Will PCI-Express really be a big jump?

[kidrock450]

When PCI-express comes out will we see a really big jump in performance over AGP video cards? Will it really be something special?

 

[Asus]

Um, no.
It won't be worth upgrading again.
It will be worth waiting for if you want compatibility with future GFX cards.

 

[blahblahblah]

Um, no.
It won't be worth upgrading again.
It will be worth waiting for if you want compatibility with future GFX cards.

Yeah, you think going to a new standard they would have some sort of gimmick/feature to sell it. Like AGP texturing...

This new standard is really relying on MB and Video Card makers to stop making AGP cards. Otherwise this new standard is pretty much worthless, imo.

 

[amneziac85]

Yeah, you think going to a new standard they would have some sort of gimmick/feature to sell it. Like AGP texturing...

This new standard is really relying on MB and Video Card makers to stop making AGP cards. Otherwise this new standard is pretty much worthless, imo.

The next generation of graphics cards are going to be too fast for AGP 8x, so how is it "worthless"?

 

[Sashswash]

The next generation of graphics cards are going to be too fast for AGP 8x, so how is it "worthless"?

The current cards out don't even fully "fill up" or "use all of" the AGP 8x specification to the best of my knowledge. Next-gen cards will have to take a BIG leap to "be too fast for" the AGP 8x spec.

 

[psyno]

The graphics system is not going to get faster just because you throw more bandwidth at it, but PCIe does offer more than that. The graphics system will get faster if the video card is allowed to send data while recieving data at the same time, and it will matter if the GPU is able to prioritize data based on the packet. It will probably be a while before drivers exploit PCIe properly. The point is that PCIe is not just more bandwidth.

 

[ewilson248]

the BIg diff, is the fact that it is Bi-Directional, and can have multiple cards...

 

[psyno]

AGP could have multiple cards... And it's certainly possible to fill up a PCI bus with video cards. The big difference is indeed simultaneous data transfer and direct serial links to the PCIe controller (instead of sharing the bus).