PCI-e and backward compatability

[VorLon-Uk]

Guys,

Seeing that there are many future benefits from using PCI-e especially on the graphics side, is it likely that new games (seeing that they are in development for some time) will utilise this new technology? - I mean games say released in the next 6-12months.

Also as game publishers want to maximise their sales and therefore want their product to work on a wide range of PC's is it likely that there will be "PCI-e games" Only? or will the simultaneous bi-directional bus be something like "MMX" or "SSE" and used when games find the appropiate hardware.

I ask all this as a means of reassurance as I've just updated my old systems ageing (3yrs) AMD chipset and peripherals with an Asus P4C800d-e and are looking to either get a 9800pro as the prices are getting lower or a next gen card still with AGP though. I hope, although AGP won't be as fast as X16 PCI-e and I'll get poorer frame rates, that at least the games released in the next 18-24 months will still work with an AGP based Motherboard.

Thanks..

 

[AlphaWolf]

Guys,

Seeing that there are many future benefits from using PCI-e especially on the graphics side, is it likely that new games (seeing that they are in development for some time) will utilise this new technology? - I mean games say released in the next 6-12months.

Also as game publishers want to maximise their sales and therefore want their product to work on a wide range of PC's is it likely that there will be "PCI-e games" Only? or will the simultaneous bi-directional bus be something like "MMX" or "SSE" and used when games find the appropiate hardware.

I ask all this as a means of reassurance as I've just updated my old systems ageing (3yrs) AMD chipset and peripherals with an Asus P4C800d-e and are looking to either get a 9800pro as the prices are getting lower or a next gen card still with AGP though. I hope, although AGP won't be as fast as X16 PCI-e and I'll get poorer frame rates, that at least the games released in the next 18-24 months will still work with an AGP based Motherboard.

Thanks..

Don't worry about pci-e. AGP will hold up fine for most things for a while yet.

 

[Guden Oden]

PCIe will be completely transparent to the application, just as the transition between ISA to PCI to AGP graphics was.

 

[Tim Murray]

Games won't rely on the bidirectional nature of PEG for a while now. You're peachy with that. But, PEG will DEFINITELY help if you're going to run any app that offloads a lot of work to the video card for purposes other than graphics. There are very few of those right now, of course, but a lot more will probably come once PEG catches on.

 

[PeterAce]

There is a rel article about PCI-Express and game engines below :

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9986

 

[VorLon-Uk]

Thanks Guys

PeterAce, thanks for the link, but that article/piece actually prompted me to post about this very subject. Hence my concerns were actually from the part about how games engines will be designed with PCI-e in mind and when this does become a reality will those games taking advantage of the new technology still be backward compatable with standard AGP?
Or will we have a similar situation where some games do actually require a graphics card with Hardware T&L - that's my analogy

Steve

 

[g__day]

Eventually it will go from a nicecty to a nessity - I say before 2009 even!

 

[GrapeApe]

Think of it more along the lines of the impact of other features. Games will play to the largest masses they can muster.

You can buy an FX5600PCI card, is it restricted from the games of the FX5600AGP? Not in the any real sense, but in a practical sense the performance may be low enough to make a game unplayable. The same will come of the PCI-EX generation of cards, there will be performance options that will never be available to any AGP card, but that is a while off to say the least. PCI cards w/ Hwr T&L are out there, it has less to do twith the slot/bus than it has to do with the features of the VPU. However just like the PCI cards, you may find that the card's full potential gets choked much quicker.

One of the problems long term for AGP owners is that there won't be the same BigBusiness server drive for AGP cards the way there was for PCI cards, and the multi-monitor market isn't theirs either, the only supporters initially may be people with AGP Pro who have expensive systems they may not wish to upgrade immediately, but even they are usually outnumbered by those willing to pay top dollar for a little bit more performance in 3DSMax or Maya, etc. So the departure of AGP may be much faster than the fading of PCI.
You may again see a time where there are more PCI cards (excluding PCI-EX) for sale than AGP cards. Perhaps even by the end of next year, as neither ATI nor nV seem very interested in sticking with AGP.

One of the first potential barriers would be on the AV side of things with importing and exporting HDTV over the same slot simultaneously. AGP 8X probably could do it, but PCI-EX seems far better suited for it without the fear of corruption.

Just my two frames worth.