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[Doube D]

Im thinking of upgrading my gpu once the 7800/r520 hit but my mobo only supports 8x agp (not pci express). First, do these new gpus support 8x agp and does the 8x handicap the performance of these cards (to the point that it make it worthwhile upgrading an otherwise perfect mobo)?

thanx

 

[Cold Shadow]

I don't know if they are going to release an agp version but if they don't it's not because of the speed.
AGP4x is still enough for today's card, but they need to promote PCI-Express otherwise everyone will stay at AGP.
The reason that PCI-Express was created is because they can get better use of new ideas like SLI.

PLease correct me if i'm wrong

 

[mrklaw]

The speed at which they are switching to PCI-Express just smacks of marketing to me. Almost forcing you to upgrade your motherboard.

Its very shortsighted. Most cards are not using the extra speed yet, and there are millions of people with AGP motherboards.

If you have an 8x AGP motherboard you are fine for some time to come. Yes, in the future if you upgrade to a PCI express mobo you won't be able to use your grahpics card, but then if you have to upgrade now thats a lot of hassle and extra expense for little or no noticable benefit.

I'd say if you have an AGP system stick with it.

 

[Ruzbeh]

Completely agreed with 2 of the above posts. AGP 8x is overrated and unecessary and was introduced way too early.

 

[Ryudo]

I definately think it will have AGP support, there is just too many PC's with AGP still for them to totally snub it.

 

[maharg]

Its very shortsighted.

No, AGP was short sighted. Moving to PCI-Express now is the exact opposite of short sighted. It's about fucking time.

 

[mrklaw]

No, AGP was short sighted. Moving to PCI-Express now is the exact opposite of short sighted. It's about fucking time.

PCI express as a technology is a good thing. But the simple fact is there are lots of AGP boards out there that need supplies of graphics cards. Yet manufacturers are moving to PCI express way too quickly, leaving AGP owners with little choice.

Thats annoying, especially as these initial cards aren't really designed to benefit from PCI express anyway.

 

[Limedust]

The recent trend is to design new graphics cards as PCI-E and then later release a version with an AGP bridge chip. From a technology progression perspective I agree that this is the way to go. I think we will see PCI-E versions of the 7800/R520 hit the market first, with the AGP-bridged versions a month or two later.

 

[tedtropy]

Yeah, the way mobo vendors are really pushing PCI Express down people's throats is annoying. A friend of mine wanted to replace his mobo and CPU but keep his already decent existing card, but it's a bitch of a time finding any good modern boards that aren't PCI-E only. While I appreciate the advancement of technology, there's not alot taking advantage of the spec yet and if they wanted to push it out so quickly, they should've found a way to make the new slot and technology backwards compatible with AGP 8X.

 

[maharg]

While I appreciate the advancement of technology, there's not alot taking advantage of the spec yet and if they wanted to push it out so quickly, they should've found a way to make the new slot and technology backwards compatible with AGP 8X.

Aside from a bridge, this is just not possible as they are fundamentally different technologies. The fact is, like I said, AGP was a stopgap. They're pushing PCI-E really hard because they *know* that if they took the slow road, it would never take off, and it needs to take off.

Honestly, it's not like we've never been through this before. But with a serial bus, in the long run, it will be so fucking much easier to go through it again in the future. Backward compatibility on a parallel bus is nearly impossible due to the complexity of the controllers. Backward compatibility on a serial bus, on the other hand, is really frickin' easy.

So consider this an investment. It should be a very long time before there is another non-backward compatible bus.