ATI Video card help

[Itchy_c]

I'm going to purchase a new ATI video card. I've been trying to do some research, but it seems that the PCI-E cards aren't as fast yet. Is this true? I'm thinking about getting the x800 xt card. Sugestions?

[porsch1909]

The pci-e version of the cards are just now on par with the AGP equivalents. pci-e has a lot more potential than agp. you wont go wrong with the X800 XT it is a fantastic card...if you can find one. it is very expensive thoug hso i hope you have a budget to suuport that ;)



if you have the money go for that card.

[PacNW CE]

PCIe isn't being utilized by apps yet, much like agp8x wasn't a substantial improvement over agp4x. Interestingly enough, the jump from agp2x to 4x yeilded a similar situation.

If you already have a PCIe slot avalible on your board you may as well take advantage of it. If you have AGP, go with that until you have to. I am personally holding out to upgrade to PCIe until I absolutly have to. (watch me upgrade in a month:rolleyes: )

what card are you currently using in your system?

[Itchy_c]

Right now I have a 9800 PRO which I am very happy with, and doesn't justify spending $600+ for a PCI express video card when I can just buy a cheaper AGP motherboard for less with all the features that I want. The reason I was going to buy the new card is because I have a new P4 prescott chip and most motherboards with the exception of a few only support PCI-E.

[Yoshi]

So what does yours have now? and what is your budget?

[Itchy_c]

I really don't have a specific budget. I have plenty of money saved up to buy a top of the line computer. I just don't want to spend that much money on a system that isn't going to be top of the line anymore in a year.

If the PCI-E cards were a huge improvement, then I wouldn't mind forkin over the cash, but I think I'd rather save my money. If I did get the card, then I would need a PCI-E mobo, DDR2 RAM, basically going all out. This is the route I am probably going to go with:

ASUS P5P800 socket 775 Motherboard (http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket775/p5p800/overview.htm#)

That way, all I need is DDR400 RAM, and keep the ATI 9800 PRO, that I currently have, until I find a X800 going for a good price on ebay. Everything i will gut out of my current system.