mike said:
Is it worth holding out for motherboards with PCI-E? I need a new system
pretty soon. I could do with one now actually but since the switch from
AGP->PCI-E is considering a pretty big progression I'm kinda unsure.
Short answer . . . if you want something high-end that you plan to use for
at least a few years, hold off and wait for PCI express. If you absolutely
need a new video card right now, try not to spend more than a hundred bucks
on it.
Then you won't feel so bad replacing it for your next upgrade.
Longer answer . . .
On average, a desktop is upgraded to the point where all major components
are replaced every 2-3 years. If you buy a new AGP video card today, you
will likely not want to use it for your next complete upgrade. Only VIA has
announced plans to support AGP as well as PCI Express (on the same chipset).
But even THAT upcoming chipset will likely be obsolete by the time you do
your second upgrade, so you won't want to use the chipset that will support
an AGP card anyway. It would be really foolish therefore to purchase a
really high-end (or even upper middle range) AGP format card at the moment.
Because any money you spend on an AGP card will be money that you spend
TWICE in the next few years. Ouch. But if you don't care about the latest
and greatest, try to spend about a hundred bucks on a card now. Use it for
2-3 years. By then, PCI Express cards will have been on the market for a
while, bugs worked out, prices dropped to reasonable levels, etc. But if
you plan to settle for nothing less than the best, save your money now and
purchase a higher-end PCI Express format card when they are available. -Dave
