Graphics card slots?

Shane

Shane

Super Moderator
Staff member
Hey can someone explain to me what the diffrences are between the diffrent Graphics card slots?

Agp

Pci

Pci-Express?

I know Agp is older but whats the main differance?

Thanks
 
pci is actually older since that was used to replace ISA type slots. The first pci video cards were 16mb to 32mb 1x/2x equivalent cards. AGP later provided a faster bus along with then providing better support for advanced texures along with the faster acceleration of graphics.

AGP 1x/2x/4x/3x was eventually seen with the later improved 2x/4x/8x bus. The first PCI-E cards were equivalent to the AGP for the most part. The later upgrade of that bus now sees the PCI-E 8x/16x capability there. The "X" represents the graphics speed capability there. The 16x now seen is some three times faster then AGP 8x. It's an incremental increase in speed seen.
 
Aah thanks for explaining that guys,

I always thought that Agp was the oldest:D
 
Emperor_nero said:
speed is the main differance.

PCI is slowest

then AGP

and the fastest is PCIE
Click to expand...

PCI is the oldest but not necessarily the slowest with the more recent models cards that were 4x/8x substitutes for boards with out either AGP or PCI-E slots. They won't be the high performance types there however.
 
One other thing to note/keep in mind, more of the newer, higher powered graphics cards are usually more available in the PCI-E format. While you can get some of the new cards in AGP, it doesn't match the capabilities of the PCI-E cards. (The best AGP cards are the nVidia 7800GS or the ATI X850PRO or X1600PRO)
 
That is mainly due to how much further the vpus have gone in taking the load away the cpu in the first place. That frees up the cpu time to handle other ongoing processes. That right there will have a direct bearing on overall performance such as gaming and multimedia for the most part.
 
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