PCI-E or AGP upgrade?

L

lynx6200

New Member
I have an AGP video card at the moment (specs in sig), and am looking to upgrade to a more powerful midrange card. What Im trying to figure out is if Im going to spend 200+ bucks on a good card, should I bother shelling out and upgrading my motherboard as well to support PCI-E, as it seems this is the next best thing? Becuase otherwise im spending 200 for a good AGP card which is still slower...


Thanks
 
yes, pci-e is definitely worth it. whats your budget, and you have socket 754 dont you? you may want to get AM2 as well if you can spend enough.
the FX series (NVidia, not AMD) is much outdated. they were good cards for their time, but the 6 series is the lowest i would go, and even that (depending on the card) is cutting it. i highly suggest a 7600gt, they seem to be popular. that, or a 7900gt. that would be your best bet if you can afford it.
again whats your budget we'll help you work something out.
 
There is no real speed difference between AGP 8x and PCI Express 16x YET. Yes, the PCI Express slot is twice as fast, but the actual video cards(at least identical models with different connections) run basically identical speeds.
 
if you're upgrading, assuming you want at least a gig of ram (which you should want to have your computer run smoothly with today's applications) to get PCI-E will cost you quite a bit for the mobo, gphx card and ram, as well as a possible new processor, I think a good AGP card, while still slower than a PCI-E card, will do a good job until you choose to upgrade. If you stick with AGP though, you'll need to go pci-e within the next couple years at most
 
lynx6200 said:
I have an AGP video card at the moment (specs in sig), and am looking to upgrade to a more powerful midrange card. What Im trying to figure out is if Im going to spend 200+ bucks on a good card, should I bother shelling out and upgrading my motherboard as well to support PCI-E, as it seems this is the next best thing? Becuase otherwise im spending 200 for a good AGP card which is still slower...
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Your machine still has plenty of potential in it, if you get a better AGP card that is. However PCIe is a newer interface and you'll be able to get cards with a better price/performance ratio if you do make the switch. It however, requires you to do an entire rebuild pretty much, its something you must ask yourself if you can afford. The AGP interface itself wont hinder your gaming performance as some people seem to think.

fade2green514 said:
they were good cards for their time
Click to expand...

The FX line was the best nVidia had to offer but good for their time? Not really as ATi easily outphased them with their 256bit bus.
 
AGP may be less pricey but it might be wise to get PCIe now because AGP is slowly beginning to be phased out. Already the mid-higher end cards are available only in PCIe. A quick search at newegg shows that for $200 you can still get a decent card, AGP still has $300 cards like the 7800GS but that is it.
You can buy an AGP card now but you will have to upgrade to PCIe in the future to get a better gfx card since your ~$200 AGP card is pretty much the best you can get in AGP or you could get PCI-e now and a card, this would allow you to save up for only a gfx card in the future and all it would be is a switch of a card and your on your way. Mostly its a question of spend more money now or more money later because either way you are gonna have to get a new motherboard eventually because upgrading again will almost require PCIe and if the time comes too far in the future, you might not be able to get your CPU socket type and then you would have to get a new CPU. I would get PCIe now but it is your choice.
 
The issue isn't the performance of AGP cards (which is fine), but the cost. A quick look on newegg shows that the one of the best AGP cards under $200 is the X850Pro @ $186. In PCI-E, its big brother - the X850XT is available for $139 - enough of a difference to pay for a cheap motherboard.

I'd think twice before putting $200 into an AGP card. Alternatively, you may want to consider a cheaper AGP card, and put the rest of the money into a future upgrade.
 
a card for AGP will cost higher than the same card for pci-e normally. you dont actually save money, because you have to buy a new motherboard, but its a start because you pay less on the video card.
 
If you an get a cheap enough motherboard i would go for it, so its more future proof, and PCI-E cards are cheaper.
 
tweaker said:
Your machine still has plenty of potential in it, if you get a better AGP card that is. However PCIe is a newer interface and you'll be able to get cards with a better price/performance ratio if you do make the switch. It however, requires you to do an entire rebuild pretty much, its something you must ask yourself if you can afford.
Click to expand...

I dont see what would need to be redone except a new mother board, and with it supporting the same socket, 754 (which a good portion of the AMD 64bits seem to) I can use the same cpu, ram, psu, etc.

In any case, I think from what Ive heard it sounds like a viable option to upgrade the m/b first for pci-e.

Now, Im sure theres a m/b 101 section here which I will check out, but if you all wouldnt mind throwing in a few recomendations, Id appreciate it.

Would be willing to spend something about 100-150 USD on a m/b
In terms of gaming, hardware that will last a good while, but not necasirly top end, combined with a mid/high range vid card. SLI? not really interested at the moment, but if its something thats going to overtake the future, maybe I should have compatibilty....
 
But socket 754 is getting old and isn't so "popular" anymore. So upgrading will be a pain in the future.
 
socket 754 with pci-e isn't a very good choice.
i definitely suggest upgrading to 939... if not AM2. if you aren't willing to do this, then you may as well just get another AGP card.
personally id find someone who needs a new computer that doesnt know a whole lot about them and just wants something that will surf the internet (probably because they havent been to the computerforum lol).
then, i would sell them your current rig. afterward, save a little money and build a rig with a conroe + pci-express.
lol but wait for benchmarks and results on overclocking them of course.

i know for sure that thats what im doing.
 
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