Video Cards

[koolman547]

hey all! Have a question for anyone in the know. I recently had to have a computer repaired-upgraded mobo and processor. The mobo is pci e. Now ,I JUST bought a Ge 7800GSOC for MY other computer (not being repaired...2 computers in this house). Is it worth while to get a pci card? Ge 7800 is agp. Will I see an improvement in gameplay? And one last question....what is nvidea's top of the line pci card at this point? Thanks guys....:)

[Scrapper_511]

Koolman, I'm still on AGP myself but it's more and more becoming a thing of yesterday. Not sure if there'd be a noticeable improvement between an AGP 7800 and a PCIe one though. But since you have a PCIe motherboard you really have no choice do you? NVidia's latest is the GeForce 8800 series which are running ~$300.

[koolman547]

UMMMMM...sitting here reading my post...I may not have made myself clear...huh, imagine that.! Guess one of the things i was asking was should i confiscate my wifes computer (one with new pci e board) and buy a nice pci e card to put in it? or keep my computer (one with ge 7800gsoc agp) will i see a difference between ge7800 and a top notch pci e card? Thank you for your patience and goodnite........:confused:

[Scrapper_511]

PCIe is superior over AGP in performance. If you use your computer to run high-end software (i.e. games) and your wife does not, then yes, get that PCIe equipped mobo. There are other factors that I don't know of like what CPU and mobo you are using, but yeah, PCIe is still better than AGP.

I don't know what your budget is, but as far as PCIe cards are concerned, I wouldn't get one that is lesser than a 7800 series. This is only because you've already got an AGP version and IMO it'd be silly to get a lesser card (say a 6800 series card) even though it is a PCIe one.

So basically, yes get your wife's mobo (at your peril), and get at least an 7800 series PCIe card.

[Ssnake]

PCIe is superior over AGP in performance.

...but rarely where it counts for gaming applications. Yes, you can shove geometry data faster through PCIe, but then again 99% of all data transfers between RAM and video card are comprised of texture data which is about the same speed between AGP and PCIe.

PCI Express offers advantages for people with video encoding. And it offers the better long-term perspectives for upgrading. Beyond that, nada.

[RecceDG]

The most important consideration, going forward, is that the pinnacle of AGP performance is a GeForce 7800GS (a very good card, nonetheless) where all new cards will be PCIe.

If all that matters is performance right now, get an AGP 7800GS and call it a day. If the ability to upgrade later on is more important, go PCIe.

DG