI-e makes for a much better upgrade path...

 

[tigerfootball05]

yeah i got a pci-e for myself just for its upgrade abliity but i was just wondering today if these "better forms" (i.e. pci-e for gpu or btx for case, etc..) are really that much better and how quickly the old ones (like AGP) will fade

 

[FadingTheory]

Quickly... when dell starts using PCI-e, you know it near standards.

And BTX is only for Intel... and it will last. Prescotts need all the help they can get for heat.

 

[beedubaya]

The main reason for going PCI-ex right now is because that is the future and thats what all new cards will be made native for. There isn't a difference between AGP and PCI-ex as far as performance at this time. In the future they could be. However, we are likely to see the dissapearance of AGP cards all together before we see this happen.

 

[Apokalipse]

pci-express uses 16x bus while agp uses up to 8x

games don't even use up to 8x, so they perform the same

here's something a lot of people get confused with.
people think that PCI-E 16x is twice as fast as AGP 8X, because they see 16 as twice as big as 8.
this is not really true. PCI-E speeds are their own speeds. PCI-E 16x means that there are 16 serial connections to and from the card. 1X means one serial connection to and from the card (not one that sends and recieves, but rather, one that sends and one that recieves)

AGP is its own speed also. AGP was made because the bandwith of "normal" PCI was not enough for the cards. AGP 8x means 8x the bandwith of the original AGP.

 

[GrimReaper23]

Pcie is the next AGP in a way of thinking about 3-4 years like pci is outdated now htat is how AGP will be.

 

[aj2003]

well the difference in bandwidth is that the 16x pci-e is double the speed of the AGP..... BUT AGP can only send data one way, ie from the card to the motherboard or from board to card. whereas pci-e has the added benefit of being able to send data both ways at the same time thus making the actual bandwidth of pci-e closer to 4 times that of AGP.

But as everyone has said no card uses the full 8x AGP speed so having 4times that isnt gonna make any difference realyy