Which is Better AGP or PCI E?

Question

My computer is running ms xp home it has and Amd processor that runs at 1.66 gh it has 512 mb of ram, one 8x agp slot, two 32bit pci slots I have seen many cards but dont know anything about compatability. I am interested in Nvidia and Ati cards to be precise I will be using the computer mostly for gaming. should I upgrade the computers ram to 1 or 2 gb?. sorry if this doesn't make much sense ;). Thanx in advance.

Answer 1

Hi,

Having just ordered an AGP X1950Pro for a friend of mine (who has a similar config, 3200+ w/1GB RAM), I'd suggest you look for it too. Just make sure your PSU can handle it (I'd recommend a 500W PSU at least). The X1950 Pro is cheap (around 200$), and it certainly can keep up with the PCI-E opponents (from either ATI or nVidia). Until the XT version comes out, thats the best buy for AGP.

Regards,
TK

P.S.: Another gig of RAM helps a lot too ;)

Answer 2

PCIe video cards are better in that they're faster, but you won't be able to use one because you only have PCI slots, which are an entirely different thing. (PCIe and PCI are two entirely different standards).

You do have an AGP 8X slot, which is perfectly good. You can get some very fast AGP video cards that use either nVidia and ATI chipsets, although I think ATI's cards in general slightly outperform nVidia cards.

I also agree with some of the other posters that you should invest in some more RAM.

Answer 3

Pci are better for gaming because they have a special slot. Also Pci cards go really fast, around 13gbps.

While Agp are slow (some) , and can only go around 8gbps.

So you should get a Nvida 6 series if you go with an Agp, or go with a Nvida 7 series if your sticking with Pci-e.

If you have the money, you should go for a 8800 gtx, but the problem is that they cost around $500.

And yes, you should get more RAM. If your going to game.

Answer 4

The PCI slots you are speaking of are not the same as PCI-E. You will have to get an AGP graphics card for your particular machine. I would look into an Nvidia 6600GT, or a 7600GS. I would also recommend upgrading to 1 GB of RAM for gaming.

Answer 5

Always more memory - better performance but insure that the memory matches what is installed (don't use dell with a Kingston upgrade - etc) additionally the PCI slots will be better than the AGP but double check if they are pci vs. pcie (just search for pci & pcie under images on yahoo and take a look inside your system to verify) - also try to get additional memory on the graphics card itself so it doesn't steal from your system but with 1.66gh don't expect blazing speeds.

Answer 6

PCI-E is the better slot for gaming now, and definitely upgrade your memory to 2 gb now, you will notice the greater improvement. I would use the Nvidia line, because the graphics are lot smoother. Just my humble opinion

Answer 7

PCIe is better than AGP I would upgrade to 1gb ram for sure.
And a video card with at least 256 mb memory.

www.usainet.com

Answer 8

PCI-E is the better of the two due to PCI-E Communicates more directly with the processor so graphic can be presented more rapidly.

Answer 9

I don't know of any Dual AGP Slot boards out there. But there are many Crossfire and SLI enabled boards out there. Some are the p965 by intel, the nVidia nforce 5 series and up, and the AMD 580X or ATi 3200.

Answer 10

PCI E is better

AGP is 8x

PCI-E is 16x

But make sure its PCI-E
not just PCI

cause normal PCI is slower than AGP

upgrade the ram to 2gb BETTER :D:D