Question concerning running AGP 8X video card on 4X motherboard

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ruzicka

Hello! I'm hoping some of the experts here can answer this question for me.



I am considering upgrading my old graphic card (GeForce3 Ti200) for a newer
one; probably one of the current mid-level AGP 8X, DirectX 9 cards.



The thing of it is that my system currently has an older AGP 4X motherboard
(Asus P4S533). I realize that most current AGP 8X cards are downward
compatible with AGP 4X motherboards, but I was wondering what kind of
performance hit I might see doing this. Obviously, I will not see the FPS's
that I've seen advertised, but should I expect a 10% hit? 20%? 50%?



I plan later on to possibly upgrade my motherboard. I have a tendency to
"leapfrog" components, one at a time.



Any and all help is appreciated! Thanks!



P. Ruzicka
 
regardless of what ppl think, the realworld impact of 8x over 4x cards is
absolutely nothing. It was a sales gimmick back when they were introduced,
and its a sales gimmick right now. As for the future, things may change with
the advance of more demanding game engines, etc. But for now, and a few
years to come - your 4x m0b0 is just fine.
 
I realize that most current AGP 8X cards are downward
compatible with AGP 4X motherboards, but I was wondering what kind of
performance hit I might see doing this. Obviously, I will not see the FPS's
that I've seen advertised, but should I expect a 10% hit? 20%? 50%?
Click to expand...

At various times, with various cards I've had occasion to test this. The
first time was with a GeForce2 GTS Ultra AGP4X card on a PIII 1000 @ 1134Mhz
system with 512Mb SDRAM that seemed to be stuck in AGP 1X mode on my system.
In 1X mode it would average 6125 in 3DMark01. When I eventually sorted out
the Via chipset issues and got it running in AGP4X mode, it would average
6265. Basically a 2% difference. Game framerates were identical. I had a
128Mb Radeon 8500 in my Barton 3200 / 1 gig dual channel system. Running in
AGP4X mode, it would average 11,500 in '01. In AGP 2X mode, it did 11,275.
Again, 2%. I recently upgraded to a 9800 Pro 128Mb on the same system. In
AGP 8X mode, 3DMark01 averages 17, 250. When I installed it, for some
reason it was stuck in AGP 4X mode, and it benched within 1% of this score.
You get a much larger performance variation from the different Catalyst
versions than you do from the AGP mode. This is the main reason I fail to
see the need for PCI Express. There's virtually zero difference in
performance in the various AGP modes. Dual channel memory makes a bigger
difference than the AGP mode, and dual channel is not much of a difference
in terms of real world difference.
 
Augustus said:
This is the main reason I fail to
see the need for PCI Express.
Click to expand...

It will become attractive when the motherboards for SLI pairs of video cards
come out. They don't have AGP SLI planned.


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Ed said:
It will become attractive when the motherboards for SLI pairs of video
cards come out. They don't have AGP SLI planned.
Click to expand...

Or not depending on (a) how much of a performance boost there is and (b) how
much SLI-enabled boards cost and (c) how much of a need there is for a
performance boost.
 
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