Upgrading strategy in light of the new Next-Gen videocards?

3Dc tested their X800P and 6800U in an AGP 4x MB.

 

I wouldn't count out PCI-express so quickly.

The AGP 4x to 8x was barely noticeable because 3D technology doesn't really need more bandwidth (which is really all that 2x to 4x to 8x provided)

PCI-express is a serial interface with the ability to do memory writes and reads at the same time... Now, if that is done properly (and it may not be done properly, just like fastwrites is a mess on most motherboards right now) it has the potential to reduce videocard to motherboard latencies and CPU overhead/interrupts.

Reducing latencies means less time waiting for memory buffers, which can mean higher minimum FPS. So, if an 4 or 8X AGP card is getting a minimum of 30fps and averaging 60fps, a PCI express might be able to do 40fp minimum and still average 60fps. Overall bandwidth doesn't come into play, but fast latencies and full duplex operation sure does.

PCI-express also puts slightly less strain on the CPU than AGP does.

There is even the possiblity that PCI-express will motherboard FSB overclock better than AGP due to the serial singalling. Given equal numbers of connectors, serial interfaces are always more stable at higher clockspeeds (IE: look at the few pins on a Serial ATA harddrive to the 40 parallel pins on an IDE)

 

I wonder if the speed boost nV cards get in the nF3 are indicative of what we can expect of PEG (i.e., achieved through AGP tweaks)?

 

Francois,

I also have a P4 3.06/533 CPU/1Ghz PC2700. I was just obsessing a couple of weeks ago about missing out on the 800Mhz bus, and whether I would see appreciable performance gains by moving, for instance to a P4 3ghz/800 board and CPU.

Then I found this article on Anandtech from about 1 year ago:
http://anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1810&p=23

The 800Mhz benefit was decidedly underwhelming. I'm sticking w/ my current setup, maybe add a bit more RAM. Then I'll buy the NV 6850 Ultra (I'm a linux guy, ATI isn't too hot in 3D under linux).

After what I've read and soliciting other info, I wouldn't sweat anything about your current setup except the vid card.

 

I saw no difference from 2 to 4x AGP, and I really doubt that 4 to 8x AGP is going to be a perf bottleneck.

I don't doubt that the NV cards will work on a 4x AGP slot, the last thing they want to do is stifle sales.