Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

AGP or PCI Express??

Jun 13, 2005 8:03AM PDT

Which is better??? I just got a new PC that can only use a PCIe card and I am just curious. Also how does a AMD Athalon 3200+ 64(2Ghz) stack up against a P4?? Again just curious?? I'm a newb when it comes to this tech stuff.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
RE:
Jun 13, 2005 8:15AM PDT

3200+ is around the same performance as a 3.2GHz Pentium 4. PCI-Express, get a 6600GT or better.

- Collapse -
RE:
Jun 13, 2005 9:57AM PDT

I bought and going to install the GeForce 6600 GT. That is what was recommended at the store. So it seems that was the correct card huh?!

- Collapse -
well...
Jun 13, 2005 3:46PM PDT

i'd like to speak my 2 cents (which will end up being more like 200 in length)

the Athlon64 3200+ is not a dead equivalent to a Pentium 4 3.2GHZ

in gaming it will step ahead and compete with the 3.4 or the 3.6

and in video endcoding it will fall behind and compete with the 2.8 or the 3.0

It's a great processor, considering it competes with the Pentium 4 range with great ability

as for graphics interfaces
AGP is inferior to PCIe, and the 6600GT for PCIe is a wise choice, a little overkill for basic gaming, still a wise choice

AGP is under half the bandwidth of PCIe
and is half-duplex (this is what makes PCIe so great)

half-duplex means it can send and recieve, but it can only do one at a time

so it would be like this:

Send - Recieve - Send - Recieve
and so on, it's not bad given that graphics cards don't have much data to send back to the computer

here is how PCIe would look

send and recieve - send and recieve - send and recieve - send and recive

and it has it's full bandwidth each way
meaning if it were going 2GB/s, it would have 2GB/s to send, and simultanious 2GB's recieve

while AGP @ 2GB/s is very simmilar, it cannot do both at once

AGP also supplies less voltage (which was fine for/is fine for cards that use AGP, but newer cards are needing more and more power)

PCIE also is more expandable (current machines only use 16 lanes, or 2 8 lane distrobutions for CrossFire or SLi, while PCIe can support up to 32 lanes, and 2 16 lane configurations (or 4 8 lane, or any other possibility)

PCIe also provides more bandwidth to the graphics card (interface bandwidth) which means demanding games like Doom 3 (which utilizes full AGP 8x (only game to ever do such)) get a few % more performance on PCIe over AGP, as their not hitting the ceiling of interface bandwidth

PCIe is just "bigger, better, faster and stronger" so to speak


I hope you enjoy your new machine, and your new 6600GT
if you'd like to see how it stacks up to modern graphics cards, and see how it stacks up in modern games

check this out
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041222/index.html

and the later test (which I personally do not like using, as some of their game choices make you ask what they are thinking)

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050524/index.html

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) Nice informative post!
Jun 13, 2005 4:08PM PDT
- Collapse -
Good Info, but my two cents
Jun 17, 2005 1:06AM PDT

Good Info!

I have to say however, that even though PCIe is the new kid on the block that is bigger and badder, AGP will by no means become a dying breed anytime soon.

It is good you have converted to PCIe now, but as for me, I will probably wait between a year and two when the PCIe can compete in price.

PCIe is definetly the future of video cards, but us AGP'ers still have quite a bit of comfortable breathing room to not be left behind.

(This is for those of us who may feel a bit of video card envy...DON'T sweat it! AGP is still a great platform.)

- Collapse -
nice choice on your new computer
Jun 17, 2005 1:48AM PDT

you were smart on choosing PCIe. pci express is the future, you dont see any socket LGA 775 mobos using agp, although i have seen a few. AMD socket 939 has moved to pcie, well the majority with nvidia 4 ultra mobos.

nice post BTW ozos.

konny

- Collapse -
Re: Good Info
Jun 18, 2005 1:18PM PDT

Sounds like PCIe may be the latest, greatest for gamers but for those of us who simply deal with still pictures and Photoshop, AGP will become more of a bargain and provide excellent quality. I'm about to build another computer and this excellent thread has given me the ability to make a wise choice.

- Collapse -
i'd like to speak my 2 cents
Jun 17, 2005 2:56AM PDT

I like your posts, you allwise give at least abuck-three-ninty eight's worth. john

- Collapse -
hi members follow my answer
Jun 17, 2005 4:52PM PDT

It's simpul AGP is ended at 8X and PCI express is started from 16x,it is high acceleration graphics hardware

- Collapse -
my 2 cents as well
Jun 24, 2005 11:01PM PDT

An Athlon 64 slaughters the Pentium 4 in most benchmarks as an average. The P4 is only good for video encoding(like DivX). Otherwise, an A64 is better. Plus, the P4 is a mini-toaster oven with its conisitant OVER 50C temps.

As for AGP and PCI-E, right now there is no difference between the two in terms of performance. Games aren't optimized to use the 4GB/S transfers. However, it is a good future proof choice and I recommend it.

- Collapse -
Agree with most of Ozos's post. Err.....X knight.....
Jun 25, 2005 5:10AM PDT

curious, what brand/model number PC did you get?