PCI-Extreme = 4x, how big a bottleneck is this

[suicide007]

I go a biostar pro a7 combo so that i could keep my agp card but upgrade to a pci-e slot when the time came. The time is on Friday, but I just discovered something that made me throw my wireless mouse out of my window. Grrrrrrr..... you gessed it, the pci-e slot is 4x.

is this a serious bottleneck? How serious? Would it affect a 7600 GS?

O, and heres the board:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813138275

 

[turtile]

I think the PCI X4 slot is close to the speed of the AGP 8x slot but I'm not sure.

So it should effect performance that much if at all.

Does the card fit in the x4 (plastic may block it)?

 

[reggie_da_man]

OMG I feel so bad for you, I'm not even %100 sure if it will work. Even if it does it will be a huge bottleneck, See if you can return it and get a different board because Biostar is a piece of crap.

 

[Nitestick]

I think the PCI X4 slot is close to the speed of the AGP 8x slot but I'm not sure.

So it should effect performance that much if at all.

Does the card fit in the x4 (plastic may block it)?

pci-e 4x is the same as AGP 4x (aside from being full duplex). there would be no point in the numbers if they didn't use a common scale

by newegg
Expansion Slots
AGP Slots 1x AGP 4X/8X
PCI Express x16 1x PCI-Extreme (Compatible with most PCI-E x16 graphics cards)
PCI Slots 4

have a rant at newegg. they listed this "pci-extreme" crap as a pci-e 16x slot

 

[Lord AnthraX]

god is PCI-E way ahead of us though...


when I found out that we dont even use 8X bandwith I was quite suprised.



PCI-E came out way too early...kinda like SATA2

I heard somthing a bout a PCI-E 2 coming out or what ever....I remember someone posting it on TF while back.

 

[PP Mguire]

Thats what ive been saying all along. Ive been told countless times by guys at LAN parties that make fun of me to upgrade. Im like why? If my 7800GS pwns most of the crap you guys have on PCI-E and i dont even use ALL of my bandwidth of my 8X AGP then why upgrade? Its freakin pointless. Despite what most ppl tell you you can get the card and i highly doubt you will have any problems. If it fits in the slot and runs it should run like an 8X AGP slot. No prob.

 

[suicide007]

so, should i just ge the agp version of the card, and get a new mobo when geforce 8 comes out? (the 7600 is just gonna be a holder card). Im not ordering anything until Friday, and ill look into it. Thanx.

 

[suicide007]

Wait...NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! There is no agp version. should i stick with the 7600 gs or should i go for an agp? if agp, any suggestions?

edit:

or should i try to rma it to newegg even after having it so long, but they advertised it falsely. *goes to evil lair(closet) and laughs internally as he hatches an evil plan...muahahaha* Im gonna think on this one...

 

[AnthraX]

Dude, I still can't figure out what this "PCI Extreme" is. I am pretty sure it's just PCI-Express, but something seems fishy to me.

I really don't trust your motherboard. I have read reviews about motherboards that combine AGP and PCI-Express. The only chipset that I've seen work is from ULi. That is partly why Nvidia bought them out.

Definitally get a new motherboard when you plan on updating to PCI-express.

Here's what I recommend if you choose to go AGP. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130268

 

[Nitestick]

god is PCI-E way ahead of us though...


when I found out that we dont even use 8X bandwith I was quite suprised.



PCI-E came out way too early...kinda like SATA2

but PCI-E does have one major advantage. it can communicate up and downstream at the same time which was one of AGPs major drawbacks. just because the bandwidth isn't used doesn't mean they shouldn't innovate. the release of pci-e will allow future growth. think about it, manufacturers are now more likely to actually make some progress by thinking of ways they can take advantage of it......manufacturers can't design things for the future on an interface that doesn't exist unless they want to research the creation of the new interface. as for SATA2, its a perfect way to progress. it allows for future products and is still completely compatable with current ones.

Dude, I still can't figure out what this "PCI Extreme" is. I am pretty sure it's just PCI-Express, but something seems fishy to me.

it is pci-e. they are using the name pci-extreme to market it. seems its a pci-e 16x slot electrically but is a pci-e 4x slot by bandwidth.