I’m pretty knowledgeable on the technology in computers, but I haven’t kept up with the bleeding edge tech that’s available now. This is a problem, since I intend to be ordering a new PC very soon. I don’t play the hottest games, but I wouldn’t mind a system that had some extendibility…
So here is my dilemma. Two systems, exactly the same on the surface, from the same vendor, but $650 apart in price. Why?
One has a larger, presumably nicer case. Both use aluminum, but one is $200 more, with a huge fan that will presumably be quieter. It also has a PCI Express motherboard capable of SLI, if I want to spend the extra money on that.
So, my question: Given that the performance of the two are roughly equal, what are the advantages of having a PCI Express motherboard capable of SLI, in the long term? Will AGP die out that quickly? Should I even worry about it if I don’t play “FPS 2008 Super Ultra Edition” and stick to older games? Or will this be an issue 2 years down the line when I want some extra life in my system?
It might seem a little silly, but this is a major purchase, and I can’t find THAT much information through Google… most sites dealing with this are for enthusiasts and overclockers, and cover issues that don’t concern me.
PCI-X SLI is definitely bleeding edge. Unless you intend to spend tons of money on the latest and greatest video card, it’s not worth the premium. The only PCI-X SLI setups I’ve seen have been in the $1000-1200 range for just the video cards.
AGP is going to be around for a while. All the current GPUs have an AGP version, and from looking at the Nvidia and ATI roadmaps, their next-gen chipsets will too. Granted, there may be a bit of a performace degradation on AGP, but it’s not likely you’ll notice it.
Aluminum cases are solely for looks these days - if quiet is important to you, changing out the fans later is easy enough. If you’re going to be in and out of the case changing components on a regular basis, look for easy access features. Rolled edges should be standard, but quick-change drive rails and card retention mechanisms are a nice touch. Rounded cables should be a given, for looks if nothing else.
My advice would be - if it’s a choice between two comparable computers, one with AGP only and one with dual PCI-X, pick the AGP one. You can spend the difference on a better video card now, or save it and wait to see if you need a heftier GPU down the road.
Nitpick… PCI Express isn’t the same as PCI-X. But your comment matches most of what I’ve already heard. Once I went back and looked at the costs, I realized that most of the price of the SLI system was coming from the video card. A premium of several hundred dollars… I’ve seen some awesome numbers for SLI, but if AGP will be around for a while, and I only play older games… I could always get a new card if the old one isn’t working well enough, and still come out ahead.
I’ll just paste in some relevant pieces from Toms Hardware guide relevant to this but bottom line is barring some professional appplications the added bandwidth of SLI or PCI Express gets you nothing today as the AGP-8x bus is not being overwhelmed yet and won’t be for awhile it seems. Save your money, get a good AGP-8x card and upgrade down the road after prices have almost certainly dropped.
Here is a series of benchmarks that has both the AGP & PCI-E versions of the Geforce 6600GT, a rather nice upper-midrange card. Interestingly, the AGP version is often slighty faster than the PCI-E version - despite the AGP card having slightly slower clocked memory as well.
Anyways, going with an AGP system is good for now, though I really reccomend getting an Athlon 64, if your main heavy duty use will be gaming. Athlon 64’s easily outperform comparably price Pentium 4’s in gaming.
Well, since I am generally bleeding edge I probably would shell out for the SLI PCI-E mainboard (a dual 6800GT makes me drool) but any “clone” computer is going to be very flexable. You can go with an AGP AMD system (as RandomLetters mentioned the AMD64 is the best for gaming) and a nice videocard (Nvidia 6600 AGP). That should last you for ~2 generations before needing replacement (2 generations = 18 months IMO).
The case isn’t very important. Some might claim it’s better for cooling. I personally have a light weight plastic case and it’s plenty cool with 7 fans.
Focus on memory, HD and monitor. These items can be moved to the next system easily. Expect to replace the CPU, mainboard and videocard when everything switches to PCI-E (in about ~3 years).
Oh, I’m looking at Athlon 64. At least a 3000+, probably a 3500+… since anything more starts to show a huge jump in price. Already have a monitor that’s nice enough, too. But I think I’ll spring for the 6800 GT(not the Ultra), for that little extra boost.
The reason I’m considering upgrading the case is I want a QUIET computer, and larger fans usually lead to a quieter noise level… they don’t spin as fast. But I’m not assembling it myself, I’m going with one of the online vendors.
Thanks for all the help, it’s really settled my mind.
My BFG 6800 GTOC is still pretty expensive. Newegg lists it for $469.50 (got it for $600 CAN). Consider the OC because the GTOC is already clocked to 370 and I was able to get 100% reliable overclocking to Ultra-level speeds (400 MHz core) without any problem. In fact, Nvidia’s own overclocking utility rated it good for 420 but I tuned it down to 400.
Make sure you read up on any benchmarks and thoughts at Tom’s Hardware.